Practical and philosophical lessons of Hajj

" Once you entered this Holy House of Allah you will feel an extraordinary feeling of peace, tranquillity and peace of mind: Nowhere in the world can you enjoy that kind of peace of mind. You will experience real meaning of peace of mind in the inner circle of this divine house. When you drink a cup of Zam Zam water you will feel that you had coolest water on earth."

by Dr Rifai, Naleemi

(October 15, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Hajj is really a religious experience of a life time: People who have already been to Hajj certainly should have different types of experience to talk about and to share with others. It is beyond human words to explain spiritual experience of Hajj rather every one should make Hajj journey and go through all different steps of Hajj pilgrimage to enjoy and experience real spiritual meanings and inner dimensions of this great ritual of Islam. For some Muslims this is a life time dream. Since adulthood many Muslims make intention and dream to go on Hajj pilgrimage. Many Muslims all over the world save money to go on this life time journey. Every pious and righteous Muslim dream that one day his dream will come through: These days rich and able Muslims all over the world are making preparations to go on Hajj pilgrimage: Why do rich and physically able Muslims have to perform Hajj pilgrimage once in a life time: What are the social and religious benefits of performing Hajj? What does it mean for a religious person? Why Muslims take such efforts and pains to fulfil this religious duty in a life time: For Non-Muslims brothers around us it may be difficult to understand and comprehend the rationales and logics behind this Islamic pilgrimage. I will try to relate some of these rationales in this article:

Preparation for hajj makes some excitement and happiness in each Muslim household. If some one goes on hajj journey friends and family members visit him and say him farewell and some people invite him for special feasts. Besides one who goes on hajj seeks forgiveness from others for any mistake and wrong doing he may have committed. This is one of occasions that Muslim families and friends come together and exchange their brotherly sentiment and feeling among Muslims. Nowadays Hajj journey has been made easy due to the technological advancement in transport facilities. Moreover, Saudi Government has made many facilities at Hajj ritual sites. Therefore, people perform hajj rituals without much hardship now than a few decades back. However, in previous decades when some one wanted to go on Hajj he had to make long preparation for many months: Hajj journey itself would take more than three/ four month times: there was no guarantee in those days that he would return home after such long journey and therefore, he would say farewell as if it was for good. All praise to Allah hajj journey is now made easy than before: yet throughout hajj rituals every one has to go through some difficulties but those are not unbearable.

Like all other Islamic rituals and forms of worship the general philosophy behind Hajj performance is to purify souls and minds of Muslim people who make Hajj pilgrimage. By visiting the House of Allah each and every Muslim submits his or her Will to Almighty Allah: Mainly full submission to the Will of Allah is what is expected by performing various rituals in different steps of Hajj: Moreover, Hajj is a human response to divine call. It is a divine wisdom that Allah wanted international Muslims community should gather at His house once year. It is divine instruction that Almighty Allah made the prophet Ibrahim /Abraham to call people to visit the House of Allah “And proclaim to Mankind the Hajj pilgrimage. They will come to you on foot and on every learn camel. They will come from every deep and distant narrow valley.” (Hajj: 28). This is the call that Prophet Abraham made to people hundreds of years before our prophet Muhammad: in reply to this divine call each and every able Muslim goes to hajj and says “Here I’m at your service O Lord. Here I’m. Here I’m there is No partner to you. Here I’m. Truly, the praise and favour is yours and the domination. There is no partner to you”. Moreover, each and every Muslim goes to Hajj to remember Almighty Allah and thank him for all his bounties. Therefore, primary purpose of hajj pilgrimage is remembrance of Allah on appointed days of this holy month and by doing so each and every Muslim who goes on hajj journey purifies his/her heart from all types of sins and become spiritually pure person It is reported in one of Prophetic tradition that one who goes for Hajj with pure intention and performs all hajj ritual without committing any sins will be free of all sins like a new born baby. Purification of hearts and minds from all sins is one of the primary objectives of this hajj pilgrimage and that is why each and every Muslim tries his best to achieve this goal through this pilgrimage. However, the real reword for this journey will be given for these pilgrims in the hereafter like rewards of all other good deeds.

