The Five Pillars of Islam
Islam, according to the Prophet, was built upon five tenets: “The sworn testimony that none is worthy of being served besides God and that Mohammad is His servant and Apostle; ritual prayer; the giving of alms; pilgrimage to the House of God, and the fast of Ramadhan.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 8)
A building, when looked at in the mass, appears to be the sum of its many intricate parts. But what is it which bears aloft the entire soaring edifice? One comes inevitably to the pillars, the underpinnings of the whole structure. Thus, the above-cited articles of faith, are, figuratively speaking, the “pillars” of Islam, without which the entire Islamic edifice would come crashing to the ground.
Human individuals are like pieces of land on which such an edifice can be raised. But, if that edifice is to be pleasing to God, it must be set firmly on those five pillars of Islamic tradition. Without this, the structure of Islam cannot be built up and supported at the level either of the individual or of society.
According to Islam, all individuals should lead lives of worship of and devotion to God. The different observances which are the warp and weft of such an existence—faith, prayer, fasting, charity, pilgrimage—are not mere rituals, but are integral virtues of the Islamic awareness. Faith, to take the most important, is in essence, belief in the truth of divine realities. Prayer is an exercise in physical and mental prostration before God, such as will banish all notions of personal greatness. Fasting—perhaps the most difficult—teaches one to be steadfast in one’s trust of God. Charity entails the recognition of others’ claims upon one, so that one shall not forfeit one’s own share in God’s bounty. Lastly, the pilgrimage serves to unite God’s servants around their Maker. Once an individual attains the high degree of piety engendered by the observance of these Islamic requirements, he can be judged to have acquired such characteristics—selflessness, patience, readiness to acknowledge the rights of others—as will gain him God’s blessings for all time to come.
Faith
When one finally acknowledges God as one’s Lord and Master, one is entering, as it were, into a ‘contract’ with God, a covenant which excludes all other beings and makes Him all in all. Then it is around Him alone that all one’s thoughts and emotions will revolve; it is in Him alone that one will place complete trust. With the passage of time it will be to no one but the Almighty that all one’s hopes, fears and supplications will be addressed.
There is no one—great or small—who does not have a focus of attention and activity in his life. For some, the household and family hold the central position, while for others it is business and money-making. For yet others, the preoccupations of political leadership are all that matter. Many base their entire lives on dreams of power and prestige. But, whatever the sources of human satisfaction, if a man does not live in his Lord, his life will be one of the most abysmal ignorance and vacuity. He will have built himself a house of straw, to be carried away by the merest puff of wind. It is only when he strenuously pulls himself out of his mundane existence and begins to live in his Creator that he will discover what in essence his true life ought to be. It is only then that he will understand his Maker’s intentions and realize that he is now in possession of that divine support without which, not only he, but the entire universe would collapse. Once he has achieved that state, he will think of God day and night, as he sleeps and as he awakens, and will not take the slightest initiative without first putting his trust in God. It will be for God and God alone that he will speak or remain silent.
Faith can be likened to the electric current which lights up the factory and sets all machines in motion. When faith comes to a man, it is like the arrival of the electric current from the power house—his soul is ablaze with light, his heart throbs faster with devotion, and a new fire—zeal—burns within him; his entire being is stirred with a longing for his Lord. This human being, born of his mother’s womb, is born once again from the womb of faith.
When two people love one another, they remain with each other mentally and emotionally, even if they are thousands of miles apart. Physical separation does nothing to impair the quality of their attachment for each other, and, in each and everything, they see a likeness of the beloved’s face. A similar emotional bond links the true believer with God, so that when confronted with the vastness of space, he will behold, not emptiness, but the greatness of the Lord. In the fury of the tempest he will see the glory of his Maker. When birds sing, he will hear divine melodies, and when the sun peeps over the horizon, he will, experience its warmth and light like a caress from the hand of his Lord. The sight of the beautiful foliage of the trees will make him feel that God has spread out the story of His creation before him in every leaf, twig and bud. The merest breath of wind in his face will make him feel that he has come closer to God. In fact, at every instant, the believer in God is bathing in a divine ocean of unfathomable depths. Each experience serves to strengthen his bond with the Lord. God and he become as one.
