The Hajj is associated with the life of Islamic prophet Muhammad from the 7th century, but the ritual of pilgrimage to Mecca is considered by Muslims to stretch back thousands of years to the time of Abraham. During Hajj, pilgrims join processions of hundreds of thousands of people, who simultaneously converge on Mecca for the week of the Hajj, and perform a series of rituals: each person walks counter-clockwise seven times around the Ka'aba (the cube-shaped building and the direction of prayer for the Muslims), runs back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, drinks from the Zamzam Well, goes to the plains of Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, spends a night in the plain of Muzdalifa, and performs symbolic stoning of the devil by throwing stones at three pillars. The pilgrims then shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, and celebrate the three-day global festival of Eid al-Adha.
Pilgrims can also go to Mecca to perform the rituals at other times of the year. This is sometimes called the "lesser pilgrimage", or Umrah. However, even if they choose to perform the Umrah, they are still obligated to perform the Hajj at some other point in their lifetime if they have the means to do so, because Umrah is not a substitute for Hajj.
English Civil War
The English Civil War happened in the middle 17th century. The term civil war is a war where the sides involved in the fighting are from the same country.
At the centre, there was a struggle between King Charles I and the Parliament of England over how England should be ruled. The King wanted to rule without Parliament telling him what to do. At first Parliament wanted to reduce the King's power, but later it decided that the country did not need a king. King Charles's supporters were known as the Royalists, and were nicknamed "Cavaliers". Parliament's supporters were known as the Parliamentarians, and were nicknamed "Roundheads".
From 1639 to 1653, there was fighting in England, Scotland and Ireland, three separate countries that were ruled by the same king. The fighting that took place in each of these countries broke out at different times and for different reasons. In England, it lasted from 1642 to 1651. Some people think of this as one big war, while others think of it as three separate wars: the First English Civil War (1642-46), the Second English Civil War (1648) and the Third English Civil War (1649-51). The wars are also sometimes known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, including the Bishops' Wars in Scotland in 1639 to 1640 and the Irish Rebellion from 1641 to 1653.
The Parliamentarians won the war. Charles I was captured, put on trial and in 1649 he was executed. His son Charles II then tried to take over the country, but lost and escaped abroad. As a result, the three kingdoms spent 11 years without a king. For most of this time, they were run by Oliver Cromwell, a former Parliamentarian general. After Cromwell's death, the monarchy was restored under Charles II. However, kings were never as powerful as they had been before the war.
The reasons for the fighting were mostly to do with power, money and religion.
In the 17th century, the king had a lot of power over England with one exception: he could only raise taxes if the English Parliament agreed to it. This was because Parliament represented the gentry (middle class), and no king could raise taxes without the help of the gentry. Scotland and Ireland also had parliaments, but with not nearly as much power. When King James VI of Scotland inherited the throne (becoming James I of England), he disliked having to work with parliament. He was more used to ruling in Scotland, where the king was far more powerful. James I also spent more money than previous kings and queens.
Both James I and his son Charles I believed in the "divine right of kings", meaning that they believed that God gave kings the right to do anything they wanted over their lands. But there was a difference between the two: James I accepted that he could not get what he wanted all the time, whereas Charles I always wanted to get his own way.
After becoming king in 1625, Charles I quickly got into arguments with members of Parliament. From 1629 to 1640, he shut Parliament down and ruled without it. This was legal, as long as he did not raise taxes. He used some legal tricks to raise money without bringing back Parliament. For example, he used "ship money", a tax that had been paid by coastal towns in times of war. Charles I started charging it to all towns when there was no war. This was unpopular, but judges decided that it was legal. The period from 1629 to 1640 was known as the "Eleven Years' Tyranny" by the king's enemies.
In the previous century, the Protestant Reformation and England's break with the Catholic Church had encouraged new ideas and struggles. In England, there was movement called the Puritans, because they wanted a "pure" religion. They believed that the Church of England was too much like the Roman Catholic Church it had broken away from. In particular, they did not want the church to have bishops. There was a similar movement in Scotland. The Church of Scotland also had bishops, but it had many differences with the Church of England.
On the other hand, Charles I and Archbishop William Laud tried to change the Church of England. They brought back incense, bells and decorations to churches. These were things that were found in Catholic churches. This worried the people who hated Catholicism, especially the Puritans. Charles I also married a French princess, Henrietta Maria, who was a Catholic.
In 1637, Charles I tried to introduce a new prayer book in Scotland that was very similar to the English Book of Common Prayer, without asking Scotland's Parliament or church. Many Scots hated the prayer book, seeing it as an attempt to change the religion of their country. Riots broke out in Edinburgh, and unrest spread throughout Scotland. A rebellion movement began in Scotland, which became known as the Covenanters.
In 1639, the rebellion led to the Bishops' Wars in Scotland. The war cost so much money that the King called a new Parliament in England to raise taxes. But the members of Parliament did not want to work with Charles, and instead they complained about the king's actions (such as ship money) during the "Eleven Years' Tyranny". He shut Parliament down again, but the King struggled to stop the Covenanters without new taxes. Another problem was that many English people agreed with the Covenanters and did not want to help fight them. The Covenanter army invaded England and marched into Northumberland and County Durham. They refused to leave unless they were paid money.
To raise that money, the King had no choice but to call another Parliament. This became known as the "Long Parliament". Over two-thirds of the elected members of the Long Parliament were opposed to the king. John Pym was their leader. The Long Parliament passed laws to stop the king from shutting it down and removed many of the king's allies. They even had his friend Earl of Strafford executed.
In 1641, a rebellion broke out in Ireland. The rebellion was caused by Irish Catholics who were fearful of the Protestants in the Long Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters. The King now needed money to fight this rebellion, which strengthened Parliament. Parliament would also took control of the army in 1642.
In January 1642, Charles I marched into Parliament with guards, to arrest five members of Parliament (including Pym) who disagreed with him. The five men found out he was coming and escaped. No king had ever entered the main chamber of Parliament before, and many members were shocked he would do this. It was disaster for Charles. He failed to catch his enemies, and many members of Parliament who had not been enemies of the king became afraid of him. They decided that the only way to protect themselves was a raise an army against the King.