There are many spiritual lessons to learn from Hajj rituals. Behind every hajj ritual there is wisdom and there is a lesson to learn. When you leave your home, properties and all your children and family members it should remind you of death: As you leave all these one day you are going to leave this world forever. This is the first lesson that Muslim learns from hajj journey: Moreover when you wear two piece of white cloth it should remind you of your last cloth you are going to have once you are in. Ihram cloth is a symbolic cloth reminds of the death that one day me and you are going to taste and it also reminds you of certain things become unlawful once you wear it. Once you are in the holy land of Makka you should have the sacred feeling of entering the most sacred land on this earth. Lands of all prophets and lands of holy revelation and indeed lands of first ever mosque built on earth for the worship of Almighty Allah. “Verily. The first House of worship appointed for mankind was that at Bakkah (Makkah) full blessing and guidance for all mankind 3: 196. Islamic historical accounts record that Masjid al-Haram is first ever place of worship that Almighty has chosen and commanded initially His angels to build it and then it was renewed and renovated by most beloved prophets on earth: This city is so greater city that is why this Holy city is described as the Mother of all cities according to Islamic Historical accounts: It is the city that prominent prophets lived and it is the city that last prophet was born. It is the city that many historical miracles occurred. It is the city that changed the human density with the message of Islam;

Once you entered this Holy House of Allah you will feel an extraordinary feeling of peace, tranquillity and peace of mind: Nowhere in the world can you enjoy that kind of peace of mind. You will experience real meaning of peace of mind in the inner circle of this divine house. When you drink a cup of Zam Zam water you will feel that you had coolest water on earth. When you meet and greet different people from different nations you will feel international brotherhood of humanity at this house. You will feel a close bond of real human unity, human love, human equality and brotherhood: You will meet black and white of all casts, all races and all nationalities: Nowhere in the world could one meet such mixture different humanity. Sanctity and Holiness of this Great House of Allah not only encompass human beings even animals, Birds, and plants are included in the sacredness of this House. That is why hunting and killings are prohibited in these Holy places of Allah. Moreover, when you entre this holy city it reminds you the sacrifices that prophet Ibrahim made in this holy city to establish Oneness of Almighty on earth and it will also vividly remind you also about history, life struggle and sacrifices of our beloved prophet Mohammed who strived relentlessly to establish foundation of Tawhid in the same foot steps of Prophet Ibrahim. Most of hajj rituals are enshrined with Abrahamic faith and rituals. It reminds you that prophetic message of last prophet Muhammad is nothing but culmination of all previous prophets’ messages. Your visit to the Prophet mosque in Madina will remind you all dedications that prophet made to establish this religion on earth. It will remind your efforts and sacrifices of the companions of prophet. When you are running in between Safa and marwa it will remind you of the sacrifices of Hajara. When you stand in Arafat Mountain it will remind you of Mahshar day.



Who do you have do Thawaf seven times? Why do you need to run between Safa and Marwa? Why do you need to kiss Blackstone? Why do you need to stay in Mina and Arafath? Who do you need to do other rituals? Sometime for a modern man it may be difficult to comprehend inner meanings of all these rituals. Indeed, rationales and wisdoms of these rituals are elaborated in detail in some Islamic legal books yet, the first and foremost reason in doing these rituals is that we obey divine command and we follow the footsteps of our prophet and there may be many social and spiritual benefits in performance of these rituals. It is relevant here to note What Caliph Umar’s logical reason for kissing Blackstone. It is reported in chapter of Hajj by Imam Bukhari that once Caliph Umar approached the Blackstone and kissed it said “I know that you are a mere stone you neither harm or benefit have I not seen the prophet kissing you I would not have kissed you” This is the logical reasoning of many of these Hajj rituals: We do it because these are traditions of prophets and our last prophet did it and Allah has commanded us to do so.

