Lesson video

Hello, theological Squires and welcome to another religious education lesson with me, Mr. Green.

Now, today we are going to have our second lesson on Hajj which is the fifth pillar of Islam.

Now, in order to become a fine, a noble and wise theological Squire, you need to go and get four things for me, a pad, a different colour pen, some paper to work on and your theology brains.

If you haven't got any of those things with you, please pause the video, go and get them now, and then come back and join us for the lesson.

So we are going to learn all about the rituals of Hajj.

Now to do that really well, we're going to start off first by reviewing the definitions of Hajj rituals and of course the story of Ibrahim, we are then going to learn about the rituals of Hajj.

And then we're going to tie those two things together.

So tie together the rituals of Hajj with the story of Ibrahim.

So we're then able to identify and explain the deeper religious meaning of the Hajj pilgrimage? So what is a ritual? A ritual is a set of actions or words with a deeper religious meaning.

And in the last lesson, we looked at these two examples, Wudu and Christian baptism.

Now remember Wudu is a ritual cleansing.

Muslims before the say their prayer will undertake a physical cleaning, but that physical cleaning has a deeper religious meaning.

The deeper religious meaning is that they aren't getting spiritually purified before giving praise to Allah and Christian baptism, likewise, that uses water symbolically to, the water is used to symbolise the cleansing away of original sin.

That's just two examples there to demonstrate what we mean by ritual and action which points to something deeper, something more significant that has a deeper religious meaning.

Now we need to remind ourselves what Hajj is.

Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca and a pilgrimage is a sacred or spiritual journey.

Hajj is a once in a lifetime duty for all Muslims who are healthy and wealthy enough to go.

Whilst on Hajj, Muslims travel to different places to perform different rituals that relate to the prophets Mohammed and Ibrahim.

Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam.

So see if you can remember that.

Can you define Hajj using the following words, ritual, Hajj, pilgrimage, Mecca, sacred, spiritual, prophets, Ibrahim, Mohammed, once and pillar, and to help get you started, you can see some sentence starters there.

So feel free to use those.

Hajj is a ritual of Islam.

A ritual is, and the Hajj is a pilgrimage.

Use those to get you started if you need, but please pause the video and then come and join me for feedback once you've had a go at that task.

Good work, let's check that.

So hopefully your work looks a little bit like this, Hajj is a ritual of Islam, a ritual is a set of words or actions with a deeper religious meaning.

The Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca.

A pilgrimage is a spiritual or sacred journey.

On Hajj, Muslims perform rituals that follow in the footsteps of the prophets, Ibrahim and Mohammed and Hajj is a once in a lifetime duty for Muslims that are healthy and wealthy enough and Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam.

Now it would be a really good time to pause the video, to check your work to make sure that your work looks very similar to that.

So if you need to please pause the video, use different colour pen and make corrections and amendments.

So the next thing we need to be able to do is recall the story of Ibrahim.

And we're going to do this by trying to organise the story.

And I'll split the story up into 10 bullet points.

And what I need you to do is try and order those 10 bullet points.

So you can see at the bottom of your screens, a beginning of an order.

So we know box A comes first.

We know box J comes last, box C comes second.

Can you please try and arrange that in the correct order for me, pause the video, have a go, and then rejoin me for some feedback.

Hopefully your task looks like this, starting off with A, I gave you that one.

Ibrahim and Sara was struggled to have a child.

B, Ibrahim had a child Ishmael with Harger, Hagar, sorry.

Allah tested Ibrahim, He had to take Hagar and Ishmael to the desert.

When they run out of water, Hagar ran between two mountains, seven times an angel appeared and dug into the ground and water came gushing out.

The angel told them that this would be the place for the first house of God.

And Allah then tested Ibrahim him again, asking him to sacrifice Ishmael and Ibrahim was willing to do that.

The devil tempted Ibrahim to disobey God, Ibrahim rejected the devil by throwing stones.

And finally Allah saw Ibrahim was willing to follow his commands.

So provided an animal to be sacrificed instead.

So if you need to pause the video to check, correct, amend your work, please do that now.

And then rejoin me in a moment.

So here you can see a map and this map tells you the different places that Muslims go to when they perform the pilgrimage of Hajj.

