The Message of Pilgrimage

The Message of Pilgrimage
By Wahiduddin Khan

Prior to 1982, my knowledge of Hajj had been limited to what I could gain
from books, and so, when at last in that year I had the privilege of
performing this religious duty, I felt myself singularly blessed. Although
the rites of Hajj are spread over only a few days, as symbolic guidelines,
they stand a man in good stead for the rest of his life. The message of
Hajj, as I now comprehend it from the study and performance of it, is that
man should make the Almighty the very pivot of his existence, hastening at
His call to do His every bidding.

When a man leaves his home and country to go on such a pilgrimage, he brims
over with all the emotions aroused by the thought that he is embarking on a
course that will lead him directly to God. He is, in effect, sloughing off
his own world, leaving it behind him, and reaching out for the world of the
Almighty. He is on his way to the House of God, a place where the great
deeds of God's messengers and their followers have been preserved for all
eternity; where we find the hallowed impressions of the lives of those who
lived and died for the cause of God. The pilgrim is then filled with the
realization that he is bound for the very destination that God especially
chose for His last revelation. Once launched on this course, the pilgrim is
imbued with the awareness of God and His truths, as well as the feeling that
it is imperative that he becomes God-oriented. If, up till then, he had been
self-centered in his thinking, he now turns his thoughts to God, and his
entire behavior is molded and transformed by these new thought processes.

Once the pilgrim's train of thought has become God-oriented, he begins to
ponder over major issues: God's act of creation, particularly His creation
of the pilgrim's own self; God's affording the pilgrim diverse opportunities
of bettering himself in this world; God's very benevolence, which makes it
possible for the pilgrim to set forth on this journey to the House of God.
The pilgrim also gives his mind to the day when he will meet his death and
be summoned to the court of God. This trend of thought turns the ostensible
physical journey of the pilgrim into an intense, spiritual venture.

When the time nears for his entrance into Al-Haram (sacred territory), every
pilgrim divests himself of his clothing in order to don a new kind of
"uniform"-an unstitched, plain, white garment, which serves to heighten his
consciousness of entering a new world. The very act of shedding his normal
clothes (and with them all signs of status and ethnicity) signifies that he
is separating himself from the way of life peculiar to his environment and
is now ready to become suffused with such emotions as are desired by God. In
this way, thousands of men cast off their own hues and take on the hue of
the Almighty. After clothing himself in ihram, the pilgrim finds his tongue
of itself beginning to utter godly words-"Labbayk, Allahuma, labbayk!"-and
he continues, as if hastening to answer God's call, to repeat the word
"labbayk"-"O God, I am here, I have come!"

Labbayk (I am here) does not mean just that the pilgrim has come to stay in
Makkah. It means that in leaving his normal abode he has cast aside his
whole way of life. It means, "I am here, at Your command, and with all my
heart and soul I am ready to obey You." While on their pilgrimage, pilgrims
simply give utterance to the word "labbayk," but when they return to their
own countries, they must put it into practice in their everyday lives.

On reaching Makkah, the pilgrim must perform Tawaf (circumambulation). To do
this, he enters the House of God-the great mosque in whose spacious central
courtyard stands the Ka`bah-that was erected by the Prophet Abraham in
ancient times. Then the pilgrim goes round the Ka`bah seven times to
demonstrate his willingness to make God the pivot of his whole existence.

After the Tawaf, there comes the ritual of Sa`i, which entails brisk walking
from the hill of Safa to the hill of Marwah and back again. This procedure
is repeated seven times in symbolic enactment of a promise, or covenant, to
expend all of one's energies in the path of God. The form that this ritual
takes can be traced back to the Prophet Isma`il's mother Hajar, when she was
running from one hill to another in a frantic search for water for her young
baby.

The most important period of worship during Hajj is the day-long sojourn on
the plain of Arafat. It is indeed an awesome spectacle, with people from all
over the world clad in identical, simple, white garments chanting, "Lord, I
am present, Lord, I am present." This serves to impress upon the mind of the
pilgrim how great a gathering there will be in the presence of God on the
last day, the Day of Reckoning. Once the pilgrim becomes aware of its true
significance, all his problems fall into their true perspective, and his
life cannot but take a turn for the better.

Another practice during Hajj is the casting of stones at Jamrat Al-`Aqabah.
This is a symbolic act through which the pilgrim renews his determination to
drive Satan away from him. In this way, he makes it plain that his
relationship with Satan is one of enmity and combat. The next step for the
pilgrim is to turn his piece of symbolism into reality, so that he may be
purged of all evils, for all the evils besetting man are there at the
instigation of Satan.

After this, the pilgrim sacrifices an animal to God, an act symbolizing the
sacrifice of the self. His faith is such that even if it comes to giving his
life-the last thing that he would normally be ready to part with-he will not
hesitate to do so in the service of God.


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* Excepted, with some modifications, from: http://www.alrisala.org/

** Dr. Wahiduddin Khan is a renowned Islamic writer and thinker. He has
authored some two hundred books in India and abroad. He is founder of the
Islamic Centre , India 's vanguard Urdu Islamic institution, which has done
much to awaken in Muslims a new awareness of their religion and social
responsibilities.

http://islamonline.net/english/Hajj/1426/Labbayk/01.shtml


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Relevant Pages

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  • The Message of Pilgrimage
    ... my knowledge of Hajj had been limited to what I could gain ... He is on his way to the House of God, ... the pilgrim is ... pilgrim is to turn his piece of symbolism into reality, ...
    (soc.culture.pakistan)
  • The Message of Pilgrimage
    ... my knowledge of Hajj had been limited to what I could gain ... He is on his way to the House of God, ... the pilgrim is ... pilgrim is to turn his piece of symbolism into reality, ...
    (soc.culture.iranian)