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Excellence of Hajj (Pilgrimage) By: Imam Al-Ghazali Translated from Al Ihyaa Uloom Id-Deen Allah says: Proclaim Hajj among the people, so that they may come to you on foot or upon every camel coming from every distant place (Qur'an). Qatadah said: Allah ordered Hadrat Abraham, our Prophet, and all chosen servants to proclaim Hajj among their people. Then he proclaimed: O people! God created a house, make pilgrimage for it. Allah says: "That they may witness benefits for them." It means trade and rewards in the next world. A certain sage said about it: By Lord of the Ka'ba, He has forgiven them. Allah mentions the devil as saying: I shall sit for them in your straight path. Some say that the devil will be sitting in the paths towards Mecca to prevent the people from making pilgrimage. The Prophet said: He who makes pilgrimage without doing any obscene deed and without making quarrel comes out of his sins as on the day when his mother gave birth to him. The Prophet said: The devil does not become so much humiliated, dishonoured and disgraced as on the day of Arafat. The cause is that he sees Allah's blessing descending and His forgiveness of great sins. The Prophet said: There are some sins out of sins which are not forgiven except without waiting at Arafat. The Prophet said: If a man comes out of his house with the intention of making pilgrimage or Umrah, there will be written for him the rewards of one pilgrimage and one Umrah up to the Resurrection Day. He who dies at Mecca or Medina, will not be presented for account and no account will be taken from him and he will be said: Enter Paradise. The Prophet said: There is no rewards except Paradise for an accepted Hajj. The Prophet said: Those who make pilgrimage and Umrah are guest and neighbours of Allah. If they pray, it is accepted from them. If they seek forgiveness, Allah forgives them. If they invoke, their invocation is accepted. If they intercede, it is accepted. There is another hadith: He whose sin is greatest is a person who thinks at Arafat that Allah has not forgiven His sins. The Prophet said: 120 blessings descend everyday on this Ka'ba, 60 for those who make Tawaf, 40 for those who pray, and 20 for those who visit the Ka'ba. There is in hadith: Make such Tawaf because it is such a great thing that you will find it in your book of deeds on the Resurrection Day and for which people will envy you. For this reason, to make Tawaf at first before Hajj and Umrah is commendable. There is in hadith: He who makes Tawaf for a week barefooted and bare-bodied will get the reward of setting free a slave. Whoso makes Tawaf in rains for a week, his past sins are forgiven. A certain sage said: If the Arafat Day and the Juma Day occur on the same day, every person at Arafat is forgiven and that is the best day in the world. One that day the farewell pilgrimage of the Holy Prophet took place on that day, the verse was revealed-Today I have perfected for you your religion, bestowed My favours completely on you and chosen for you Islam as religion-5:53. The People of the Book said: If the verse would have been revealed upon us, we would have observed it as a day of festival. Hadrat Omar said: I bear witness that this verse was revealed on the Prophet on the day of two festivals-the day of Arafat and Juma day and he was then waiting at Arafat. The Prophet said: O Allah , forgive one who has come for pilgrimage, forgive one who seeks forgiveness for a pilgrim. Hadrat Omar said: A pilgrim is forgiven and also the man for who he seeks forgiveness in Dhul-Haj, Muharram, Safar or the first part of Rabiul Awwal. IT was the custom of the ancient sages that they broadcast the stories of warriors, welcomed the pilgrims, kissed on their foreheads, sought blessings from them, and they hastened to do these things before they would commit sins. Excellence of Mecca and Ka'ba The Prophet said: Allah promised that every year six hundred thousand people will make pilgrimage. If their number becomes less, Allah will fill the number by angels. The Ka'ba will be presented on the Resurrection Day, adorned with ornaments like a newly wedded bride and those who made pilgrimage will be busy in covering it with cloth. The Ka'ba will proceed towards Paradise till it enters it, and they will also enter Paradise. There is in hadith: The Black Stone is a jewel out of the jewels of Paradise. It will be raised up on the Resurrection Day. It will have two eyes and one tongue with which it will speak. It will bear witness for everyone who kissed it and testified its truth. The Prophet used to kiss it so much. It was narrated that Hadrat Omar once made prostration over it. He was then making Tawaf riding, and he placed his staff in his hand on it and kissed one end of it. He said at once after kissing it: I know certainly that you are a mere piece of stone and you cannot do any benefit or harm. Had I not seen the Prophet kissing you, I would never have kissed you. Then he wept and raised his voice high. Then he said to Hadrat Ali behind him: O Abu Hasan, take advice and intercede, your prayer will be accepted. Hadrat Ali said: O Commander of the Faithful, it has got benefits and harms. He asked: In what way? He said: When Allah took promise from the descendents of Adam, He wrote a scroll on them and impressed it on this stone. It will bear witness for those