THE MESSAGE OF HAJJ
One special aspect of hajj is that it makes people remember God’s scheme of things, which was first made known in Abraham’s day, and fulfilled in the days of the Prophet Muhammad.
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 which 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.
When the time nears for his entrance into the Haram (sacred territory), every pilgrim divests himself of his clothing in order to don a new kind of uniform - an unstitched plain, white garments which serve 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, in casting off their own hues, take on the hue of the Almighty and beginning to utter godly words - ‘Labbaika Allahumma labbaika! Here I am, O God, here I am!’
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 Kabah, which was erected by the Prophet Abraham in ancient times. Then he goes round the Kabah 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 expand all of one’’s energies in the path of God. The form which this ritual takes can be traced back to the Prophet Abraham’s wife Hajar, running from one hill to another in a frantic search for water for her young baby when they first arrived there.
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 of Reckoning. Another practice during hajj is the casting of stones at Jamarahs. 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 this 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. In making such a sacrifice, the pilgrim indicates his willingness to forsake everything for God. His faith is such that 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.
