Islam
It is customary (but not required) for men who complete the hajj to shave their heads as a reminder that they have been washed clean of all prior sins. Women (and some men) cut only a lock of hair rather than shaving the entire head. The word tonsure is used less often to describe these Islamic practices.
Read more about this topic: Tonsure
Famous quotes containing the word islam:
“During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.”
—Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)
“Sooner or later we must absorb Islam if our own culture is not to die of anemia.”
—Basil Bunting (1900–1985)
“The exact objectives of Islam Inc. are obscure. Needless to say everyone involved has a different angle, and they all intend to cross each other up somewhere along the line.”
—William Burroughs (b. 1914)