To believe in God is to have faith in One who is Creator, Master and Sustainer of the Universe. It is He who has fashioned all things; there is nothing which can function except by virtue of His power; without Him, nothing can even begin to exist. Faith awakens human consciousness to this great truth and man, in his new-found awareness, sees himself as the slave of the Almighty. All things appear to him as manifestations of the Lord and, whatever it falls to his lot to receive, he cherishes as a divine gift. He is unceasing in his praise and remembrance of the Lord.
The individual who is thus imbued with faith is not negligent in the way he lives on earth, remaining alert to every opportunity of coming closer to his Lord, for he is ever aware of the many blessings showered on him by his Creator. For instance, when his fatigue of the previous day has been banished by a good night’s rest, he expresses his profound gratitude for this miracle called sleep. Without sleep one would go mad and soon die. When he sees the darkness of the night dispelled by the rising sun, he exclaims quite involuntarily: “Blessed be the One who has created light! Without light the entire world would be plunged into a sea of pitch darkness!” And just the satisfaction of his hunger and the quenching of his thirst floods his whole being with a sense of gratitude. Amazed at the miracles of food and water, he falls to wondering what state mankind would be reduced to, were it not for such blessings sent down by the Almighty.
When the believer is hurt, it is to God that he calls out for comfort and consolation; when he is in distress, it is to God that he turns for help. Whenever he has stood to gain, he is ever mindful of the fact that this is part of the Lord’s bounty, and is moved to offer Him his heartfelt gratitude. Should he incur a loss, he bows to the reality that all things happen at the will of God. He does not become arrogant when showered with blessings, neither is he driven to despair by the adversity of conditions. The strength of his attachment to his Lord is so great that not even the most wonderful of attachments to another human being can impair it. Neither can any greater or lesser degree of self-interest divert him from his duty to the Almighty.
From time to time, important scientific discoveries are made by brilliant minds aided by sophisticated apparatus—the gravitational forces of the earth and cosmic rays being two of the better known. But although their impact is very great in the realms of science, they do not saddle either the discoverers, or the recipients of their new-found knowledge, with any significant moral responsibilities. Nor do they bring any keener awareness of the ultimate reality. No matter how scientifically important they may seem as forms of enlightenment, they cannot compare with the discovery of God.
Discovering God means arriving at the source of all strength and wisdom. It is the meeting of the soul with the one who is all-hearing, all-seeing and all-knowing. With the discovery of our Maker comes the consciousness that He has not created this universe in vain. How could such a great universe forever remain a mystery? Is it within the realms of possibility that its meaning should never become manifest? In a universe controlled by a God who is both omniscient and omnipotent, this is simply inconceivable. To one who has made the discovery of faith, the certainty inevitably comes that God, who had hitherto directed the world from behind the scenes, will stand forth in all His glory, to be emblazoned on every cloud, crag and pinnacle, on every blade, leaf and twig, on every heart, body and soul. On that day of days, doubts and differences will be banished forever, and the truth will belong to all. This conviction brings the believer to the further conclusion that when the Creator and Master of the Universe ultimately takes on a visible form before all His creatures, this manifestation will have direct, personal repercussions on every human soul. It will not be an event which can be viewed dispassionately as if it were just another natural phenomenon like the rising of the sun or the waxing and waning of the moon, bearing no direct relation to the moral aspect of our lives: it will be an awesome event—the manifestation of a Being, a Power, who is not only possessed of a limitless knowledge of all things, but who is both Reckoner and Retributor. When the Lord of the Universe makes himself manifest, all of His creation will arise from the dead to await His judgement. Those who have rebelled against Him, and those who have thought fit to worship only themselves, will on that day be like men of straw; they will be brought low, lower than the most grovelling of insects. On the contrary, those who have believed in God, devoting their entire lives to Him, will find themselves immediately raised to a superior position. During the millennia on earth when God chose to remain concealed those who were not faithful to Him were free to revel in their apostasy. But when God reveals Himself to them, they will realize how ill-used their freedom was and how abysmal their failure in the eyes of their Maker. It will only be those who remained faithful to Him, invisible as He then was, who will find themselves crowned with success in the afterlife. God’s manifesting Himself will mark the beginning of a new and perfect world, in which those who were faithful to Him will lead a life of everlasting bliss, and in which those who rebelled against him will be relegated to eternal punishment.