Yet, I know some people personally benefited from Hajj journeys that cured them from some physical illness and some of these diseases are incurable by modern medicine. This is a true incident and it is reported in one of reliable Islamic books: A Moroccan Lady called Laila suffered from breast cancer and she was seen by many good doctors. She had been to many hospitals in Europe to treat it. With all modern facilities in modern medicine they could not cure her. Even doctors advised her husband her cancer has already spread. It would be better for him to take her back to Morocco so that she could die in home place: Instead they decided to go hajj and supplicate in front of Allah to provide them with cure for this incurable disease. Here in the House of Allah this lady makes her final supplication with full remorse for her all past sins and mistakes: She submits O.Allah doctors could not cure me it is from you alone that one finds real and eternal cure! She remembers saying of the prophet that “Zam Zam water is for whatever cause you drink for”. She started drinking a lot of Zam Zam water and begun to rub her breast with Zam Zam water. She repeated this some times: For her surprise and for her husband’s surprise she was completely cured after a few days: when she came back she told this to doctors and they were shocked to see all her scars disappeared. They wanted to examine her once again and they did it but could not find any sign of more cancer. This is a real story that one who suffered relates it. There are many reliable narrations like this from many people. There is no doubt human supplications are answered in the House of Allah. It is only in the Holy city of makka that human supplications are answered in fifteen places. Therefore, it is reminded that people who go on Hajj this year benefits from these supplications. There are much significance attached to some other rituals and places of Hajj: It is beyond this short article to elaborate all here. Any discussion on this should cover historical and legal, practical aspects of different stages of Hajj: All these are beyond this article:


This is a divine institution that attracts people from all over the world: All kind of people come together with one mission in their hearts and minds. That mission is nothing but to declare the Oneness and Greatness of Almighty Allah in one louder voice: Millions of people all over these two holy cities declare Greatness of Allah in one choice: This is done day and night for two weeks: This divine institution equates rich and poor, black and white, literate and illiterate, Arabs and Non-Arab and rulers and people. Big and small, teachers and students, boss and servants doctors and patients all in same cloth and all are equal in this holy place. No pride of race, culture, colour, ethnicity, language, profession or family. All nationals, all ethnic groups, all races with different languages come together in one place every year with one purpose: It is not for any worldly gain: It is not for any political agenda: It is not for any academic purpose rather it is only for the sake of Almighty Allah: it is not for anything but to purify your self from all your past mistake and beg for divine forgiveness in the most holiest place on earth. There is no parallel for such a gathering in human history: No other religion has such gathering similar to this nature. This is indeed, a Universal gathering that Human souls form every nook and comer of world desires to come not for any purpose than purify themselves from all sort of human weakness and human mistakes: which ideology has similar universal congregation in meaning? Which philosophy on earth has similar gathering with such universal scale? Rich and poor, Rulers and people all in two pieces of white cloth and all are bowing down to Allah with one voice: Kings/ presidents/ Prime Minsters and all over VIPS do not have specific seats or chairs. All have to bow down in one voice.

People make many kinds of trips and excursions. Some makes business trips for international destinations to enhance their business and to accumulate money and wealth: Some others make holiday trips for sight seeing and to enjoy their honeymoons and sometimes to get pleasure in picnics and spend times in holiday resorts: some other people make educational excursion to learn about historical and scientific facts: Some other makes archaeological expeditions to dig historical places and find out ancient antiques of old age and historical treasures. In all these expeditions people engage in material and physical pleasure seeking. Whereas Islamic Hajj journey is a spiritual pursuit that believing men and women are seeking only divine love and pleasure. This is a totally different journey that Muslims make to seek pleasure of Allah alone and to purify themselves. I do not think that any other world religions have similar spiritual journeys as Muslims do.

This is an obligation that you do it once in your life time. You do not need to do it again and again. Unless, you are doing it some one else. It is reported that more than one third of people who do Hajj every year do repeated Hajj. It may be second time or third time or more times. Money and wealth spent on optional hajj and Umara can be used for something more important for Muslim communities. Muslims are lagging behind in educations: This money could be used to establish schools, Institutes, Healthcare centre, vocational training centre rather than spending money on optional Hajj and Ummar. Greater interests of Muslims communities at large should be given priority over optional obligations; unfortunately, due to lack of comprehensive Islamic knowledge or due to misunderstanding of some priorities of Islamic teaching Muslims communities international give priority for less important duties over more significant duties. Especially when Muslims live in Non- Islamic countries they should have priorities in their communal obligations: We should be very much thankful to Allah that we have now all facilities to do Hajj so easily without many difficulties: but in the past there were some Islamic scholars that they wrote about Hajj and its rulings meticulously yet they could not have money and opportunities to fulfil this great obligations. But Allah has made it easy for us: Surely we all should be grateful to Allah and make use of this golden opportunity to get maximum spiritual benefit out of it. This journey has been a turning point in many people life. Great scholars, professionals who reverted to Islam made this journey and they have spoken their experience in holy cities as memorable days: May Allah bless all those people who go on Hajj journey this year: May Allah make it easy for them! May Allah bless them with safe return! May Allah reward them for all their efforts!