History of Hajj

History of Hajj

1985 9 September 4 History of Hajj (717) Abraham was born eleven generations after Noah. God caused a tradition of guidance to ensue from him and chose him for raising a new nation, imbued with a spirit of righteousness, which might assist the final prophet in the accomplishment of his mission (The Quran 2: 124). The mission of other prophets involved no more than full conveyance of the message entrusted to them. The prophet with whom the chain of prophethood was to end, however, had to fulfill one more duty: that of establishing the dominance of the true religion on earth (The Quran 48:28). Only then could the preservation of the last divine scripture to be revealed to man be ensured; possibility of its being destroyed would be eliminated for all time (The Quran 48:28). Other prophets were sent to preach the true religion, but the final prophet was enjoined to establish its supremacy as well.

For this purpose a group of companions was required consisting of people endowed with the highest human qualities, fit to assist the prophet in implementing the divine scheme. Abraham, in bringing his wife Hajra and son Ismail to the uncultivated desert town of ancient Mecca and settling there, was laying the foundations for such a community. There, far from civilization, in simple, natural surroundings, a people would emerge from Abraham’s progeny who were imbued with the highest human qualities; who would view things with clear and objective vision; whose actions would conform to their words; who would be ready to lay down their lives and properties for something they knew to be true. A people as firm as the mountains which surrounded them, as boundless as the vast desert in which they roamed. When this “finest community” had been raised from the barrenness of the desert, God sent the messenger among them for whom Abraham had prayed at the time of the construction of the Ka’bah.

God had willed the birth of a prophet to Abraham’s wife Sarah. This prophet-son was born during Abraham’s lifetime, and was called Isaac. It took two thousand years for the prayer of Abraham that a prophet be sent among Ismail’s progeny, to be realized. Both prophets were destined to fulfill very different historical functions, hence the difference in the timing of their appearance on earth.

The final prophet needed an alert, vital community, fit to play the part allotted to them by God. The formation of this community took over two thousands years. When his people were ready to receive him, the prophet Muhammad was born amongst them, in accordance with the divine scheme. However, the prophetic mission had to continue during this long lapse in time. So it was arranged that prophets be sent continuously in the house of Jacob. Successive prophets continued to spread the word of God among man until the time of the coming of the final prophet approached, and the need for them no longer existed.

According to this scheme Abraham left his homeland, Iraq. He settled one wife, Sarah, in Palestine, where she gave birth to Isaac. His second wife, Hajra, and his son remained in Mecca where they assisted in the construction of the Ka’bah. The divine scheme for universal guidance was thus divided into two stages: an initial one in Palestine and a final one in Hijaz.

After Abraham, Palestine became the first centre of divine guidance. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, John, Jesus and many other prophets were born in its vicinity. Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, was also known as Israel, and his progeny were known as the Israelites. Finally rot set in amongst the Israelites and they failed to mend their ways in spite of repeated solicitations by God’s messengers. Then God deposed them from their position as bearers of divine guidance and the sacred office was transferred to the other branch of the house of Abraham, the Ismailites. The decline of the Israelites coincided exactly with the full development, after a process of two thousand years, of the Ismailites as a people of sufficient energy and dynamism to take on the responsibilities of being God’s standard-bearers on earth. As an outward sign of this transference of responsibility, the direction of worship was altered. All prophets after Abraham had prayed towards Jerusalem. Now the Muslims were commanded to face Mecca instead.