Whenever a human being finally grasps this reality, he trembles in fear of God, He cries out to his Maker: “Lord! Save me from disgrace on that day when you appear in all Your Power and Glory! When I stand helpless before You on that day, only You will hold the scales of justice in your hand; only you shall be the possessor of power.”
The very act of having faith in God entails acceptance of the Prophet as His Apostle. This is of the greatest importance, for the moment a man discovers God as a live and conscious Being, he needs to understand what God wants of him; he may garner indications from his own inner nature and from the world all around him, but he needs someone to spell out the Lord’s message to him in quite unmistakable terms. In particular, he does not wish to be left in any doubt as to the events of the Last Day, and who is better to explain them to him in advance than God’s very own Prophet? It is exactly at this crucial, questing stage of his spiritual development that the words of the Prophet resound in his ears: “I am God’s servant and His Apostle. The Lord has sent me to bring guidance to mankind. Come to me and hear the message of God.”
The genuine seeker after the truth will have little difficulty in recognizing the Prophet’s call, for he will already have broken down the walls of prejudice and indifference which confine the ignorant and the complacent within their cell of spiritual darkness. The truth-seeker will recognize the word of God, as His Prophet brings it to him, just as a child recognizes his own mother’s voice. Through the words of the Prophet, he comes truly to know God. His soul blossoms at the very sound of them in the way that drought stricken land puts forth green shoots as the blessed rain falls from the heavens. His whole inner being becomes radiant as if bathed in a divine light. His discovery of God is raised to an infinitely higher plane of illumination by his discovery of God’s Prophet.
The Prophet is neither an angel nor any other kind of supernatural being, having been born into this world of a human mother, just like any of his fellowmen. What truly distinguishes him from the rest of mankind is his having been chosen by God as His messenger. In the Prophet, God saw a man in whom the fires of human nature burnt bright, and in whom there was no contradiction of thought, word and deed. In the forty years before he attained prophethood, he had never once betrayed a trust. He was strictly honest in his dealings, true to his word, and deeply compassionate towards the human beings all around him. Most important of all, he had a profound desire for the truth, which went far and beyond all craving for profit.
In Mohammad, son of Abdullah, (peace and God’s blessings be upon him) God found a pure soul, untarnished by self-interest, and totally uncompromising on the question of right and wrong. He saw in him a man selflessly devoted to the discharge of his duties, and one who would never stoop to idolatrous beliefs. Most important, God had found in this desert Arab a genuine seeker after the truth. It could only be such as he who would appreciate to the full the divine revelations with which he would be entrusted, and who would be fully alive to the resultant obligation. It was precisely because this most perfect of men had shown himself to be so consistently virtuous over the first forty years of his life that God chose him as His final Prophet for all mankind. During the ensuing twenty-three years of his prophethood, Mohammad proved that God’s trust in him had not been misplaced, for he carried out his prophetic duties with the highest imaginable degree of integrity. There could have been no conceivably superior fulfillment of the responsibilities entailed by prophethood.
It is thanks to the Prophet that God’s Book, as communicated to him by God’s Angels, has been handed down to us in pure and pristine form, thus making it possible for us to find in His Scriptures a clear description of all those qualities and observances which our Lord requires of us. In the Quran, God converses with us in human language, and, if His words are as clear to us today as at the time of their utterance, it is because of the special care taken by the Prophet and his companions to ensure that God’s Book would be preserved in its original form, unmarred by interpolation, alteration or omission.
