Asalam alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh dear sisters,
While reading the below article about Hajj benefits, it made me to imagine how much am missing by not performing hajj, there is no greater gift that i would have given to myself than this kher In shaa Allah but we have to keep in mind it needs preparation lets say shortly a year cause much as someone would have the financial capabilities you need also to get prepared by making a niyah (intention) , gather all the knowledge one could get from Maalimas etcs (reliable sources of Islamic knowledge) also we have to bear in mind that coming back to our communities we have to completely stop whatever was keeping us away from Allah.May we all get an opportunity to perform hajj and may all those who have got this chance maintain the status as pure believes lets try our best not to go back to whatever we were before.
Performing the rituals of Hajj has many virtues and there is
a great deal of wisdom behind them. The one who is enabled to understand
them and do them is blessed with a great deal of good. We will try to list
as many as we can here.
1.Traveling for Hajj to perform
the rituals; his journey reminds him his journey to Allaah and the
Hereafter. When he travels he leaves behind his loved ones, family, children
and homeland, and the journey to the Hereafter is like that too.
2.The one who goes on this
journey takes with him supplies that will help him reach the holy land, and
this reminds him that for the journey to his Lord, he must have with him
provisions that will help him to arrive safely. Concerning this, Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning): “And take a provision (with you) for the
journey, but the best provision is At-Taqwa (piety, righteousness)”
[al-Baqarah 2:197].
3.Just as travelling is a kind of
torment, the journey to the Hereafter is like that too, and many times
greater. Ahead of a person there is the agony of death, death itself, the
grave, the gathering, the reckoning, the weighing in the Balance, and
al-Siraat (a bridge across Hell, over which all must pass), then Paradise or
Hell. The blessed one is the one whom Allaah saves.
4.When the pilgrim wears the
ihraam garments (two pieces of unsewn white cloth), this reminds him of the
shroud in which he will be wrapped. This motivates him to give up sin. Just
as he sheds his clothes, he should also shed his sins; just as he puts on
two clean white garments, his heart and limbs should also be clean and
untainted with sin.
5.When he says at the meeqaat
(the point at which pilgrims enter ihraam), “Labbayk Allaahumma labbaayk
(Here I am at Your service, O Allaah)”, which means that he has responded to
his Lord, may He be exalted, how can he remain in a state of sin without
saying to his Lord, “Labbayk Allaahumma labbaayk (Here I am at Your
service, O Allaah)”, meaning, I have responded to Your prohibition of them.
This is the time to give up sin.
6.When he gives up the things
that are forbidden when in ihraam, and keeps busy with the talbiyah and
dhikr (remembering Allaah), this shows the state that the Muslim should
always be in. This is a means of training and disciplining himself, because
he is disciplining himself by giving up what is basically permitted, but
Allaah has forbidden it to him in this situation. So how can he transgress
the sacred limits that Allaah has set for all times and places?
7.When he enters the sacred House
of Allaah, which Allaah has made a place of safety for mankind, this reminds
him of safety on the Day of Resurrection, and that no one can attain it
without effort and striving. The greatest source of safety on the Day of
Resurrection is Tawheed (belief in the Oneness of Allaah) and avoiding shirk
(associating others with Allaah). Concerning this Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning): “It is those who believe (in the Oneness
of Allaah and worship none but Him Alone) and confuse not their Belief with
Zulm (wrong, i.e. by worshipping others besides Allaah), for them (only)
there is security and they are the guided” [al-An’aam 6:82].
When he kisses the Black Stone, which is the first ritual
that he does, this trains the visitor to venerate the Sunnah (the way of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)), and not to
transgress against the law of Allaah on the basis of his flawed reasoning.
He knows that what Allaah has prescribed for mankind is wise and good, and
he trains himself to submit fully to his Lord, may He be exalted. Concerning
that, ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said, after kissing the Black
Stone: “I know that you are just a stone and you can neither cause harm nor
bring benefit. Were it not that I saw the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you.” Narrated
by al-Bukhaari (1520) and Muslim (1720).
