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Each year during the last month of the hirji (Islamic calendar), millions of Muslims from all over the globe make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The city of Mecca is the hierophany, or holy place, of all Muslims. According to the Qur'an and other sacred texts, Muslim ....

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.... for the purpose of pilgrimage. After becoming a muhrim, fingernails and hair cannot be cut, perfume and cologne are not allowed to be worn and sexual activities are not allowed to be performed. Those are just some minute processes of many, which enable a person to achieve purification during the pilgrimage. On the first day of the pilgrimage, thousands of Muslims join each other by walking in a circles (circumambulating) around the Ka'ba seven times. The Ka'ba also is known as "The House of Allah", and is very symbolic in the Islamic religion. The Ka'ba is the axis mundi of all Muslims. It is believed that the area above and the area below t ....