Hajj and ‘Umrah

وَأَذِّن فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالًا وَعَلَى كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ يَأْتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ لِيَشْهَدُوا مَنَافِعَ لَهُمْ وَيَذْكُرُوا اسْمَ اللَّهِ فِي أَيَّامٍ مَّعْلُومَاتٍ عَلَى مَا رَزَقَهُم مِّن بَهِيمَةِ الْأَنْعَامِ فَكُلُوا مِنْهَا وَأَطْعِمُوا الْبَائِسَ الْفَقِيرَ ثُمَّ لْيَقْضُوا تَفَثَهُمْ وَلْيُوفُوا نُذُورَهُمْ وَلْيَطَّوَّفُوا بِالْبَيْتِ الْعَتِيقِ (22: 27-29)

And proclaim the pilgrimage among the people. They will come to you on foot and on the backs of lean camels from distant mountainous ways so that they are able to reach places of benefit and on a few appointed days invoke the name of God over their cattle which He has bestowed them. [So when you slaughter them] eat of their flesh, and feed the deprived beggar. Then let the pilgrims cleanse themselves of their dirt and fulfil their vows, and circle the Ancient House. (22:27-29)

It is this proclamation which was made centuries ago and it is in response to it that while uttering لَبَّيْك لَبَّيْك (labbayk labbayk) we travel to Bayt al-Haram, the mosque built by Abraham (sws) in Makkah. It is this ancient mosque which in the words of Imam Farahi was the first house of God in this valley of Batha and about which it had been decided from the very beginning that it would fend off all those who would deviate from tawhid. Consequently, when its inhabitants took to polytheism and left it, they took away some of its stones in order to worship them. When Abraham (sws) after migrating from Babylon while trying to find this ancient mosque reached this location, he could only discover a shining stone from its previous construction. After he attempted to sacrifice Ishmael (sws), the Almighty directed him to rebuild this place of worship. So both father and son started digging the earth beneath this very historic stone. Once the ancient foundations became visible after some labour, they raised them and implanted this stone on one part of the erected structure. Ishmael (sws) was offered and devoted to this very house and thus regarded as its attendant and it was proclaimed in the name of the Almighty that people should come here to ceremonially devote themselves and revive their commitment to the belief of tawhid. In religious parlance, these rituals are called hajj and‘umrah. In the religion of Abraham (sws), these two rituals are the pinnacle of worship. This is the highest position a person can attain in his zeal for worshiping the Almighty: he is ready to offer his life and wealth for Him when he is called for this. Hajj and‘umrah are symbolic manifestations of this offering. Both are an embodiment of the same reality. The only difference is that the latter is compact and the former more comprehensive in which the objective for which life and wealth are offered becomes very evident.

The Almighty has informed us that since the very first day Satan (Iblis) has declared war on the scheme according to which He created Adam in this world: قَالَ فَبِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي لأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ثُمَّ لآتِيَنَّهُم مِّن بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ وَعَن شَمَآئِلِهِمْ وَلاَ تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ (7: 16-17) (“Because You have led me into sin,” he declared, “I will waylay Your servants who are on Your straight path, then spring upon them from the front and from the rear, from their right and from their left. Then You will find the greater part of them ungrateful.” (7:16-17)).

The Qur’an (7:13-14) says that this challenge from Satan was accepted and His servants are now at war with their foremost enemy till the Day of Judgement. This is the very test on which this world has been made and our future depends on success or failure in it. It is for this war that we dedicate our life and devote our wealth. It is for this objective that many a time the prophets of God have called out: (61: 14) يَااَيُّهَا الَّذِيْن أمَنُوا كُوْنُوا أنْصَارَ اللهَ (Believers! Be the helpers of God (61:14)). This war against Satan has been symbolized in the ritual of hajj. The manner in which this symbolization has been done is as follows.

At the behest of Allah, His servants take time out from the pleasures and involvements of life and leave aside their goods and possessions, then proceed to the battlefield chanting لَبَّيْك لَبَّيْك and just like warriors encamp in a valley.

The next day they reach an open field seeking the forgiveness of the Almighty, praying and beseeching Him to grant them success in this war and listening to the sermon of the imam.

Giving due consideration to the symbolism of waging war against Satan they shorten and combine their prayers and then after a short stay on the way back reach their camps.

Afterwards they fling stones on Satan and symbolically offer themselves to God by sacrificing animals. They then shave their heads and to offer the rounds of vow come to the real place of worship and sacrifice.

Then they return to their camps again and in the next two or three days fling stones on Satan in the manner they had done earlier.