Not only did the Prophet receive God’s Revelations, but he also practiced them to perfection throughout his entire life. He thus provided a living example of how Quranic teaching should be followed. It was easy for people to see and understand the examples he set, for he lived the life of any normal family man, mixing freely with people in the town and marketplace. Like any other ordinary individual, he had friends and enemies, and knew what it meant to win or lose, fail or succeed. But what made him different from the ordinary run of men was the sublimity of his character. No matter what situation he found himself in, he always set a shining example. From a position of affluence and security he was reduced to suffering poverty, hunger, pain and rejection—all in the attempt to preach the Faith. But no matter how adverse the circumstances in which he found himself, he never failed to evince this perfection of character. Conversely, when he rose from the level of an ordinary man to become a judge and a ruler, having ultimately set up the pillars of Islam, this excellence of disposition never left him for an instant. Indeed, his entire life was marked by such divine characteristics that it has become a model for mankind for all eternity.
When we go to meet our Lord, we earnestly pray that we shall find favour in His eyes, hoping to live in the Hereafter in the Gardens of everlasting delight. But if we are to merit this fate, we must ascertain from the Quran what God commands, and must observe from the life of the Prophet how God’s commands are to be carried out. We must then mould our lives on the divine injunctions recorded in the Quran and on the supreme example of the Prophet’s life. This is the true path for great and small alike. Any other course will lead to perdition.
Prayer
Prayer, the second pillar of Islam, entails the worship of God five times a day in the prescribed manner. This mode of worship, laid down for mankind by God through His Prophet, is so all-embracing that one cannot imagine any superior way of worshipping the Almighty.
When the time for prayer comes, the greatness of God is proclaimed in the call to prayer, and the faithful are instructed to assemble for prayer as a matter of their own spiritual uplift. They then perform their ablutions—in so doing reviving their sense of cleanliness—and, fixing their minds on God, they make their way to the mosque, where they all offer prayers together. The prayers are led by an Imam, under whose guidance Muslims are shown how they should lead their lives. In the same way as the congregation make the Imam their leader in prayers, so should all Muslims unite around the Prophet, making him the focal point of their social existence.
The prayer has various stages: bowing low, prostrating oneself, and standing and kneeling before God. In assuming these various postures, the congregation demonstrates their submission to the Lord. When they stand, hands joined in prayer, when they bow low, when they sit reverently before the Lord, when they touch the ground with their foreheads, with each posture they adopt, they renew their covenant of submission to God.
During the prayers, an excerpt from the Quran is read out. One amazing attribute of the Quran is that, no matter which part is chosen and how much of it is recited, its message is clearly conveyed. This is because each page of the Quran is like a summary of the whole. In this way, any short excerpt from the Quran recited in prayer suffices to show what pleases and what displeases the Almighty.
Besides this, the prayers include praise and remembrance of God, supplications to Him and the expression of goodwill towards the Prophet and all believers. The prayers then end with a message of peace to all mankind. Thus constituted, they are both an act of worship and a reminder of God’s commandments. They give solace to believers, while creating social consciousness and unity in their ranks. Prayer is not only a symbol of the Islamic life, but also inculcates self-discipline among Muslims. Although the most important aspect of prayer is its being the main point of spiritual contact with God, it also has valuable lessons for us on how to conduct ourselves in our daily lives.
Prayer, as well as being a ritual mode of worship, is an expression of the inner realities of humility before, and devotion to God. The ultimate acknowledgement of another’s greatness being the repetition of the words, “He is the Greatest,” the words, Allahu Akbar, are uttered time and time again in prayer. Verbal acknowledgement is thus made of the absolute quality of God’s greatness in comparison to that of ordinary mortals.
Physically, the ultimate recognition of another’s greatness is the act of self-prostration; no physical act is more obviously a testament to the greatness of another than this. Performed repeatedly during prayers, it is a practical reminder and a clear demonstration of one’s belief in the incomparable grandeur of God. The giving of one’s entire attention to God is underlined by turning one’s gaze towards the House of God. The direction in which one must face in order to pray is, therefore, of great religious significance, for it not only focuses one’s attention on the deity, but also demonstrates that one’s very life is turned towards God. Every aspect of one’s life, from inner thoughts to outer needs, then becomes truly God-oriented.
