The Message of Hajj

Once every year, at around this time, the hearts of millions of Muslims yearn to visit al Ka'bah, the first house built for worship on Earth. These feelings are like a code carved on the hearts of millions of people all over the globe. Although performing hajj, pilgrimage, is one of the pillars of Islam and a duty ordained upon those who have the physical and financial abilities to do so, these feelings are a lot deeper than an urge to do what should be done; there is more to this worship than being an obligation that needs doing.

The first ten days of thi-lhijjah are the best days of the year; Allah made an oath by the nights of these days at the opening of surah 89, al-Fajr. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) mentioned that no days in the year surpass these ten days of the month of thi-lhijajah and that good deeds in these days are loved by Allah more than deeds done in any other time of the year. That is why, in the first ten days of thi-lhijja, the Prophet (PBUH) taught us to increase remembrance of Allah such as tahmid (praising), takbir (glorification) and tahlil (articulating that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah alone).

It is important to note that the 9th of thi-lhijja, the day of Arafat, is of an even higher status than the rest of these ten days. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) mentioned that no day is viewed by Allah as greater than Arafat. In that day Allah descends to the lowest heaven, in a manner that suits Him the Almighty, praising the Earth's inhabitants, those who came travelling from every corner of the Earth, hoping to be granted Allah's mercy and be spared His wrath. The Prophet (PBUH) confirmed that no other day of the year would witness more people being exempt from Hell-fire than on the day of Arafat. As we can see, during this time of the year, there is a big chance for our sins to be forgiven if we work for it.

A question arises: why has Arafat attained such a high status? Each year, the season of hajj revives many noble meanings and memories of the Prophets of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon them all) who journeyed to the Ka'bah, showing submission and declaring their devotion to the Creator of the universe; the words of Prophet Muhammad's last advice in his farewell khutbah; the lessons from the life of Prophet Ibrahim, his wife Hajar and their son Prophet Isma'il. These days also revive an unexplained, overwhelming sense of longing to this place that seems to run in the blood of millions of people. Pondering upon the reasons behind these special emotions that we feel during this season brings forth some important scenes from the past that this article will highlight:

1. The scene of Ibrahim (PBUH) prostrating to Allalh in a wild desert with no signs of life in it, leaving his young wife and only baby, whom he had always longed for. In doing so, Ibrahim was obeying his Lord's command. So he did not question this divine order that may seem to be harsh according to our logic; his wife and baby could perish. But it did not seem so to Ibrahim who was a living example of absolute trust and submission to Allah. With all the trust he had in Allah, he took the possible measures to protect his family in this situation; he prayed to Allah. He could do no more.
2. The scene of Hajar hurrying after Ibrahim asking him: ''why are you leaving us alone?'', responding to her human logic- she feared she and her child would perish in that desert. But the moment she received Ibrahim's answer that it was Allah's will, she surrendered her heart to Allah and assured herself saying: ''He would never leave us to be harmed''. Although Hajar was certain that neither she nor her baby would perish in the lonely desert, she took all the measures she could in these circumstances to save her child's life; she kept searching hard for a source of water. She showed the positive and correct way of submission to Allah, as her husband did.
3. The last scene we recall here of this family, is that of the old, exhausted, loving father accompanying his son, now in his teens. Both Ibrahim and Isma'il were going through another test. Ibrahim knew for sure, from a repeated inspiration, that Allah was ordering him to kill his only son. Ibrahim was not worried about the wisdom behind the divine order; he knew his Lord well. He was worried about his son-how would he receive this difficult test? To Ibrahim's joy, his son, who was mainly raised by such a wonderful, believing mother, was another example how Islam to Allah should be. Calmly, he said to his father: ''O father do what you are ordered to do, I'll be patient''. Isma'il did not ask Allah, Why? What is the wisdom behind this seemingly hard test? Putting all of his trust in his Lord, Isma'il accepted the divine order without hesitation. The faith of both Isma'il and Ibrahim was tested to the last minute. They took all the steps to carry out the order. Just as the blade of the sharp knife fell upon the neck of the boy, an angel was descended with a sheep to offer as a sacrifice instead. This season, bringing to mind scenes from the life of this family, reminds us each year of how our Islam to Allah should be.

