The Soul Of Hajj

It is preferable that you enter Makkah during the daytime

Each step you take toward Ka'ba, your heart pounds The weight of being close to Allah's house seems to get heavier and heavier You are endowed with a mixed feeling of love and fear Love, because you have waited this long to get here Fear, because you don't know whether you can endure the strain of rituals of hajj, fulfill your duty unto Allah and be born again as an innocent human being

Make du'a (supplication) for Ka'ba upon seeing it

Remember this is the Baital Haram - the Sacred House - appointed by Allah (Quran 5:97) This is the first house of worship on the face of the globe It is to this house that you face while praying It is also the direction in which your face would be turned when you are buried as dead It is the center of existence, faith, love, unity and life It has its own history It is called Baitil Masabatal-lin-nass wa amana, ie, the House of resort for mankind and a sanctuary (Quran 2:125) It is also called Baitul Atiq - the Ancient House - in the Quran (22:29) Ibrahim prayed for its security and blessings

You perform Tawaf (circumambulation) of Ka'ba seven times, unless it is time for a regular prayer led by an Imam, which you need to join in

Just as planets of our solar system orbit around the sun, you orbit around the world's sun - the Ka'ba, and become part of a universal system You demonstrate your love for Allah by making Tawaf around His house Tawaf should be started from the corner stone - the Black stone, Hajr al-Aswad - with Ka'ba on the left This is where you make a contract to join all the tribes of the earth, and become like a drop of water entering the ocean The moment of truth has come and you must select your path, distinct from those who had rejected their Creator Three of the seven Tawafs must be at a faster pace than normal walking You should try to touch the stone with hand, and put your forehead on it and then kiss it By touching the stone, you have shown your allegiance to your Creator, who had sent this very stone from the heaven, so that He could know your love for Him By touching the stone, you have cut off all forms of allegiance to anything other than Allah, you have become free again from servitude of men and this world During Tawaf, you become part of the cosmos You forget about yourself You are in love with the symbol of unity and servitude to Allah You see nothing but His symbols, the Ka'ba and the Black Stone, Hajr al-Aswad By denying yourself you have become a lover of Him just like Hajera who migrated to this land, barren and rugged, without vegetation, without any forms of subsistence, but with complete reliance in Her Lord, Allah Subhana Wa ta'Ala (SWT) And Allah did not neglect either her or her infant son He brought out the Jamjam well and let people settle there, making it the most important place in the Arabian peninsula Remember that some rituals of hajj are, in reality, a memory of Hajera Hijrah or migration is what Hajera did Any migration like hers is a move toward civilization

During Tawaf, everyone encircles the Ka'ba collectively The movement is of one unit and there is no individual identification of men or women, black or white, red or yellow The movement has transformed one person into the totality of a "people" All of the "I's" have transformed into "We," establishing the universality of ummah with the goal of approaching Allah Likewise, all your self-centeredness must go and transform into self-denial or ummah-centered activities Allah's way is the way of the people In other words, to approach Allah, you must first approach people That is why, individual activities in Islam are less meritorious than collective actions You step out of the Tawaf cycle at the same place you started after completion of the seven orbits This is just like being resurrected from the same spot where you would be buried