The Lessons of Hajj

By: Allamah Sayyid Sa'eed Akhtar Rizvi
“And for God, the pilgrimage of the house (of Allah) is obligatory upon the people who have strength to go their”. (Qur’an 3:97).
Pilgrimage to the house of Allah, in Mecca, is one of the pillars of Islam. Every Muslim fulfilling certain conditions; is obliged to go for Hajj, at least once in life. What are the lessons of Hajj?
The first thing to attract the eyes is the simple uniformity of tens of thousands of people, wearing white unstitched cotton robes. Their purpose is one and their appearance is one. Here you will find the unity and brotherhood of Islam demonstrated in its brightest color – angelic white.
Then, pondering upon this point, you will realize that to acquire this uniformity, every person had to discard every mark of distinction, every sign of his worldly position – political, social, financial or otherwise. May be a man whom you are talking with, is the president of a country; and, on the other hand, he may be an obscure laborer in a lonely place. There is nothing to distinguish between them in this house of God. The temporal distinctions have no value in the eyes of God. Here all human-beings have one – only one – rank.
Here they are the believed servants of Allah, coming to offer their sincere prayers in His house. We are His servants; He is our Master. It is the only relationship which counts here. All other distinctions and ranks are artificial.
Mecca has no tourists’ attraction. There are no beautiful sceneries. A place surrounded by barren rocks and hills! According to Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, it would have been as easy for Allah to select a beautiful place for His house. But he selected the barren rocks and stone walls, so that people should come here without any worldly motive. They cannot be attracted by pleasures because there is none; they cannot think about business, because Mecca has nothing to produce. Therefore, anybody coming to Mecca, must come, by virtue of necessity, with pure intention and untinted purpose. He must come for pilgrimage – and pilgrimage only.
How can a poor man be arrogant? Wealthy people are the ones who suffer most from this spiritual disease. It is, perhaps, for this reason that Hajj is obligatory for those only who are rich enough to afford the journey to Mecca. They are more exposed to the killing germs of “pride” and “ego”; they have been asked to go to pilgrimage, so that they may be cured of these maladies.

Philosophy of Pilgrimage
“Hajj is (in) the months well-known; if anyone undertakes to perform that duty therein, let there be no obscenity, nor wickedness, nor wrangling in the Hajj; and whatever good you do, God knows it”. (Qur’an, Chapter 2, Verse 197).
This is the week of Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. About 1,500,000 Muslims will spend the week in Arafat, Musdalifa, Mina and Mecca under the most strict discipline of Hajj.
But self-restraint and discipline is not the only benefit of this pilgrimage. (And it can also be achieved by fast of Ramadhan). The most endearing feature of Hajj is that it serves to crush the pride and destroy the egoistic tendencies of the individual. It creates humility and humbleness.
It is just impossible to show your individuality and identity in Hajj. Are you a scholar? Or an illiterate? Are you a king? Or an ordinary man? A military strong man? A revered man of religious world? It does not matter what was your rank or designation in your own world; this is the domain of religion and God, and here you are simply one more servant of Allah – nothing more, nothing else.
You have to wear simple cotton dress – unstitched sheets wrapped around the body. You cannot distinguish yourself even by inventing your own style of wearing. You have to wear it in the same way as the other 1,500,000 pilgrims are doing. Do you want to wear some medals or other distinguishing decorations? No chance, it is not allowed. Or at least some enchanting hairstyle? But heads are shaved, and you are to do accordingly.
Could you imagine a hard-headed executive of a firm, or an arrogant dictator of a country, wearing two white sheets, trotting between two hills seven times, forgetting all his pomp and show? Could you image an usually reserved aristocrat hitting a pillar with stones day after day oblivious of the fact that 3,000,000 eyes are upon him? Could you think of a millionaire living in hardship just like less-fortunate human-beings, but without any complaint or murmuring? Here is your chance to see these imponderables turn into accomplished facts. Arrogance, pride, high -headedness wealth, honor, academic qualifications, political achievements, military victories – everything is worthless here. Nothing can be admired here. The only thing which has any value ‘you’, as a servant of God.