And you can see there are six places that I've listed, Mecca, Mina, Arafat, Muzdalifah, Mina again, Mecca again, now in the rest of the lesson, what we're going to do together is think really carefully about what Muslims do at those specific places.

And then be able to identify how those actions relate to either the prophet Muhammad or the prophet Ibrahim.

Let's get started with Mecca.

At Mecca, Muslims will circle the Kaaba seven times in an anticlockwise direction.

And that follows in the footsteps of Mohammed or collect water from the well of Zamzam and run between two hills seven times.

Now, when you look at those final three bullet points, collecting water from the well of Zamzam, running between two hills, seven times, hopefully your mind is alive with energy.

And you're saying Mr. Green, I know precisely why they do that.

We've just looked at the story of Ibrahim.

And in the story of Ibrahim, there's a section, isn't there, where, Hagar is desperately searching for water for Ishmael and herself and she's dashing between hills seven times and then an angel appears and identifies the place where water becomes gushing out.

And that's where the well of Zamzam is established.

So those last two bullet points there identify really clearly to the story of the prophet Ibrahim and Hagar's mad dash looking for water.

The next place is Mina.

There's an overnight stop on the way to Arafat, the third place, and Muslims will read the Qur'an and pray.

And you can see here at Mina, it's performing both a practical and a spiritual purpose.

So practical, it's a long arduous trip.

So they need an overnight stop in order to rest.

But equally there's an opportunity to rededicate Allah, read the Qur'an, remind themselves of what Allah's will is and what his instructions for human beings are.

Then they arrive at Arafat.

Now at Arafat, as you can see here, Muslims perform Wuquf, the ceremony of standing.

And Arafat is where Mohammed delivered his last sermon.

Here, Muslims ask for forgiveness.

And if Muslims do not do this, then the Hajj needs to be repeated.

It's not considered to be completed.

And clearly this involves Muslims acknowledging their sins to Allah.

That's a really important thing to do.

If you acknowledge them, Allah can use his mercy to give forgiveness.

And it's also really important to acknowledge here that Muslims are bringing their faith alive.

They'd stood here on the plains of Arafat as Muslims would have been 1,400 years ago, listening to the words of Mohammed.

This is really bringing the faith alive.

So we've looked at places there, the first half so to say of Hajj, what we're going to do now is doing quickfire questions, help us remember everything we've just spoken about and learned together.

So can you please make sure you're just pointing at your screen or identifying the correct answer in order to check that you can remember the key facts we've just gone over.

So which of these is the correct order of places for the first three locations of Hajj? Mecca, Mina, Arafat, Mina, Arafat, Mecca, Mecca, Arafat, Mina or Arafat, Mina, Mecca.

Point to your screens now.

Well done, it's Mecca, Mina, and Arafat.

Next question, which of these is the correct order of places for the first three rituals of Hajj? Same question, but they're being reordered.

Can you see it? There it is, Mecca, Mina and Arafat.

Next question, which of these describes the actions at Mecca? Overnight stay, read the Qur'an, pray, Wuquf, asking for forgiveness, circling the Kaaba, visiting the well of Zamzam, running between the mountain seven times or Wuquf, circle Kaaba and stoning the devil.

Well done, circling the Kaaba seven times, well of Zamzam and running between the mountains.

Next one, which of these describes the actions at Mina? Read them through, point out.

Well done, overnight stay, read the Qur'an and pray.

Next one, which of these describes the actions at Arafat? Well done, Wuquf and asking Allah for forgiveness, Wuquf is the ceremony of standing.

Next one, which of these is the correct order of places for the first three locations of Hajj? Same question again.

See if you can remember it.

There it is, Mecca, Mina, Arafat.

Next one, same question.

Can you spot it here though? There it is, Mecca, Mina and Arafat.

Which of these describes the actions at Mecca? Well done, circling the Kaaba seven times, visit the well of Zamzam, run between the mountains seven times.

Next one, Mina.

Well done, read the Qur'an, pray and have an overnight stay.

So now I'm going to give you an action that's performed.

And then there's two questions you need to identify for me, which prophet's story is that relate to and then which place? so circle the Kaaba seven times, which prophet Ibrahim or Mohammed, and then which place Mecca, Mina or Arafat.

it's Mohammed and it takes place at Mecca.

