The Spirit of Hajj

The Spirit of Hajj

1992 6 June 7-9 The Spirit of Hajj (1148) Hajj may be defined as a rehearsal for purposeful living. Such was lbrahim’s life when he fulfilled the divine mission 4000 year ago; living a purposeful life, he set an ideal example for posterity. The stages lbrahim had to go through in the process are what are symbolically observed by a Haji. During a specified period a Haji repeats the historic events of Ibrahim’s life, thus renewing his zeal to emulate him. He will reflect in his living what Ibrahim had done in his time.

The rituals of Hajj are, in reality, the different stages of this purposeful kind of life. What one has to go through, having opted for such a life, had already been experienced in totality by Ibrahim. In every age, the faithful have to repeat the entire ritual in order to live a similar life. The true Haji is one who performs the rites of Hajj with this intention, and experiencing such sentiments.

A purposeful life demands first of all, a conscientious decision. This is outwardly reflected in the Haji’s resolve to perform the prescribed rituals clothed in ihram. Another prerequisite is the expenditure of money for God’s cause. Movement is a must for the fulfillment of a purpose; its pursuit entails traveling from one place to another in order to visit Hijaz. A Haji reflects upon this when he spends his honestly earned money on the journey he undertakes.

A sense of purposeful implies a focal point around which one’s life is to be arranged. A Haji prepares himself for this by circumambulating the Ka’aba, for a life such as Ibrahim led necessitates constant activity. A Haji covers the distances between Safa and Marwa at a quickened pace to demonstrate his willingness for active participation.

A man with a purpose willingly sacrifices whatever is necessary to attain his goal. A Haji shows such willingness by sacrificing an animal. A man with a purpose also allies himself with men with a common cause in order to make his movement stronger and more effective. A Haji on the Plain of Arafat demonstrates along with others the same feeling of unity and solidarity.

Hajj is not the end. It is just the beginning. It begins in the places of Hajj and completes its cycle with the return of the Haji to the activities of his day-to-day existence.

Ibrahim’s vision was one of dawah and reform. His was a divine mission, to which he devoted his whole life. Hajj, in fact, is neither more nor less than the resolve to revive the sunnah of Ibrahim. The true Haji is the one who returns from his pilgrimage filled with this resolve and the accompanying appropriate sentiments.

Ibrahim spent a long time in Iraq preaching God’s religion. But the people there were so deep in the cult of polytheism that they “Were not willing to believe in the one God. They had been under the polytheistic influence of their culture for so many centuries that the only solution to the problem lay in raising an entirely new community whose members should be free of this influence. There being then no perversion of their character through the materialistic culture of their surroundings, they would accept the concept of one God, and become the upholders of true religion.

In order to raise such a community, Ibrahim settled his son, Ismail, in the desert of Arabia. It was there, cut off from civilization and in natural surroundings that a new race called Ismaelites came into being. These are the same people who believed in the last Prophet and entered the fold of Islam. Deriving strength from their unitedness, they brought about a revolution on the basis of monotheism all over the then inhabited world.

There is again a need today to revive the tradition of Ibrahim to serve the ends of daw‘ah. Once again there is a need for a team of missionary workers to spread the message of Islam throughout the length and breadth of the globe. The time has once again come for people to give their sons in the service of the faith, just as Ibrahim gave his son for the cause of God.

History was made before with just such a sacrifice. And history will only repeat itself today if a similar sacrifice is made for God’s religion.

New opportunities are opening up for the propagation of God’s religion. Various facts are responsible for creating a desire to know the divine truth. Now is the time for Muslims to avail of the opportunity to visit the different countries of the world, carrying with them the message of this divine truth. But this opportunity will not be availed for the simple reason that we do not have sufficient trained persons who could effectively undertake this task.

Judging by the present state of affairs, it is clear what we have to do to revive the tradition of Ibrahim. The first and most important step is to open a large-scale training institute for dawah workers. There, in addition to the comparative study of religions, they would learn to speak and write foreign languages, and would be taught the history of the different countries and races. Having equipped themselves with the necessary knowledge, they would then spread themselves right across the world, just as the Muslims did in the early stages of the propagation of Islam.

It would, of course, be a great sacrifice on the part of parents to have their sons admitted to an institution of this kind. But if the tradition of Ibrahim is to be revived, such a sacrifice will be absolutely necessary. Taking their sons there would be, for the Hajis professing their faith in the tradition of Ibrahim, like setting them in the infertile valleys of Arabia. (14:37)

Today, a Haji need not take his son to a desert to settle him. What he must do is remove his son from such employment as will bring him only personal, material gains, and place him in the service of deen (religion). He should, moreover impart Islamic knowledge to his son, along with a knowledge of contemporary languages and other useful subjects. He should then give him the opportunity to emerge from his surrounding in order to go into the world where he will in the most forceful manner attract the attention ‘of large numbers of people to the divine truth.

Today, Islam needs fresh members for its team. Assembling a new team means making the kind of sacrifice that Ibrahim made. What else are the rites of Hajj but a universal proclamation of this great need? Is there anyone who will respond to this call? Is there anyone who will volunteer for this cause and revive the traditions of Ibrahim so that the history of Islam may be rewritten?

This is the spirit of Hajj. This is the spirit which must be kept alive by the Hajis.