"All
praise be to Allah, peace and blessings be upon His last Messenger. We are
approaching the season of performing this act of worship; performing Hajj
(Pilgrimage) to Makkah; the most holy place on Earth for Muslims. And we all
know that doing Hajj (performing Pilgrimage) is the fifth Pillar of Islam and
it is considered as Allah SWT has put it in the Holy Quran, one of the greatest
rituals Muslims are performing following the footsteps of all the Prophets and
Messengers starting from Prophet Abraham (PBUH). And we find in the Holy Quran
that this particular place, Muslims facing five times a day and night when they
are performing their prayer and to which they are heading when they are
intending to perform Hajj, is the earliest house established on Earth and it is
the most blessed and most sacred as Allah in the Holy Quran says:
إِنَّ أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِي
بِبَكَّةَ مُبَارَكاً وَهُدًى لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
“The
first House established for the people was that at Bakkah.”[3:96] And Bakkah is
the name of the city itself. So the House meant here is Makkah itself, is the
House of Allah the Almighty in the city of Bakkah.
“A
place Holy and a guidance to all beings.”[3:96] And here we can reflect on
these descriptions used in this verse. Allah the Almighty says that this House
is a blessed house and we can understand that He is the Creator and He can give
blessings to whatever creature, whatever place, whatever thing that He would like
to acknowledge and put His blessings on.
But
when Allah the Almighty says:
وَهُدًى لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
So we
do need to reflect on this. First of all, Allah the Almighty says that it is a
guidance; it is a source of guidance not only for Muslims but for every one,
for all beings. We all understand that all beings are self-evidence of the
existence of Allah the Almighty and His willness. That's why this particular
place is a source of guidance for all beings. And then in the clarifications come
on the following verse when Allah the Almighty says:
فِيهِ
آيَاتٌ بَيِّـنَاتٌ مَّقَامُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمَن دَخَلَهُ كَانَ آمِناً وَلِلّهِ
عَلَى النَّاسِ حِجُّ الْبَيْتِ مَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلاً وَمَن كَفَرَ
فَإِنَّ الله غَنِيٌّ عَنِ الْعَالَمِينَ
"There
in are clear signs, the station of Abraham, and whosever enters it is in
security. It is the duty of all men towards God to come to the house a pilgrim
if he is able to make his way there. As for the unbeliever, God is All Sufficient
nor need any being."[3:97]
So
because of this this particular place has been a source of guidance of all
beings and a blessed house. And in this verse Allah indicates that whomever
turns his face away from responding to the call of Prophet Abraham to perform
Hajj then he is ungrateful towards Allah the Almighty.
وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ الله غَنِيٌّ عَنِ الْعَالَمِينَ
And
this is a very important fact that we need to realize and reflect on. Allah is
not in need of our own acts of worship. And Allah Has commanded us to worship
Him and to fulfill His commandments because these commandments and His teachings
are of our own interests. We are tested, yes, by fulfilling and obeying Allah
the Almighty but this doesn't mean that there are any gains for Allah the
Almighty by our acts of worship. We should have the gains once we do respond to
the commandments of Allah the Almighty. And it is only then that we are going
to experience peace, security and justice. It is only then that we are going to
experience all the blessings and appreciate all the bounties that Allah the
Almighty Has given us. And it is only then that we are going to be grateful and
thankful to Allah the Almighty. And to express this gratitude then we need to
respond to the obligations that Allah the Almighty Has bestowed upon us including
or one of them, one of the essential obligations and one of the pillars of
these obligations, is performing Hajj.
And
that’s why we find in this verse that it is a distinction between those who are
believing truly in Allah the Almighty and being thankful to Him and those who
are unthankful; those who are not expressing their gratitude to Allah the
Almighty and this distinction is drawn by the fulfillment of the obligation of performing
Hajj. But because this religion is a religion of ease and it doesn't add
obligations that unbearable upon the shoulders of the believer then this
particular obligation has been only subject to the person being able being capable
of performing it financially and physically. So if they do have the means then
they must perform the Hajj.
And
this obligation because it is , as I said, it is related to the financial capabilities
and the physical abilities that’s why we find it is only an obligation once
upon life time. And the harder act of worship the less we required to perform.
We have an easy act of worship which is performing the Salah (the prayer) and
that's why we are asked to perform five prayers a day. Fasting the month of
Ramadan is more difficult, of course, than performing Salah that’s why we do
fast one month in a year and giving the Zakah is again another act of worship
that is more difficult than other obligations and because of that it is
conditional to certain conditions and it is no more than once in a year. But for
Hajj it is more difficult than the rest of the obligations. And that's why we
are asked to perform Hajj as an obligation once upon our life time. It is, of
course, a very important and significant spiritual experience. It fulfills all
the spiritual requirements. It is a sort of expression of the believing in the
unseen. It is a total submission to Allah the Almighty.
It is,
indeed also, when we look at it as a parallel movement with the general
movement of this universe then we can without exaggeration understand that all
creatures on this universe are glorifying and worshiping Allah the Almighty and
then the believer is going to experience the feeling that he or she does belong
to this universe, to this obedient universe to Allah the Almighty. And because
of that they are going to find the inner peace, there is going to be no
contradiction between their own movement, their willingly movement and the
unwillingly movement of this universe. They are going to perform particular
acts when they are performing Hajj. Whether they do understand why they are
doing it or not they do understand one simple fact that they are fulfilling the
commandments of Allah by doing so and they are following the footsteps of all
prophets and messengers before Prophet Mohammed SAW and the footsteps (the
straight path) of Prophet Mohammed the last messenger, peace be upon him. So
this is part of the philosophy of performing Hajj and how we do understand
these acts of worship and how we can get the lessons out of performing Hajj. May
Allah SWT make it easy for all of us to perform these obligations and to
benefit and gain the interests behind these acts of worship."
... By Sheikh Kahlan Al
Kharousi
Sheikh
Kahlan has also replied on the following questions:
Q1: A sister said:" I have intended to perform Hajj for the first
time in my life and I was informed that I need to write a will before I leave.
How do I write the will and what should be included in it?"
Q2: If a boy who has not reached the age of puberty performs Hajj with
his parents is this Hajj rewarded and is it considered sufficient or does he
need to perform another Hajj after puberty?
Q3: For a believer to perform Hajj he or she needs to be capable what
is the criteria for this and what's the consequence of a Muslim who has
capability and does not perform this obligation?
Q4: Are there any circumstances where a believer can perform Hajj on
behalf of a deceased before performing Hajj on himself?
Q5: Some Muslims accuse others of being insensible because they
perform Hajj every single year. Is there any Islamic ruling regarding
performing Hajj every year?
Q6: Some Muslim brothers devote their time to perform Hajj on behalf
of their deceased Muslim brothers in return of a monetary value. Some family
members force these Muslims to accept amounts less than what they asked for. Is
this lawful?
Q7: There are debates among
Muslims regarding the level of comfort in Hajj. Is it acceptable to go with a luxurious
Hajj group or should Muslims be simple and humble?
Q8: A brother said: "We are a couple that have not been blessed
with children and we have adopted or sponsored a child. I was willing to write
a few of my properties to this child as a security for the child when I die.
How can I do this in the right way?
You may
listen to the whole episode, which was broadcasted on Friday 4th October, on this link:
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