Iḥrām
Definition
Ihram is the sacred state that the pilgrim enters at the miqat (the designated boundary) by the intention and the declaration of the talbiya — and by donning the two plain white garments that replace ordinary clothing for men. In ihram, the pilgrim is forbidden from sexual relations, hunting, perfume, and certain other ordinary pleasures. Al-Ghazali describes ihram as the most vivid physical symbol in the entire pilgrimage: the white sheets resemble a burial shroud, the stripping of ordinary clothes mirrors the stripping of worldly identity, and the prohibition of ordinary pleasures rehearses the total renunciation that death will impose. The pilgrim in ihram is practising death.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
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