who fulfilled their promise and against the infidels for infidelity. Hasan Basri said: One day's fast therein is equal to one hundred thousand fasts and charity of one dirham is equal to that of one hundred thousand dirhams. Thus its reward increases to one hundred thousand. There is in hadith: One Umrah during Ramadan is like pilgrimage with me. He said: I shall be the first man who will burst out of his grave. Then the inhabitants of Jannatul Baqi will resurrect with me, then the Meccans, and then the people between the two harams (Mecca and Medinah). There is in hadith that when Adam performed all rites of pilgrimage, the angels saw him and said: O Adam, your Hajj has been accepted. We built the Ka'ba two thousand years before you. There is in hadith that Allah looks to the inmates of the world every night. He looks first to the inhabitants of Mecca and out of them first to the inhabitants of the Ka'ba. He forgives one whom He sees making Tawaf and forgives one whom he sees standing towards the Ka'ba and forgives one whom he sees praying in the Ka'ba. A friend of Allah said: The sun does not set until an Abdal makes Tawaf of the Ka'ba, and it does not set unless a friend of God makes its Tawaf. When this sort of Tawaf will end, it will be the cause of being lifted away from the world. Then the people will see in the morning that it has been lifted away and they will find no sign therein. Then after it, nobody will make its pilgrimage for seven years. The Anti-Christ will appear and Jesus Christ will come down and will kill Anti-Christ. Then the Resurrection will come near. There is in hadith: Before its lifting, the Ka'ba will be circumbulated always. The Ka'ba was twice destroyed and it will be lifted up at the third time. The Prophet said: God says: When I wish to destroy the world, I will begin first with My house and will destroy it first. Then immediately after it the world will be destroyed. Excellence of Habitation at Mecca The Allah-fearing men disliked to live at Mecca for three reasons-(1) Fear of being equal to the Ka'ba, as to be equal from the point of honour is harmful. When the pilgrims finished pilgrimage, Hadrat Omar assembled them and said: O inhabitants of Yemen, go to Yemen, O inhabitants of Iraq, go to Iraq. He said: I fear lest the people inhabit too much in the Ka'ba. (2) Eagerness for visiting it again owing to separation, as Allah made the Ka'ba as a refuge of the people and a safe place. (3) Not to live at Mecca for fear of sins and guilt and it is better than honouring the place. Hadrat Ibn Masud said: There is no such city except Mecca wherein the people will be punished for niyyat (intentions) before actions. Then he read this verse: If a man wishes therein to do excessive oppression, he will be given grievous punishment. This is only for the Ka'ba. Hadrat ibn Abbas said: To store up foodstuff at Mecca is said to be excessive oppression within the precincts of the Ka'ba. He said: to commit seventy sins at Ruqia is better to me than to commit a sin at Mecca. Ruqia is a place between Mecca and Tayef. Some people feared so much that they even responded not to their calls of nature in the sacred enclosure. It is better to live at Mecca if anybody does not commit any sin. When the Prophet returned to Mecca, he turned his face towards the Ka'ba and said: "You are the best place to me among the places of God, and you are the dearest city to me among the cities of Allah. Had I not been ejected from you, I would never come out of it?" Why should it not be, as looking towards the Ka'ba is worship and if a good deed is done there it brings abundant reward. Excellence of Medina There is no such better place as Medina after Mecca. The rewards increase much if a good deed is done at Medina. The Prophet said: One prayer in my mosque brings rewards one thousand times more than the prayer in other mosques except the mosque of Mecca. This is true in case of all good deeds done here. After Medina, there is the place of Baitul Maqdis, wherein a prayer brings rewards five hundred times more than that in other mosques. This is the case with all other good deeds. The Prophet said: If one prayer in the mosque of Medina is equal to ten thousand prayers, one prayer in Baitul Maqdis is equal to one thousand prayers, and one prayer in the mosque of Mecca is equal to one hundred thousand prayers. The Prophet said: If man bears hardships of Medina, I shall be his intercessor on the Resurrection Day. The Prophet said: If a man dies at Medina, let him do it, because if a man dies at Medina, I shall be his intercessor on the Resurrection Day. After these three places, all places are equal except the frontiers of Islam; as guarding the frontiers of Islam is necessary from the enemies and their excellence is great. For this reason, the Prophet said: Don't tie your camel except in three mosques, the mosque of the Ka'ba, the mosque of mine, and the mosque of Baitul Maqdis. The Prophet said: I had prohibited you before to visit graves, but now I say: Visit graves, but don't say 'Hazran' (I gave up). The Prophet said: All places belong to Allah and all are servants of Allah. There is in hadith: If a man gets blessings in a thing, he should stick to it. If a man gets a source of income, he should not change it until that source of income is changed. Coutesy: OneUmmah.com © 2007 Islamic Studies and Research Association (ISRA) |