When a servant of God bows before his Lord, and does so, not just as a matter of form, but in the spirit of true humility, the effect of his action does not remain confined to the domain, but extends to his everyday existence, pervading it completely. His thinking and actions bear the permanent stamp of his devotions, for it is impossible for a man to fear God and to bow before Him without being influenced thereby in his dealings with others. A true worshipper cannot be humble and meek before God and yet be arrogant and supercilious to his fellow men. He will not, of course, prostrate himself before them, nor will he address the words “You are great” to another person, as he would to God. But he will certainly avoid asserting his own superiority, and instead will adopt a humble demeanour on a parallel with his self-prostration before his Maker. The submission which he expresses in prayer to God becomes a reality in terms of his observance of others’ rights. The very act of facing in the correct direction influences him to take a principled stand in his everyday dealings. At prayer in the mosque, he is the epitome of servitude to God: outside the mosque, he is the perfect character—humble in demeanour, morally upright, and kind considerate and forgiving in all his transactions.
Besides the five daily prayers, there are other prayers, designed for particular times and special occasions, which are intended to supplement them, and to reinforce this state of mind induced by them. There are prayers for the fulfillment of some great need, for the help of God in some difficult task or new venture, (when the supplicant will offer two rak’ats of prayer) as well as prayers to be said in the context of extraordinary events or special individual needs. Tahajjud is the prayer recited in the early hours of the morning. This time has been chosen as the most peaceful and quiet period in all of the 24 hours, during which it is easier for the devotee to give his wholehearted attention to the substance of the prayer. The fact that he has to forego his sleep in order to recite the prayer inculcates the virtue of self-denial. Then there are the congregational prayers on Fridays and Eid festivals, funeral prayers and many others, such as the prayer to be said on visiting a place for the first time.
The important thing about prayer is that it induces; the correct attitude in the devotee, as though the spirit of his prayers were keeping a watchful eye on everything he says and does. When going about his worldly affairs, it is as if the whole world were a mosque; his actions, therefore, at all times and in all places cannot be other than in consonance with what his worship requires of him.
Fasting
The ritual of fasting, the third pillar of Islam, is observed each year by Muslims throughout the entire month of Ramadhan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. The period of fasting each day lasts from the first light of dawn until sunset, thus obliging devotees to make radical changes in their entire daily routine. Since no food or drink whatsoever is to be consumed during daylight hours, they experience the sharp pangs of hunger and thirst, and the fatigue and weakness which accompany them. This abstinence, day after day, from the basic essentials of life teaches a lesson in endurance; it is this willing submission of devotees to the hardships of fasting which strengthen their capacity for patience and fortitude.
In spite of the physical handicaps imposed by fasting, they remain alert, discharging their duties and carrying out their responsibilities. When they see food and water before them, feeling tempted to eat and drink, but then refraining from doing so, their willpower is strengthened each time they resist temptation. In this way, they prepare themselves to lead a disciplined and responsible life, in which they do what is right and eschew what is wrong. Despite the difficulties strewn in their path, they press on towards the achievement of the true Islamic goal of life.
God has bestowed innumerable blessings upon man in this world—the air, the light of the sun, the rain, the water of rivers, lakes and seas being the most basic to his needs. But because these things come to man with little or no effort on his part, he tends to take them for granted. He does not see them for the great blessings that they are. He does not pause to consider how all of them have been specifically created to meet his own precise needs. Were one of these amazing blessings to be completely withheld, life would become intolerable. It is only when he observes the ritual of fasting that he truly realises their significance and has proper sense of gratitude for them. It is when, in the evening, after a day of hunger, thirst, exhaustion and discomfort, a man consumes food and drink, that his awareness of God’s bounty is most intense. That is when he feels truly grateful to the Creator and Sustainer of life. Were he to give up his whole life to the service of God, he would feel that it was nothing compared to the limitless blessings bestowed on him by his Maker.