8.When he circumambulates the
Ka’bah, that reminds him of his father Ibraaheem (Abraham, peace be upon
him), and how he built the Ka’bah as a place of safety for mankind and
called them to come on pilgrimage to this House. Then came our Prophet
Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) who also called
people to come to this House. Moosa (Moses) and ‘Eesa (Jesus – peace be upon
them both) also came on pilgrimage to this House, which is therefore a
symbol of these Prophets. How could it be otherwise when Allaah commanded
Ibraaheem (peace be upon him) to build it and venerate it?
9.When he drinks the water of
Zamzam, this reminds him of the blessing that Allaah has bestowed upon
people in this blessed water, from which millions of people have drunk for
many centuries, and it still has not dried up. He is encouraged to say
du’aa’ (supplication) when drinking it, because the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The water of Zamzam is for whatever
it is drunk for.” Narrated by Ibn Maajah (3062) and Ahmad (14435). It is a
hasan hadeeth which was classed as such by Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have
mercy on him) in Zaad al-Ma’aad (4/320).
10.The saa’i (running)
between al-Safa and al-Marwa reminds him of the great hardship undergone by
our mother Haajar (Hagar), and how she ran between al-Safa and al-Marwa
looking for someone to save her from the trouble in which she found herself,
and especially for water to give to her young son Ismaa’eel (Ishmael). This
woman bore this test with patience, and turned to her Lord. In her we have a
good example, because when a man remembers the striving and patience of this
woman, his problems seem less significant, and when a woman remembers one of
her own gender, her hardship becomes easier to bear.
11.Standing in ‘Arafah
reminds the pilgrim of the great gathering of mankind on the Day of
Gathering. If the pilgrim suffers exhaustion because of the crowding
together of thousands of people, then how about when all of mankind are
gathered, barefoot, naked and uncircumcised?
12.As we said with
regard to kissing the Black Stone, so too when stoning the Jamaraat (stone
pillars representing the Devil), the Muslim trains himself to be obedient
and to follow the example of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him). Thus he manifests pure submission to Allaah.
13.When he offers the
sacrifice, this reminds him of the important incident when our father
Ibraaheem submitted to Allaah’s command to sacrifice his only son Ismaa’eel
(Ishmael), and that there is no room for compassion which goes against the
commands and prohibitions of Allaah. It also teaches him to respond to the
command of Allaah, as Ismaa’eel said: “ ‘O my father! Do that which you
are commanded, In sha’ Allaah (if Allaah wills), you shall find me of
As‑Saabiroon (the patient)’” [al-Saffaat 37:102].
14.When he exits ihraam
and that which Allaah had forbidden to him during ihraam becomes permissible
to him again, this trains him to be patient, and teaches him that with
hardship goes ease, and that the outcome for the one who responds to the
command of Allaah is joy and happiness. This joy can only be felt by the one
who tastes the sweetness of obedience, like the joy that the fasting person
feels when he breaks his fast, or that the one who spends the night in
prayer feels after he has prayed.
15.When he has finished
the rituals of Hajj and done them as Allaah has prescribed and as He likes,
and has completed his rituals, he has the hope that his Lord will forgive
him all his sins, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) promised when he said: “Whoever comes to this House and does not utter
any obscene speech or do any evil deed, will go back as his mother bore
him.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1449) and Muslim (1350). This motivates him
to turn over a new leaf in his life, free from sin.
16.When he goes back to his wife and
children, the joy of meeting them reminds him of the greater joy he will
feel when he meets them in the Paradise of Allaah, may He be exalted. This
reminds him that true loss is loss of oneself and one's family on the Day of
Resurrection, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “Say
(O Muhammad): The losers are those who will lose themselves and their
families on the Day of Resurrection. Verily, that will be a manifest loss!”
[al-Zumar 39:15].
And Allaah knows best.
