Lessons from the Hajj

Lessons from the Hajj

وَ لِلّٰہِ عَلَی النَّاسِ حِجُّ الۡبَیۡتِ مَنِ اسۡتَطَاعَ اِلَیۡہِ سَبِیۡلًا ؕ وَ مَنۡ  کَفَرَ فَاِنَّ اللّٰہَ غَنِیٌّ عَنِ  الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ ﴿۹۷﴾

Today my topic is “Lessons from the Hajj”, so I would like to say something about it. First of all let us recite Durood Shareef on Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him)

It means: And performing the Hajj (pilgrimage) of this house, for the sake of Allah, is a duty upon mankind, for those who can reach it; and whoever disbelieves - then Allah is Independent (Unwanting) of the entire creation!

The Hajj is a very special Ibaadah that is completely symbolic of Islam and one of the five pillars of Islam. So I thought that it would be a good idea to remind ourselves of what it means, what is its importance? And what lessons it has?

Hajj has a lot of lessons and secrets; I would like to mention some of them.

In a Hadith, reported in Bukhari Sharif, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:  الحب فی اللہ والبغض فی اللہ

It means: Love for Allah and hate for Allah.

The first lesson of Hajj is love; the love of Allah, feeling it and expressing it. The love of Allah that makes the slave yearns to meet him. The love of Allah which can only be expressed through complete and unquestioning obedience to His wishes and commands- no matter what those may be.

The Hajj is a reminder that obedience means to do what you are commanded by Allah – without question, whether you consider it to be logical or not, whether you like it or not, whether it is comfortable or not, whether it is appreciated by others or not. Love is to do what the beloved wants – no matter what others may think. The Hajj exemplifies this- of the Hajji’s obedience without question.

Allah Ta’aala said in the Holy Qur’an:

 مَنۡ یُّطِعِ الرَّسُوۡلَ فَقَدۡ اَطَاعَ اللّٰہَChapter no 4 verse no 80

 Whoever obeys the Noble Messenger has indeed obeyed Allah.

The second lesson from Hajj is to remember that it is the ultimate lesson in Ittiba of the Sunnah. The entire Hajj is the Sunnah. Rasool Allah ﷺsaid to the Sahaba: Take your Manasik (Rituals of Hajj) from me.

Manasik is translated as sacrifices and it is the Mercy and Grace of Allah that all the rituals of Hajj are considered to be sacrifices in the path of Allah.

So also the Hajj is the Ittiba of the Sunnah of Rasool Allah ﷺ who followed what he received from Allah as the Manasik of Hajj and taught them to his Sahaba. To do what Mohammad ﷺdid is Ibaadah.

Its name is Hajj. And its reward is complete forgiveness from all sins and Jannah In-Sha-Allah. Let us ask ourselves if we consider ourselves competent to take what we like from the Sunnah and leave what we don’t like. But we should follow the Sunnah as much as we can.

There is another point here that I ask those who deny the Sunnah and the Ahadith of Rasool Allah ﷺ should reflect on the Manasik of Hajj and ask themselves how they can perform them, if they don’t want to follow the Sunnah of Rasool Allah ﷺ.

Universal brotherhood

Allah Ta, aala said in the Qur’an: اِنَّمَا الۡمُؤۡمِنُوۡنَ اِخۡوَۃٌ   Chapter no 49 verse no 10.

The Muslims are brothers to each other.

Third lesson is that The Hajj is a unique gathering where people of every nationality, race, ethnicity, culture and color come to Mecca for one purpose only- to worship Allah in the unique way, which is called the Hajj, People from around the world, speaking languages which are completely foreign to others. A brotherhood and relationship is based on only one thing – the willingness to forgive each other

In conclusion, we ask Allah the exalted to keep us on the right path to which he has guided us and to bestow on us his blessings and mercy for he is indeed the most merciful praise be to God the Loral of the words and peace and blessings be on prophet Muhammad صلي الله عليه وسلم and all the prophets of Allah and their righteous followers. And we pray to Allah to give us a great chance to perform the Hajj at least one time in our life.