The life which a believer is required to live on earth is, from beginning to end, a life of patience. He must confine himself to what is lawful and keep his distance from what has been decreed unlawful by the Almighty. In adhering to the path of truth, he is bound to face difficulties in life. But he must bear with them and avoid wasting precious time in reacting to the hurdles placed in his way by others. In this way he will be able to persevere in his life’s duties in spite of all obstacles. Impervious to the losses incurred by him in this world, he will press on in quest of the gains of the next world. Even when his pride is severely wounded, and the unpleasantness of events causes him great irritation, he refrains from displaying a negative reaction and continues to pursue positive ends. None of this can be achieved without the virtues of patience and endurance.
The path of Islam can be followed only by those who have unlimited reserves of patience, and it is precisely this virtue which is inculcated by the annual lesson of fasting. This lesson, painfully learned during the month of Ramadhan, stays with devotees throughout their entire lives.
The whole life of a believer is, in a sense, a life of fasting: he is required to abstain not just from food and drink, but from anything which is wrong, such as negative thinking, ill-conceived and hastily executed initiatives, in fact, any practice which might prove injurious to others. He is also to refrain from attempting to make lawful that which God has disallowed. Abstinence of this nature comes more easily to those who have undergone the rigours of fasting, than to those who have led a life of unrestricted self-indulgence. Fasting, in short, chastens the soul and strengthens the will to do good.
Zakat
The fourth pillar of Islam, zakat is the giving of alms out of one’s own private means at a minimum fixed rate of 2.5% per annum. This money is given in the name of God and is to be spent on worthy religious causes and on meeting the needs of the poor and the helpless.
Zakat is in the nature of an annual reminder to man that everything he possesses belongs to God, and that nothing should, therefore, be withheld from Him.
Man himself plays only a very small part in obtaining whatever he owns in this world. Were he not to have the benefit of God’s endless bounty, he would neither be able to grow grain, raise cattle, set up industries nor accomplish any other work of a useful nature. The system of life created for him by God, meeting as it does all of his requirements from those of his inner being to those of his external environment, is one of the greatest perfections. Were God to withdraw even a single one of His blessings, all man’s schemes would lie in ruins and all his efforts would be in vain. All productivity would grind to a halt, and life itself would come to a standstill.
The observance of zakat is a way of acknowledging this fact of life. Islam desires that private wealth should be considered as belonging to God, and that He should have his rightful share in whatever gains are made. Although a minimum donation has been stipulated, there is no limit to the amount of money which can be given to support God’s rightful cause. It is the practice then for Muslims to set aside a certain sum annually, and to donate it to some worthy cause.
In so doing, no one should consider that he is conferring a great favour upon those less well-endowed than himself and should in no way be condescending to the recipients of his charity. When a man gives alms to others, he should do so in the knowledge that they have a rightful share in his wealth, for this is as God has ordained. He is doing no more than giving others their due. But when he gives, he can feel reassured that he himself will be given succour by his Maker on the Day of Judgement. In giving to others, he knows for certain that he will not be denied by God at the Last Reckoning.
Zakat gives a clear indication of what one’s responsibilities to others should be. Everyone is required to recognize the rights of others, just as everyone is expected to sympathize with those afflicted by adversity. This feeling should be so well developed that one has no hesitancy about sharing one’s possessions with others, or coming to their assistance, even when it is clear that nothing can be expected in return. Even where there are no ties of friendship, one should wish others well and guard their honour as if it were one’s own.
Zakat brings the realization that all of one’s possessions are gifts from God and makes one more keenly aware of the virtues of devotion to God. In the light of such awareness, one cannot remain insensitive to the needs of the society in which one lives. Zakat is a perennial reminder that a selfish stance is a wrong stance, and that others must be given their rightful share of our earnings.
One unfortunate aspect of human relationships is that people tend to give to others only when they hope to gain something in return. Money, they feel, should be returned with interest. When such an understanding becomes a factor in our social organization, exploitation becomes rampant; everyone is ready to plunder everyone else. This results in society falling a pray to oppression and disorder. No one—whether rich or poor—can be at peace in a society stricken with this malaise.
Society should be so ordered that the fortunately placed in life come to the assistance of their less fortunate brothers, in the knowledge that they will ultimately be rewarded by God. Believers have the assurance of God that if they give to others, whatever they give will be returned to them many times over in the next world; their trust in God’s promise is complete. In a society ordered in this way, feelings of antagonism and indifference are not allowed to develop: people are not bent on exploiting one another. There is never an atmosphere of mutual resentment and dissatisfaction, for everyone lives in peace with his neighbour. Such a society, in short, is a haven of contentment and well-being.