Next one, pray and read the Qur'an.

Prophet place, prophet place.

Prophet is Mohammed and Ibrahim and let's think about that.

The Qur'an contained information about Allah, how to submit to Allah, both Ibrahim and Mohammed are really powerful examples of how to submit to Allah and which place.

Mina, Wuquf, the ceremony of standing, which prophet, which place.

Mohammad and Arafat.

Visit well of Zamzam, which prophet, which place.

Ibrahim and Mecca.

Pray for forgiveness from Allah, which prophet, which place.

Mohammed and Arafat.

Dash between the two hills seven times, which prophet, which place? Prophet Ibrahim at Mecca.

Circle the Kaaba seven times.

Prophet Muhammad in Mecca.

That's where the Kaaba is.

Pray and read the Qur'an, remember, well done, it's both.

And they do that at Mina, Wuquf the ceremony of standing.

Mohammed and Arafat.

Visit the well of Zamzam.

You've got it, haven't you? Ibrahim and Mecca.

Pray for forgiveness from Allah Mohammed and Arafat.

Dash between the two Hills seven times.

Ibrahim and Mecca.

So now we've done all that amazing work.

Just come up here.

What I'm going to ask you to do is draw the table as you can see on your screen, once you've drawn the table, you can see I filled in or started to fill in the first rows for you.

I'm looking for you to state the rituals, state the actions that Muslims are performing at Mecca and Mina and Arafat.

And then in the right hand column there, I'd like you to identify the religious significance and what you'll need to do that is refer to the prophets.

So make direct reference to the prophet Mohammed, prophet Ibrahim.

Please pause the video, have a go at that task and then join me once you finished.

Let's check your work then.

So the rituals at Mecca, circling Kaaba seven times, that's following in the footsteps of Mohammed, visiting the wall of Zamzam.

Remember that's the place that angel found the water for Hagar and Ishmael.

Running between the hills seven times, reminding Muslims of Hagar's desperate search for water.

At Mina, staying overnight and praying and reading the Qur'an.

That reminds Muslims of Allah's words and his will.

The prophets Ibrahim and Mohammed are both examples of how to follow Allah's will.

And that Arafat, the ceremony of standing and asking Allah for forgiveness, that's reminding Muslims of Mohammed's last ceremony and equally allowing Muslims to receive forgiveness from Allah.

This is a really good time to pause the video again and check your work to make sure you've got everything, including those really clear references to the prophet, Ibrahim and Mohammed.

So please do that for me now and continue the video once you've done it.

So let's remind ourselves of the places again.

So Mecca, Mina, Arafat, mostly for Mina and Mecca, and we've gone through and looked at Mecca, Mina and Arafat.

So now I'm going to turn our attention to Muzdalifah, Mina, Mecca.

So what happens at Muzdalifah? Here Muslims will collect 49 small pebbles that will use when they return to Mina.

Since 2008, these stones have been prepacked for Muslims in bags.

So what I want you to really note here is, here they are collecting something, the pebbles which are going to use in the next ritual, which takes place at Mina, which is incredibly significant.

So the rituals of Hajj at Mina, here, Muslims will stone the Jamarat and the Jamarat are three stone pillars that represent the devil and Muslims are demonstrating no ejection of the devil by doing this, they celebrate the festival of Eid Al Adha, which celebrates Ibrahim submission to Allah.

An then animal is sacrificed to follow in the footsteps of Ibrahim's sacrifice.

Now there's lots to say about these rituals here and there's great significance to them.

When Muslims stone those pillars, there's a huge significance to do that.

Firstly recalling the actions of prophet Ibrahim and his rejection of the devil who tried to tempt him not to follow Allah's instructions and secondly, to affirm, to reject the devil themselves in their own life.

So they're always going to be following the well and following the instructions of Allah.

Now Eid Al Adha, the festival that's mentioned here , also reflects this great history of Islam.

This is the festival that celebrates submission to Allah and uses the example of Ibrahim submission as an example in that, and then the story of Ibrahim upon seeing that Ibrahim was prepared to sacrifice his son, Allah provides an animal to be sacrificed instead, and you can see that sacrifice being acknowledged here.

