The Message of Hajj
Before 1982, I had only read about Hajj in books. In 1982, I was blessed with the honour of performing Hajj myself. From both study and experience, the message of Hajj that I came to understand is this: a person should run toward his Lord, making his Creator the centre and focus of his life. Although Hajj is performed over a few days, it offers a lesson for a lifetime. It serves as a symbolic guide for the entire journey of a human being.
When a person leaves his homeland and his household to go on the journey of Hajj, he feels that he is travelling towards God. He is taking himself out of his worldly life and entering into the world of God. He is going to the place where God’s house (Baitullah) is. Where the Prophet of God and his Companions’ great deeds are recorded. Where there are signs of those people who lived for God and who gave their lives in the way of God. Along with that, the pilgrim feels that he is going to visit that place which God chose especially for the revelation of His final guidance.
In this way, the first effect of Hajj is (or should be) that the pilgrim’s mind becomes God-oriented. He starts remembering God. His mind gets filled with thoughts about God. If until now his thoughts were going towards his own self, now his thoughts start moving towards God.
Whatever a person thinks about, their emotions get shaped accordingly. If you strive for your personal goals, your mind will revolve around your own self. But when a person is going towards God, then his mind connects to God. He starts remembering things related to God. He thinks that God created me. He gave me all kinds of opportunities. He made me capable of working in this world. With His help, it became possible for me to gather the resources through which today I am going towards Baitullah. Then, finally, that day will come upon me when death will arrive, and I will be presented directly in the court of God.
These things turn the journey of the pilgrim into a truly spiritual journey. Outwardly, he is on a physical journey, but in terms of his inner feelings, he is going through high levels of a meaningful, spiritual journey.
When the time to enter the Haram comes near, all pilgrims don on a new type of uniform. Every person puts on the same kind of unstitched clothes (ihram) on their body. This is a practical reminder that the pilgrim has now entered a new world. By removing his national dress, he is as if separating himself from the way of life that his environment had taught him. He brings upon himself the feeling that God wants a person to have. Millions of people leave their own colours and get coloured in the colour of God.
After putting on the divine clothing of ihram on the body, the pilgrim’s tongue also starts speaking divine words. Now the pilgrim starts raising the call of “Labbaik Labbaik.” As if God was calling him, and he ran to His call and said: “O God, I am present, O God, I am present.” The act of saying Labbaik Labbaik continues continuously by the pilgrim.
Saying “I am present” does not mean that I am present to live in Makkah. This is not a sentence of leaving the homeland, but a sentence of leaving the way of life. It means that I am present for your obedience. I am ready for whatever command You give, I will stand on it with all my heart and soul. The declaration of Labbaik is made by the person at the place of Hajj, but he has to practically prove it when he returns back to his homeland, in the days and nights where he lives his life.
When a person reaches Makkah, the first act he does is the Tawaf (circumambulation) of the Kaaba. Baitullah is a vast mosque. In the middle of its wide courtyard stands the historical building of the Kaaba, which was built by Prophet Abraham. The pilgrim walks around this Kaaba in the courtyard of Baitullah. He circles it seven times. In this way, he is symbolically demonstrating the action that he will always move around God. He will give God a central place in his life and will live his whole life around God or a God-oriented life.
After Tawaf, the pilgrim performs Sa’i between the hills of Safa and Marwah. He goes from Safa to Marwah and then from Marwah to Safa. In this way, he walks fast and performs the Sa’i seven times. This too is a symbolic act. It is an expression of his determination to put his efforts in the way of God. During this act, apparently, the pilgrim is moving between two hills, Safa and Marwah, but in reality, this Sa’i is a symbol of struggle in the path of God, performed in the form of a repetition of a historical event.
The most important worship during Hajj is the one called Wuquf-e-Arafat. That is, reaching the plain of Arafat and staying there. This is a very strange scene. People from all over the world, saying “,” (I am present, O God, I am present), and wearing the same simple dress, gather in the vast and open field of Arafat. This is like a worldly rehearsal of standing before God in the field of resurrection. A gathering like this in Arafat reminds the pilgrim of the Day of Judgement. It makes him feel the biggest reality, and if a person really becomes aware of this truth, then his life completely changes. All his affairs start getting corrected automatically.
One of the acts during Hajj is to throw pebbles at Jamrah Aqabah. This is a symbolic act. By throwing pebbles at Jamrah, the pilgrim renews his commitment that he will hit Satan the same way and push him far away from himself. His relationship with Satan is not one of friendship, but one of enmity and opposition. If a person turns this symbolic act into a real action, if he truly pushes Satan away from himself, then all the evils within him will be removed. Because every kind of evil is created within a person by the teachings of Satan.
After this, the pilgrim sacrifices an animal in the path of God. This sacrifice is also a symbolic act. As mentioned in the Quran, it is counted among the Sh’air of God (symbols of God). The sacrifice of the animal is a symbol of sacrificing one’s own self. By sacrificing the animal, the pilgrim, through the language of action, promises that he is ready to give everything in the way of God. Even if the time comes that he has to give his own life in the path of God, he will give his life. He will not hesitate to hand over his last precious possession to God.
All India Radio, New Delhi, 18 July 1987.