In its external form then, zakat is an annual tax. But in essence, it is the principle on which God and his creatures have a right to a share in one’s property.
Hajj
Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam, is the name given to the pilgrimage to Mecca, the focal point of Islam, where once every year Muslims from all over the world gather to perform a special type of congregational worship. This takes the form of a symbolic enactment of certain Islamic teachings, the observance of which is a requirement on both spiritual and material levels, since it demonstrates the individual’s readiness to put Islamic precepts into practice in his everyday life. Individual acts of Islamic worship may be similarly defined, but the scale on which they take place during Hajj and their close combination produces an intensification of their overall effect. Individual pilgrims then have a sense of belonging to a unified whole.
The ideal of all men living on earth as God’s servants, and therefore as equals, is expressed in the wearing of ihram (a very simple form of clothing) by all pilgrims, irrespective of their nationality. In this way, all artificial, discriminatory barriers are broken down between people from all walks of life.
It is also the earnest wish of Islam that people’s lives should revolve around the Almighty, and a symbolic demonstration of this takes place during the pilgrimage in the circumambulation of the House of God. Another ritual involving physical exertion is sa’i, which entails a fast-paced walk between the hills of Safa and Marwah. This gives pilgrims a taste of the intensity with which one must press ever onwards along the path of Islam. Devotees who hear the call of God are exhorted to recite repeatedly: “I am at your service Lord, here I am:” this being the perfect expression of Islamic intention.
One of Islam’s major goals is that mankind should live in remembrance of that Day when all will be assembled before God. The gathering of the pilgrims on the plain of Arafat is a visible reminder of this crucial moment in the afterlife.
Islam sincerely wishes that man should be free of the clutches of the Devil and that they should continually chase the Evil One away.
The casting of pebbles at the stone devils Rami al-Jamar gives pilgrims the opportunity to go through the physical motions of a symbolic fight against evil. Islam desires too, that the believer should adhere to the covenant he has made with God, even if this entails the sacrifice of his property or even his life. At Mina, therefore, during the rites of pilgrimage, the pilgrims sacrifice an animal, thus showing themselves ready to make whatever sacrifices are demanded of them. It is also a requirement of Islam that people should patiently endure the inconveniences they have to suffer on account of their fellowmen, and during the Hajj season, pilgrims have innumerable opportunities of displaying their self-restraint. With so many hundreds of thousands of different types of people gathered together in one place, it is inevitable that there should be countless occasions when some are put to inconvenience by others. This is the time that pilgrims are directed to be especially careful not to give vent to anger or irritation, to refrain absolutely from abusing or attacking anyone and to eschew all immodest or dishonest behaviour. Hoping themselves for kind treatment at the hands of God, they do their utmost to be kind in their treatment of other human beings.
Hajj is a rehearsal for a life of struggle in God’s cause, a reminder of the momentousness of the Last Day, and a caution that Satan, man’s greatest enemy, must be beaten back at all costs. Its greatest message is that if one desires a share in God’s blessings, one should be prepared to sacrifice not only one’s possessions but one’s very life for Him. In this way, it is a lesson in living a God-oriented life.
Through the conditions created at the time of the pilgrimage, people learn how they should live on this earth with their fellow men. They receive a practical exercise in tolerating the difficulties created by others, which makes them realize both the necessity and possibility of living together in a spirit of justice and benevolence. Above all, Hajj is a colossal demonstration of human equality.
It is such a complete act of worship that anyone who performs it in the proper manner will find that it has a salutary effect on all of his or her social interaction, whether in relation to God or to other human beings.
Although we have been commanded to perform Hajj only once in a lifetime, it is such a great and all—encompassing act of worship that, if correctly performed, both in form and in spirit, its impact will be permanent. This once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage will leave its indelible stamp upon the mind of the pilgrim, thus changing for the better the whole course of his remaining life.
