General index:

Publisher's Preface:

In 2009 I went to the holy places of Islam for the
Major and minor pilgrimages, as well as for the Holy Visit to the Messenger of Allah #, in Medina. On that occasion I received as a gift from the 'Harmonia travel' agency a handbook in Arabic 'for the Hajj, the Umrah and the Holy Visit', written by a Sheykh I knew, having been Imam of the Reggio Emilia mosque, Muhammad Hammad. Finding this guide very useful, I decided to publish in Italian, with a parallel Arabic text, a 'guide for pilgrimages' which contained it, and which at the same time contained a traditional text concerning in particular the invocations to be addressed during the sacred rites, that is, the eighth part of An-Nawawi's Kitâbu l-adnkâr ('Book of Formulas of Remembrance of Allah'), dedicated to the Invocations and Dnikr formulas specific to the Pilgrimage. The result is the practical booklet that you have in your hands, and which we hope will worthily fill an evident gap on this topic in the Italian publishing field.
It is important to point out from the outset that this book is merely an operational support for the pilgrim. For those who wish to delve deeper into the study of the rites of Islamic pilgrimage, as well as their spiritual and metaphysical meaning, a practical guide cannot be enough'; we will rather recommend the beautiful The initiatory doctrine of pilgrimage, by Gilis, which we published in 2007.
The first part of this guide is made up of Sheykh Hammâd's text that we were talking about, and which we consider very useful; it is presented as in the original edition by 'Harmonia travel', except for several additions by the author, and a revision (including further additions and some changes) agreed with him. In its conciseness, this text has considerable merit: without pretensions to exhaustiveness it says the essential, leaving the rest to the indispensable relationship with the guides in charge of the pilgrims, and to personal in-depth analysis.
The second part aims to provide material for an initial in-depth study, which will be, in accordance with the practical nature of this guide of ours, eminently operational, since An-Nawawi's text concerns above all the
prophetic, or in any case traditional, 'invocations' relating to the Hajj, the Umrah and the Holy Visit to Medina: if he wishes, the pilgrim will be able to memorize these invocations, in order to enrich his own 'Search' for Allah (this being the etymological meaning of the word Hajj) with the dưa ('invocation'), a very effective tool for obtaining the spiritual advantages of the Pilgrimage, and very profitable for intellectual concentration.
These two parts of the 'Practical Guide' are not in opposition; they are rather complementary, and the reader-pilgrim will be able to take what he needs both from the "practical" approach of the first part and from the invocations set out in the second.
We ensured that the text in both cases was bilingual, with the original Arabic preceding, one passage after another, the Italian translation: this will be useful both for Muslims who are entirely or predominantly Italian-speaking (who often
they 'chew' a little Arabic, and so they can go
to the original and learn the Blessed Words of the dua reported), both for those predominantly Arabic speakers (many of whom in turn know Italian to some extent, and can learn the translation of these Holy Words).
May Allah accept this effort of ours, making it a useful tool for pilgrims to His Holy House and the places of Hajj, and for those who visit the illuminated City, Medina, and the fragrant Tomb of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah 3.
And Praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds.