The Legend of Abraham and Adam: A Reassessment of the Ancient Arabic Pilgrimage in Early Islamic Tradition
Pilgrimage - a religiously motivated journey to sacred sites - is an ancient practice known to virtually all nations. Nomads of Arabia are no exception. Their pilgrimage tradition was so enduring that even the new religion, Islam, could not eliminate it. While preserving the form of the ancient ritual, Islam completely changed its original meaning, to make it more consistent with Muslim values. The history of the Hajj is now associated not with pagan cults, but with the ancient prophets. The legitimacy of the inclusion of the Hajj, an ancient pagan tradition, into Islam was substantiated by referring to the pilgrimage as to an initially monotheistic tradition that was later distorted under the influence of jahiliya - “ignorance'! This article discusses the history and reasons for reassessment of the Hajj ritual in the early Islamic history.