It's part of the festivities in recalling and remembering that submitting to Allah, of course involves personal sacrifice.

And finally, they return to Mecca and here Muslims will complete the pilgrimage by circling the Kaaba seven times again.

So we're going to do some quickfire questions again.

In these quickfire questions, just point to the, on your screen to identify the correct answer.

So which of these is the correct order of the places for the second three locations of Hajj? Mecca, Mina, Muzdalifah, Mina, Muzdalifah, Mecca.

Muzdalifah, Mina, Mecca, Muzdalifah, Mecca, Mina.

Well done, Muzdalifah, Mina and Mecca, Muzdalifah, Mina and Mecca.

Do that question again, but now they answers have changed position.

Find it for me, point to it.

Well done, Muzdalifah, Mina and Mecca there.

Which of these describes the actions at Mecca, the second time round? Circle the Kaaba seven times, Wuquf, asking Allah for forgiveness, stoning the Jamarat pillars, Eid Al Adha, animal sacrifice or collecting 49 pebbles.

Well done, it is circling the Kaaba seven times, which of these describes the actions at Mina? find the answer.

Well done, stoning the pillars, Eid Al Adha and animal sacrifice, which of these describes the actions at Muzdalifah? Well done, collect 49 pebbles, which of these describes actions that Mecca second time? Circling the Kaaba seven times, well done, which of these describes the actions at Mina? Well done, stoning the Jamarat pillars, Eid Al Adha and animal sacrifice, which of these describes the actions at Muzdalifah? Well done, collecting 49 pebbles.

So same thing again now, as we did with the first set, I'm giving you a ritual.

You need to tell me which prophet, which place.

So circle the Kaaba seven times, prophet and place, prophet is Mohamed, place is Mecca, well done.

Eid Al Adha, which prophet, which place.

Ibrahim and Mina.

Sacrifice an animal, which prophet, which place? Ibrahim and Mina.

Collect 49 pebbles prophet and place.

Ibrahim and Muzdalifah.

Stoning the Jamarat pillars, prophet, place.

Prophet is Ibrahim, place is Mina, well done.

Circling the Kaaba seven times, prophet and place, Mohammad and Mecca well done.

Eid Al Adha, prophet and place.

Prophet is Ibrahim well done.

And the place is Mina, excellent.

Sacrifice an animal, which prophet, which place.

Well done Ibrahim and Mina, Collect 49 pebbles, which prophet, which place.

Well done, it's Ibrahim and Muzdalifah.

Stoning the Jamarat pillars, prophet and place.

Ibrahim and Mina, well done.

So we're now going to return that table we started earlier.

I want you to add three rows to it, Muzdalifah, Mina and Mecca, and then complete it in the same way.

So act of rituals and then tell me the religious significance of those rituals.

Pause the video now, please, and then unpause the video and join me for feedback once you've had a good go at that task.

Excellent, so in Muzdalifah, you have hopefully noted down that 49 pebbles are collected and that's to prepare for the next ritual, which follows in the footsteps of Ibrahim.

At Mina, you've noted down those three significant things, stoning the Jamarat pillars, celebrating Eid al Adha which includes the animal sacrifice.

And then you've noted that recalls Ibrahim stoning the devil and symbolises their own rejection of evil, encourages Muslims to reflect upon Ibrahim's example of submission in him was prepared to sacrifice his son Ishmael for Allah.

And it helps Muslims to recall that Allah provided an animal for Ibrahim to sacrifice in place of Ishmael and Mecca, circling the Kaaba seven times again, following in the footsteps of the prophet Mohammed, pause the video, now, if you need to do some corrections, some amendments or additions to your work, make sure that your theology work is as good as it possibly can be.

Again, you've learned a terrific amount today.

You are now an expert in the rituals of Hajj.

You can tell me what a ritual is, what Hajj is, the story of Ibrahim, the rituals, the actions that Muslims perform during Hajj and what the religious significance is behind those things that is high level stuff.

So well done, to prove that you can do it to yourself and to feel good that you can do it.

Have a go at that quiz to check what you have learned.

If you want to share your work with Oak National Academy, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, using the information you can see on your screens there.

It has been an absolute pleasure teaching you again today.

And I very much look forward to spending some more time with you in the future.

Thank you and goodbye.