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What is Hajj?
Lexically, 'hajj' in Arabic denotes having intention to do something or achieve a goal.
the story of the man who remarked out loud as he saw the massive crowds of pilgrims sweeping through the valley of Muzdalifah: "My God! Look at the number of pilgrims!" A wise man who happened to be standing beside him replied: "No. The passengers are many, but the pilgrims are few."
The Maqasid of Hajj: Going Beyond the Rituals
Ihram: The Return to Origin
Ihram is the first pillar of Hajj and probably the most powerful form of Islamic worship a Muslim can ever experience. All pilgrims of all social, racial and economic backgrounds remove all apparent signs of their differences by donning the same two pieces of simple, white cloth. Each one asserts out loud: "Labbaika allahumma labbaik" Ever at jour service, O Allah! Ever at your service! This they proclaim in response to Allah's Call pronounced by Abraham, alayhes salam, to humankind to submit to Allah and come in pilgrimage to Allah's House and Sacred place.
Every pilgrim is to avoid all that is not of concern to one, give up many desires, permitted and prohibited, diminish all causes of division and schism, magnify equality and fairness, and sanctify life and the rights of others, Muslims and non-Muslims. . In this sense, Ihram not only symbolizes but helps pilgrims actually embody a return to fitrah, the original state of goodness: Loving God, loathing all that He forbade, and being in a state of submission to His Commandments and Will.
Emigrating to Allah
One may look at Hajj as a physical-spiritual journey to God, because in essence, a pilgrim parts with his loved ones, wealth, and work and heads to the Sacred Places hoping for Allah's reward and forgiveness. Hajj is also a way of commitment in which one demonstrates one's determination to free oneself from wrong and bad, and to engage life afresh in a new existence, as it were, centered on Allah's love and obedience. Indeed, Hajj, as one Muslim sage has so aptly stated it, is "a long journey, but of returning, not going. The pilgrim is not going to Makkah. He is returning to his source, Allah, the Source of Everything."
The Goal is Unity
Muslims, from Adam, alayhes salam, to the end of time, belong to a single brotherhood (ummah). They are bound together by the concept of Tawheed (Monotheism).
narrated by Jabir who reported that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, addressed his followers on the second day of the Days of Tashreeq (that is, the days of where the meat one has sacrificed is dried, the 11th, 12th, and 13th of the month of Thul Hijjah). He said: "O people! Indeed, you have one Lord (Allah) and one father (Adam). No Arab is superior to a non-Arab, or a non-Arab to an Arab; and no white is superior to a non-white or a non-white to a white. Superiority is by righteousness and conscious fear of God in piety [alone]. " Then the Prophet asked: "Did I convey the Divine message to you?" "Yes, indeed, O Messenger of Allah!" answered the mass of pilgrims. "Then let those who are here today convey my words to those who are not," concluded the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam (Ahmad and Baihaqi).
We will definitely miss the gist of our Prophet's preaching about the oneness, equality, and brotherliness of all Muslims if we discriminate against one another; if, in our dealings with one another, we allow ourselves to be swayed by considerations of ethnicity, social standing, or national backgrounds; or if we cut ourselves off from the ummah,
Humility Before Allah
To plead to the Almighty to forgive their sins and to bless them with The Straight Path for the remainder of their lives. Their total immersion in the imposing ambience of Hajj, frees them to focus on perfecting their Hajj instead of obsessing about superficial considerations and concerns.
Purifying the Soul
The Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, stressed the significance of sadaqah especially during Hajj, by saying, "The reward for a sadaqah given in Hajj excels seven hundred times the reward for a sadaqah given in a different setting."
Perfection and Completion of Religion
As the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, was standing with Muslims on Mount Arafah in the last Hajj he ever performed (10 A.H.), the following verse was revealed to him: "... This day 1 have perfected for you your religion and completed my favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion" [
]. Allah has made Islam a universal message, ordained it as the religion for the whole of humankind, given it the status of the last Divine Message for humanity, and meant it to be a valid guide for all humankind in all their affairs until the end of time. There is no wonder -then that the standing of Muslims on Mount Arafah keeps the memory of this extraordinary bounty (religion perfection and completion) alive in their minds and hearts. It motivates them to reaffirm their pledge to serve Allah, the Almighty. It fills them with utmost assurance and confidence that with the Qur'an and the hadeeth of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, in their hands, they need not look Eastward or Westward in search of philosophies, ideologies, or laws to guide their material or spiritual life.The Ultimate Objective
The concept of Tawheed constitutes the core of Hajj.
the concept of Tawheed was there when Allah first made Hajj mandatory on his slave-servants, and is manifest throughout its acts and rituals: "And [mention, O Muhammad], when we designated for Abraham the site of the House, [saying], 'Do not associate anything with Me and purify My House for those who perform tawaf (circumambulation) and those who stand [in salah] and those who bow and prostrate" [].
The Pilgrim's Prize
The pilgrim's prize is nothing other than the full forgiveness of one's entire misdeeds.
Fasting Day of Arafat
Abu Qatadah reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Fasting on the day of 'Arafah is an expiation for two years, the year preceding it and the year following it.
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