In view of their sublime status, hajj and ‘umrah comprise aspects from the rest of the acts of worship. They are accorded meanings, secrets, lessons and signs that are worthy of pause and contemplation in the hope of exposing ourselves to their beauties, perhaps God will grant us the success of realizing their splendor by word and deed.
Hajj and ‘umrah include prayers, spending in charity, fasting, ritual sacrifice, traveling (a migration of both form and spirit), sa’y (traversing as-Safa and al-Marwa), tawaf (circumambulating the Ka’bah), dhikr (making remembrance of God), du’a` (supplication) and jihad (struggling in the cause of God). It represents the commemoration [the worship] of a long line of devotees of God from Prophet Abraham to Prophet Muhammed, the seal of prophets. Hajj is a comprehensive act of worship, a means towards God the Almighty. It is likewise an occasion when a person renews his faith and turns to God in repentance. It is a time when a Muslim discards his sins and returns purified as attested to by the words of the Prophet who said, “Whoever performs hajj and does not commit any rafath1 (immorality) or fisq (indecency), returns [free from sins] as the day on which he was born.”2
Hajj has been legislated to realize the true concepts of tawheed (monotheism) and the worship that God, Lord of the Worlds, deserves. It is considered training in commitment and adherence to God’s commands. Thus, it includes rites and prohibitions as mentioned in the words of God,
Such (is the pilgrimage): whoever honors the sacred rites of God, for him it is good in the sight of his Lord. [Al-Hajj, 32]
Such (is his state): and whoever holds in honor the rites of God (in the sacrificial animal), such (honor) should come truly from piety of hearts. [Al-Hajj, 32]
1 Rafath here refers to sexual intercourse.
2 Recorded by Bukhari (1448, 2632) and Muslim (1350).
Hajj is an act of worship that promotes the veneration of God’s commands and prohibitions and trains a person to maintain exactitude, earnestness, perfection, unity and cooperation, venerate what God has venerated and following His Messenger without harboring feelings of humiliation.
Muslims—by the grace of God—are ever eager to perform hajj and ‘umrah and manifest their longing to visit the Ka’bah, the noble grave of the Prophet and other holy sites. They are a community that responds to the call of God and call upon others to obey His commands and those of His Messenger.
Definition of hajj
The lexical meaning of hajj is intent or purpose. In the Shari’ah (Islamic law), it means the specific intent to travel to Mecca to perform the act of worship of tawaf and the rest of the rites during the months of hajj, in response to the command of God and seeking His pleasure.
The secrets of hajj
– A single prayer in the Holy Mosque is equivalent to one hundred thousand prayers.
– It is a place where du’a` or prayer is accepted.
– Simply looking at the Ka’bah is an act of worship in itself.3
3 This has been reported from Prophet by three of his Companions, in a mursal hadith through three chains of transmission, reported from non-prophetic reports of the Companions (may God be pleased with them), and from a group from among the Successors and those who came after them.
: There is a consensus among scholars as well as as an act of worship at the Ka’bah The recommendation of lookingthe Predecessors and Successors that looking at the Ka’bah is an act of worship. Successive generations have practiced this without garnering any criticism. Although some of the chains of transmission of the raised chain hadith on this act of worship are weak, the non-Prophetic reports from the Companions and the Sucessors prove that it has a solid origin. Based on this, the refutation of some of this act of worship and describing it as an innovation (due to the weak chains of transmission of the hadith) is itself an innovation and therefore cannot be acted upon.
For more details, see Appendix 1.
It was reported that al-Hasan al-Basri (may God be pleased with him), said, “Verily, one dirham spent in charity inside the Sacred Mosque is equivalent to a hundred thousand.” This means that the reward for giving one dirham in charity while in Mecca is a hundred thousand times its worth. It has been likewise said that, like the reward of a good deed, the recompense of an evil deed commissioned in Mecca is multiplied.
The months of hajj begin with the sighting of the crescent of the month of Shawwal and continue until the 10th Dhul-Hijjah i.e. it is permissible for a Muslim to enter ihram for hajj at any time during this period. The months of hajj are well known—God ordained hajj during these months and made them a temporal miqat for this act of worship during which God showers pilgrims with His mercy, accepts their du’a` and the whole [Muslim] community manifests its unity before the entire world.
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1 Rafath here refers to sexual intercourse.
2 Recorded by Bukhari (1448, 2632) and Muslim (1350).
3 This has been reported from Prophet by three of his Companions, in a mursal hadith through three chains of transmission, reported from non-prophetic reports of the Companions (may God be pleased with them), and from a group from among the Successors and those who came after them.
: There is a consensus among scholars as well as as an act of worship at the Ka’bah The recommendation of lookingthe Predecessors and Successors that looking at the Ka’bah is an act of worship. Successive generations have practiced this without garnering any criticism. Although some of the chains of transmission of the raised chain hadith on this act of worship are weak, the non-Prophetic reports from the Companions and the Sucessors prove that it has a solid origin. Based on this, the refutation of some of this act of worship and describing it as an innovation (due to the weak chains of transmission of the hadith) is itself an innovation and therefore cannot be acted upon.
(دار الإفتاء المصرية – eng.dar-alifta.org)