Could these great lessons be the reasons for the deep longing to that place? Actually, the answer is that this season and its place of occurrence, particularly the place called Arafat, where the pilgrims spend the whole of the 9th day of thi-lhijjah, brings forth to the eye of humanity another event that occurred thousands of years ago, or maybe a lot more as we have no records. It concerns and involves the whole of humanity. It connects the very start of mankind to their very end. It clarifies the main purpose of our creation. This great event occurred upon the creation of the father of mankind: Adam and is mentioned in verses 172-174 of chapter 7, 'al-A'raf:

وإذ أخذ ربك من بنى آدم من ظهورهم ذريتهم وأشهدهم على أنفسهم الست بربكم قالوا بلى شهدنا أن تقولوا يوم القيامة إنا كنا عن هذا غافلين * أو تقولوا إنما اشرك ءاباؤنا من قبل وكنا ذرية من بعدهم أفتهلكنا بما فعل المبطلون * وكذلك نفصل الآيات ولعلهم يرجعون

These three verses tell us about the very first moments of our own existence in life, when Allah our Lord extracted the offspring from the backs of Adam's children, then He made them bear witness each other's acknowledgement as they were asked: ''Am I not your Lord?'' and they testified: ''Yes, we bear witness''. Then Allah warned them, lest, on the day of resurrection, they deny the truth that they testified, or blame their disobedience on their forefathers who falsely ascribed partners to God, so that they, the offspring, would escape from being punished for ascribing partners with God by blindly following their people or cultural practices. Then Allah affirms in the last verse that He explains His message clearly to mankind in the Qur'an, so that they may return to the right path. This is a glimpse of the scene of our very first existence that the Qur'an highlighted, leaving, as usual, the details to be explained by the Prophet (PBUH).

The Prophet (PBUH) mentioned that this event of taking the pledge of the offspring of Adam, all members of the human race, occurred in Arafat. It dated to after the descent of Adam and his wife to earth from paradise. This testimony of the human race when Allah brought them into existence as al-tharr (which means the size of the smallest particles), is known as the pledge of natural instinct: mithaq alfitrah. This pledge could explain the deep feeling of the existence of God that is experienced by many people, while for others it might be covered or hidden by many factors.

In the Hadith, the Prophet mentioned that Allah took out from the back/loin of Adam his offspring; then, He took from each of Adam's children to be, their own offspring and so on until He, the All mighty, extracted all those who would live on Earth until the last day, in the form of al-tharr-in the size of very small particles. (After the knowledge we have of how the plan of a whole human is stored in very tiny chromosomes, and how genes are passed from one generation to the other, it becomes easy to grasp this concept).Then, Allah made the offspring in that tiny form able to speak . So, when He asked them ''am I not your Lord?'', they acknowledged that He is their Lord. It was then that they made their pledge to believe in and obey Allah. They said: 'labayka Allahumma labayk' ''O Allah, we responded and obeyed you''. After that, Allah returned them back from where He extracted them. This sentence, 'labayka Allahumma labayk', is the same call which Allah taught Ibrahim to say during hajj and is the same call that Muslims have been taught to repeat a lot during hajj.

The flow of pilgrims each year, during these days, summoned in Arafat on the Day of Hajj, appears to be a replication of the moments when we took the pledge to worship Allah alone. There, thousands of years ago (or even more) all humans, those who are living today, those who were living in the past and those who will be living in the future, all repeated 'labayka Allahumma labayk'. Those same words are repeated every year, in the same place at the same time of the year on the greatest day of the pilgrimage-the day of Arafat.

Thus, this season represents not only the unity of the Muslim Ummah and the universality of Islam, but also the unity of mankind who share one origin, one purpose of creation, one destiny and One Creator; the brotherhood of mankind, men and women of all races and colours. The hajj is a call for peace between all nations.

''O people, We created you all from a single man and a single woman and made you into races and tribes so that you should recognise one another. In Allah's eyes, the most honoured of you are the ones most mindful of Him: Allah is all knowing, all aware.'' (Surah 49: verse 13)

Picture taken from opiejoe.blogspot.com