Choked with emotion, drenched in devotion and drowned in supplication the artistry of a wordsmith fails to capture the beauty of the Haj. I was about 25 when I first performed the Haj. Looking back I was little aware of what was happening within me and around me. I tried to make mental notes of my feelings and experience but I soon realized that even the best of writers would find it very difficult to narrate these events, their experience and their emotions. Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik . . . is the incessant supplication, preferred greetings and the most repeated chant that Makkah Al-Mukarramah and its environs reverberate with every Dhul Qa'dah and Dhul Hijjah. As the pilgrims arrive in the Holy City they hear nothing but the Talbiyah – Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik – the greeting and the supplication of every single pilgrim. When the pilgrims arrive here they perform many acts of worship. They go round the Ka'bah seven times – an act of worship known as tawaf – which symbolizes their gravitation toward the Almighty. They raise their hands and say: “O Allah! I intend to perform tawaf around Your Inviolable House, make it easy for me and accept from me Haj (or Umrah). Glory be to Allah.” A western writer and photographer who accepted Islam and performed the Haj describes the sense of unity and harmony that the pilgrims feel while performing the tawaf: Seven times we circled the House, repeating the ritual devotions in Arabic: O Allah from such a distant land I have come unto You. Grant me shelter under Your Throne. Caught up in the whirling scene, lifted by the poetry of prayers, we orbited the House of Allah in accord with the atoms, in harmony with the planets. After going round the Ka'bah seven times the pilgrims, after praying two rakahs of wajib al-tawaf (two units of obligatory prayers) near the place known as Maqam Ibrahim. The stone bearing the footprints of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is encased in a precious crystal glass with a steel grill and marble base. The pilgrims kiss the Hajr Al-Aswad, the Black Stone, and lovingly plant a kiss on it. Afterwards they approach the door of Ka'bah and embrace it crying their hearts out and putting their very souls in their prayer. Later they perform Sai' – running and walking between the hills of Safa and Marwah. Apart from some stones both the hills have been levelled and covered with marble tiles now. Chandeliers, air-conditioners and cool Zamzam water along the concourse make the Sai' a much easier task for the pilgrims. On completing the Sai' the pilgrims drink Zamzam, which Allah in His Infinite Mercy had disclosed to Prophet Ibrahim's wife Hajrah. It is said that when Hajrah rushed to the spring she exclaimed Zamzam – an onomatopoeic Babylonian word that denotes the sound of rushing and gushing water. After the Haj, many pilgrims carry back a can or two of Zamzam with them. This is not a part of Haj but the urge of to drink and take home some of the water which has been miraculously flowing for over four thousand years is a practical example of the spirit of Haj. The Haj is not a new institution which Islam has introduced in its Shari'ah. This institution is as old as the Ka'bah itself which is called in the Qur'an to be the first House of Divine Worship appointed for men. The ceremony of Haj is commemorative of Prophet Ibrahim and his family's acts of devotion to Allah Almighty. It is mentioned in the Sahih Muslim's introduction that the Haj is the perfection of faith since it combines in itself all the distinctive qualities of other obligatory acts. It represents the quality of Salat (prayer) since a pilgrim offers prayers in the House of the Lord, the Ka'bah. It encourages the spending of material wealth for the sake of the Lord, the chief character of Zakat. “Down the ages,” says Professor Hitti, “this institution [of Haj] has continued to serve as the major unifying influence in Islam and the most effective common bond among the diverse believers. It renders almost every capable Muslim perforce a traveller for once in his lifetime. The socializing influence of such a gathering of the brotherhood of believers from the far quarters of the earth is hard to overestimate.” (The writer is editor of Muslim World League's English Journal & adjunct faculty of Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah. He can be reached at [email protected]) __
