AFTER HAJ A Changed Personality

AFTER HAJ T HE personality that should emerge after performing Haj is one in which a two-fold activity is set in motion, one form being external; and the other, internal. ‘External activity’ here refers to the dawah work which a person undertakes after having seen the places where Prophet Abraham, Ismael and Prophet Muhammad with his companions spent much of their lives or in this divine task. Until then, the pilgrim had just heard about these places, but when he physically goes to those places, he receives a great inspiration to continue this prophetic mission. Haj removes one completely from one’s worldly environment so that one can completely concentrate on God. ‘Internal activity’ here means a heightened sensitivity and awareness towards piety, self-control, the avoidance of violence and aggression and the need to lead life devoted to God, instead of one devoted to selfglorifi cation. In other words, during and after Haj, the haji undergoes a continuous process of de-conditioning. Lesson of Piety In a verse about Haj, the Quran says: The pilgrimage is in the appointed months. Whoever intends to perform it during them must abstain from indecent speech, from all wicked conduct, and from quarrelling while on the pilgrimage. Whatever good you may do, God is aware of it. Make provision for yourselves — but surely, the best of all provision is God-consciousness. Always be mindful of Me, you that are endowed with understanding. THE QURAN 2: 197 Haj, for the Arabs, was an ethnic festival, not an expression of the worship of the one God. In pre-Islamic times, Haj was associated with all sorts of practices that are characteristic of tribal or ethnic festivals.