THE ESSENCE OF HAJJ – PART 7

Get into the habit of making tasbih, tahleel and takbeer constantly. We are leaving to serve Allah, leaving everything behind for Allah and we are disassociating from others. We have associated a lot of partners with Allah during our lives without realising it, tending to fear and trust other than Allah. When you start the journey, you are migrating from the status of dunia to the journey of akhirah, from the status of others to the status of oneness with Allah.

We are allowed to shop during hajj and to benefit to the merchants on location, but this is not supposed to be our intention in going for hajj. The license was granted because in the early days, the travellers came from far away and the merchants of Mekkah who hosted the hujjaj.  Nowadays, it is normal for travel agents to insert one or two additional days in Jeddah for the hujjaj to explore the malls in Jeddah. Please think hard if this is necessary in light of the purpose of your trip.

Try to decline requests to buy things for others.  It will take you a lot of time and effort to find all the items on that list – the correct type, size, colour, price etc and you don’t want to waste time going from shop to shop.  If you need to shop, delay the non-essential shopping until you have completed your hajj rites. Not only will merchandise be cheaper then, but also you will not deviate from the core purpose of your trip.

The hajj will erase all your past sins. It has retrospective effect, but does not protect you against future sins. The struggle to be a good Muslim will still remain, and this is a continuing struggle. Make the intention to emigrate from status of sins to the status of obedience once the hajj is completed, before, during and after the trip.

Thank Allah that He allowed you to be a Muslim and has given you the ability to go for hajj. Many people have the health and wealth but are not even inclined to go for hajj, and many yearn to go but do not have the means.

Make a pure intention to let the Ka’bah be witness to you and not against you in what you intend to do. Do not harbour any intention, strong or weak, to regress to your former sins or bad habits. Coming back from hajj without any positive change in behaviour is an indication that the hajj is not accepted. If you come back with the same attitude, manner, bad tongue, and wicked heart, then what kind of hajj is that?

Remember there is nowhere to run, because we are going back to Allah and are going to meet Him with what is in our hands, hearts and actions. When we die, we will find our baggage full of what we filled it. These deeds will be spilled open and we cannot escape, or deny ownership. We are all accountable for it and there is no argument with the angels of Allah.  Even if you think you can outsmart the angels of the grave, can you argue with Allah?

We hope that this series was helpful. Hajj Mabroor insha Allah. For more information and pointers on hajj, please watch this video series