FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2024
This is the season when Muslims celebrate the pilgrimage to Mecca called hajj. It is one of the five pillars of Islam. Every adult Muslim who can afford it is required to make the pilgrimage at least once during his lifetime. On the average, more than two million Muslims from about 100 countries travel to Mecca each year to participate in this ritual. A Muslim who fulfills this obligation is said to gain merit with God and thus acquires the honorific title of hajj.
Pilgrims go through special purification rites, don a white, unsewn robe, and circle the Kaaba, the holiest Muslim shrine, seven times. Most try to touch or kiss the Black Stone. These are briefly some of the rituals of the hajj.
PRAYER
O God, I pray that you will manifest your truth to Muslims. In the name of Jesus, I pray against the powers that cause hungry people to seek that which does not satisfy. Deliver them from the enemy’s oppression, darkness and servitude.
I pray for Muslims who have already made the pilgrimage. May they realize that it is only Jesus who satisfies our heart’s yearnings.
I pray for Muslims who are participating in the pilgrimage this year. Reveal yourself to them. Speak to them through visions, dreams, and other means. Show them the cross of our Savior. May they turn to Jesus, the holy Son of God—the Way, the Truth, and the Life. In his name I pray, amen.
PROMISE
Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains ( P s a l m 1 0 7 : 1 0 – 1 4 , NIV).