THE MESSAGE AND MEANING OF HAJ — God-oriented Life

physical journey, due to its internal spirit it becomes a meaningful one that takes the pilgrim to a high spiritual plane. During the journey, the pilgrim calls out the following words: God is the Greatest! God is the Greatest! There is none worthy of worship other than Him! And God is the Greatest! God is the Greatest! And all praise is for Him! By constantly repeating these words, a consciousness develops in a haji (Haj pilgrim) that all greatness is for God alone. In comparison to God, everything else pales into complete insignifi cance. The greatness of everything else is only so that it can be drowned or surrendered in this greatest of all glory — the glory of God. This is the real secret of social consciousness. You cannot have unity and harmonious collective living where every person thinks that he/she is greater than the others. On the other hand, when everyone surrenders their sense of individual greatness, you will fi nd unity and harmony. Disunity is a result of the dispersal of greatness and unity is a result of the acknowledgement of a single greatness. People can live harmoniously together only when everyone surrenders their sense of greatness before a single being. When people from diff erent parts of the world arrive close to the place of pilgrimage, they remove their distinctive dress and don the same sort of simple, unstitched white clothes — a uniform known as ihram. This symbolizes that they have now entered a new world. By removing their national costume or personal dress, it is as if they are shedding the lifestyles that they had been conditioned into. They are now stirred by a powerful God-consciousness, being dyed in the hue of God. As we set off for Haj, we feel that we are journeying towards God. It is as if we have left our world and are entering the world of God. Putting divine clothes on their bodies, the pilgrims begin to utter divine words. Labbaik! Allahuma Labbaik! ‘Here I am at Your service! Here I am at Your service!’, they cry out, as if God had called them and they are rushing towards Him. The cries of Labbaik! Labbaik! ‘Here I am at Your service! Here I am at Your service!’ resound continuously from the pilgrims all around. When the pilgrim cries, Labbaik! ‘Here I am!’, he doesn’t mean to say that he has come to settle in Makkah.