The Pilgrimage
The pilgrimage is a worship of great wisdom
God The Almighty said:
الْحَجُّ أَشْهُرٌ مَّعْلُومَاتٌ فَمَن فَرَضَ فِيهِنَّ الحَجَّ فَلاَ رَفَثَ وَلاَ فُسُوقَ وَلاَ جِدَالَ فِي الحَجِّ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَعْلَمْهُ اللَّهُ وَتَزَوَّدُوا فَإِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ التَّقْوَى وَاتَّقُونِ يَا أُوْلِي الأَلْبَابِ - البقرة : 197
The pilgrimage is one of the best worship and most dignified obedience, and it is one of the pillars of Islam which God revealed through his Prophet Mohammad. Its significance is that it combines the contents of all other pillars; and the first provision in that ritual is (faith), one of the moral facts in the hearts, unseen, and if the heart appealed directly to God, all work is achieved.
The performance of this duty is an answer to Al Khaleel Ibrahim, and each of the pilgrimage’s pillars has a great wisdom, as follows:
Al Ihram:
Is the first thing pilgrimages do after Faith, and it is to renounce the wear of sewn garments and other physical luxury appearances, and the wisdom is to show equality between Muslims both in dress and appearance, and it represents resurrection.
The Accedence:
It is rising the voice up with the words (labaika Allahoma labaika) by which the pilgrim announces that he is obedient to God’s commands, and ready to answer them anytime, and that God is the Almighty and the merciful, and no one is to be thanked or praised or answered but Him.
Al Tawaf around the Kaaba:
The Kaaba is the first worship house established and it is the most sacred place on earth. Al Tawaf is a form of obedience to God’s command and a manifestation of slavery and has the same requirements of that of a prayer which are reverence and submission.
Al Sa’ai between Safa and Marwa:
God initiated Al Sa’ai to remind us of the traces of our good predecessors, as it was proved that Hajer (may God bless her), when left alone by Prophet Ibrahim, felt thirsty, and accordingly started heading to Al Safa once to find water, then to Marwa with the same purpose. Al Sa’ai still exists till date, as Muslims come to the sacred House of God burdened with sin and guilt, and in their pursuit between Al Safa and Marawa hope for God’s mercy, fear His torture, and seek His forgiveness.
Arafa Day:
The pilgrimage recalls resurrection day, and the gathering of nations and the larger display when God’s voice asks who is the Almighty today? And the only answer is: (for the One Forceful God), so Arafa Day reminds us of this majestic day…
That’s why God’s Messenger said: “" الحج عرفة
And at Arafat God revealed for Prophet Mohammad:
“اليَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ ”نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الإِسْلامَ دِينا
The Stoning Ritual:
It is an insistence and a determination to resort to God and reject whims, and stoning is a symbol of hatred and contempt of evil factors and self tendencies. In addition, it is a clear witness that pilgrimage is jihad, as stoning is the most important and greatest method of jihad to hit the purpose. One Muslim quoted from Aqaba Bin Amer: I heard the Messenger of Allah” وَأَعِدُّوا لَهُم مَّا اسْتَطَعْتُم مِّن قُوَّةٍ وَمِن رِّبَاطِ الخيل“ ا
Al Bizar said of Ibn Abbas: The Messenger of Allah said:
" إذا رميت الجمار كان لك نورًا يوم القيامة“.
Sacrificial Slaughter:
It is the shedding of vice blood by a hand intensified in the construction of morality; it is also a slaughter of the evil self and getting it out of the human body, then replacing it with the spirit of goodness and virtue. It is the obedience of Allah the Almighty showing His grace, by Muslims opening up to themselves and to the poor and needy during the days of Eid, and it is one of the rites of pilgrimage, since it is a revival of the slaughter which God experienced Ibrahim Al Khaleel with, to show the power of his faith in God the Almighty and his preference to satisfy Him.
The performance of pilgrimage and its rituals is a sign of submission to God the Almighty and worship Him in faith, God said:
“مَن يُعَظِّمْ حُرُمَاتِ اللَّهِ فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَّهُ عِندَ رَبِّهِ
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