Viewed thus, the ihram worn in hajj and‘umrah symbolizes the fact that a believer has withdrawn from the amusement, attractions and involvements of this world and like a monk wearing two unstitched robes, bare-headed and to some extent bare-footed too has resolved to reach the presence of the Almighty.

The talbiyah is the answer to the call made by Abraham (sws) while standing on a rock after he had re-built the House of God. =1= This call has now reached the nooks and corners of this world and the servants of God while acknowledging His favours and affirming belief in His tawhid respond to it by saying: اَللّهُمَّ لَبَّيْك  لَبَّيْك.

The rounds of tawaf are the rounds of vow. This is an ancient tradition of the Abrahamic religion. According to this tradition, animals which were to be sacrificed or devoted to the place of worship were made to walk to and fro in front of it and in front of the altar. It is these rounds which have been referred to at various places by the translators of the Torah as the “wave offering” and “presenting someone”:

You are to bring the Levites before the LORD, and the Israelites are to lay their hands on them. Aaron is to present the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the Israelites, so that they may be ready to do the work of the LORD. After the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, use the one for a sin offering to the LORD and the other for a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites. Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the LORD. In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine. After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a wave offering, they are to come to do their work at the Tent of Meeting. They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every Israelite woman. (Numbers, 8:10-16)

In the Arabic translations of the Bible, the words used for this are تُرَدِّدُهُمْ لِلْرَبِّ and أَمَامَ الرَّبِّ which point to this underlying reason.

The istilam of the hajar-i aswad symbolizes the revival of the pledge. In it, a person while symbolizing this stone to be the hand of the Almighty, places his own hand in His and in accordance with the ancient tradition about covenant and pledges by kissing it revives his pledge with the Almighty that after accepting Islam he has surrendered his life and wealth to Him in return for Paradise.

The sa‘i is in fact the tawaf of the place where Ishmael (sws) was offered for sacrifice. Abraham (sws) while standing on the hill of Safa had observed this place of sacrifice and then to fulfil the command of Allah had briskly walked towards the hill of marwah. In the Bible, this incident is narrated in the following words:

On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.’ (Genesis, 22:4-5)

Consequently, the tawaf of Safaand Marwah are the rounds of vow which are first made before the Ka‘bah and then on the place of sacrifice. It is evident from the Torah that just as they were made before sacrificing an animal they were also made after sacrificing it while holding a part of the slaughtered animal in the hands:

After you take the breast of the ram for Aaron’s ordination, wave it before the LORD as a wave offering, and it will be your share. (Exodus, 29:26)

‘Arafat is a surrogate for the Ka‘bah where the warriors gather to battle against Satan, seeking forgiveness for their sins and praying to God to grant them success in this war.

Muzdalifah is the place where the army stops and spends the night and the warriors once again pray and beseech the Lord when they get up in the morning on their way to the battlefield.

The rami symbolizes cursing Satan and waging war against him. This ritual is undertaken with the determination that a believer would not be happy with anything less than the defeat of Satan. It is known that this eternal enemy of man is persistent in implanting evil suggestions in the minds of people. However, if resistance is offered in return, his onslaught decreases gradually. Doing the rami for three days first at the bigger Jamrahand then at the smaller ones symbolizes this very resistance.

Animal sacrifice symbolizes that one is willing to sacrifice one’s life for the Almighty and shaving the head symbolizes that the sacrifice has been presented and a person with the mark of obedience and eternal servitude to the Almighty can now return to his home. Shaving the head is an ancient tradition of the religion of Abraham (sws). Consequently, this law has been stated in the Torah that a person who has been offered and devoted to God should not shave his head until the days of the vow are complete:

During this entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the Lord is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long. (Numbers, 5:6)

Now this is the law for the Nazirite when the period of his separation is over. He is to be brought to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting … then at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the Nazirite must shave off the hair that he dedicated. He is to take the hair and put it in the fire that is under the sacrifice of the fellowship offering.(Numbers, 6:13, 18)

It is evident from the foregoing details how grand and exceptional the ritual of hajj is. It has been made incumbent once in the life of a Muslim who has the capacity to undertake it. Consequently, once, the Prophet (sws) also referred to its exalted status after faith and jihad. =2= He is also reported to have said that a person who offers hajj and does not do anything lewd nor shows any disobedience, returns from hajj as if his mother has given birth to him today. =3= Similarly, he has said: “An ‘umrah done after ‘umrah is atonement for the sins done in between them and the reward of the hajj offered with full sincerity is Paradise.” =4=