HAJJ

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and who-ever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your comment: Hadj is comulsory in Islam. Would you please elaborate which ( Prophet) initiated the Hadj?

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 22 Surah Al-Hajj verses 26-29: Recall to mind the time when We assigned the site of this House (The Kaabah) to Ibrahim, saying, “Do not associate anything as a partner with Me.  Keep my House clean and pure for those who go round it and for those who stand and bow down and prostrate, and make a proclamation to the people to come for Hajj from far and near, on foot and on lean camels, so that they may witness the benefits that have been made available here for them.   And during the known appointed days, they should mention the name of Allah over the cattle He has provided them.  Then they may eat their flesh and also give of it to the indigent and needy.  Then they should complete the rites prescribed, fulfill their vows, and circumambulate the Ancient House.

In light of the above aayah of the Holy Quran, it is evident that Allah commanded Prophet Ibrahim (a.s.) to initiate the pilgrimage of Hajj.

Your comment: How the KABA with holy rock came into existance?

Although the Kaabah is mentioned several times in the Holy Quran, the Black Stone is not mentioned by name.  The Messenger of Allah (saws) said in an authentic narration, that the Stone (it was reportedly originally white in color) was sent down from the heavens to the earth by Allah, along with the first man on earth, Prophet Adam (a.s.). Then, centuries later, when Allah commanded Prophet Ibrahim (a.s.) and Prophet Ismail (a.s.) to rebuild the Kaabah, the Stone was placed in the corner of the Kaabah, as directed by Allah to Prophet Ibrahim (a.s.).

Your comment: If the Kaba houses the meteorite rock then are not we worshiping the rock just as Hindu relegion does?

The act of ‘sajdah’ or prostration, whereby we touch our foreheads and knees on the ground in submission, is due to none other than Allah Alone!  This is the exclusive Right of Allah Subhanah Alone. If done to anybody or anything else, it will be an open and manifest act of ‘shirk’, which is the absolute biggest sin in Islam!  And the punishment for one who dies in ‘shirk’ is the confirmed eternal fire of Hell. 

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 41 Surah Fusselat verse 37: Do not do ‘sajdah’ to the sun and the moon, but do ‘sajdah’ to that Allah, Who Created them, if you really are indeed His worshippers.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 72:Whoever commits ‘shirk’ (invoking anything with Allah), Allah shall forbid for him Paradise, and Hell shall be his abode.  And for such wrong doers there will be no one to help.

Allah says in the Quran: Chapter 4 Surah An-Nisa Verse 48: Shirk (associating other deities with Allah) is the only sin that Allah does not forgive, and He forgives, whomsoever He pleases, sins other than this.  For whosoever associates any other partner with Allah, does indeed forge a big lie and commits the most heinous sin.

The truth is that we muslims do not worship nor do ‘sajdah’ to either the Kaabah or the Black Stone!   We worship and do ‘sajdah’ only to our Lord and Creator, Allah Alone.  Allah has commanded us in the Holy Quran to make His Sacred House, the Kaabah, the direction for our prayers.  

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 148: Everyone has a direction towards which he turns in Prayer.   So try to excel one another in good works.   Allah will find you wherever you may be, for nothing is out of Allah’s reach.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 144: We have seen you, (O Mohamed), turning your face over and over again towards the heaven!   Now, therefore, We turn you towards the Qiblah that you like best. So turn your face towards the Masjid-e-Haraam!  Henceforth, wheresoever you may be, turn your face at prayer towards it.  

And when Allah and His Messenger (saws) command us to do anything, we must consider it our duty as true believers to follow their commandments.  If anybody other than Allah and His Messenger (saws) command us to do anything in Islam, without evidence from the Quran and Sunnah, we are not to obey them!   We are commanded to obey only Allah and His Messenger (saws) explicitly in the Holy Quran!

We only turn our direction towards the Masjid-e-Haraam as commanded by Allah directly in the Holy Quran.  We do not worship the Masjid-e-Haraam, we do not worship the Kaabah, nor do we worship the Black Stone!  We worship none but Allah, the Lord of the Worlds!  

The Hindus on the other hand, worship their gods, and bow down to their idols in prostration, etc.  Similarly, some ignorant muslims also bow down in prostration to human beings who are alive, and also to those who are buried in the graves.   If you realize, each of these idols or graves have a ‘personality’ behind them!  The idols are fashioned in the names of Ram or Shiva or Jesus or Mary or whatever.   And similarly, these graves are also over the buried body of some personality!  These people thus, in fact, worship these ‘personalities’ and invoke them to do them favors in this world and the next.   Some ignorant muslims even invoke those dead in the graves to help them in the hereafter by becoming their ‘intercessors’ with Allah!  All these above are nothing but different manifestations of the heinous crime of ‘Shirk’!

There is no personality behind the Kaabah… It is only a cubicle, built as a direction for every muslim to turn his face in prayer.   We worship and invoke none but the Lord of the Worlds, Allah Subhanah Alone!  We do not ask the Kaabah or the Black Stone for any favors or anything else…  They are nothing but a direction of prayers as commanded by Allah clearly in the Holy Quran!

The Prophet (saws) used to kiss the Black Stone when he did his ‘tawaaf’ or circumambulating of the Kaabah.   After his death, one of the closest friends and companions of the Messenger of Allah (saws) came near the Black Stone and said this before kissing it:  “You cannot harm me, nor profit me in anything.   And I swear by Allah, if I had not seen the Messenger of Allah (saws) kissing you (The Black Stone), I would never kiss you.”

Also please note that the Kaabah is only in Makkah.  When we pray away from Makkah, in our mosques, in our homes, in our countries, there is no Kaabah.  We only face the direction of the Kaabah when we perform our prayers.  But the Hindus and ignorant Muslims who worship their ‘personalities’ only bow down and perform their religious rites, when they go to their idols and the graves!   Worshipping other deities or personalities is called ‘shirk’, but the true muslims worship none but Allah Alone, and that is termed ‘Tawheed’.

Your comment:  Prohet Ebrahim sacrifised a lamb, inplace of his son by the grace of Allahsubhanna, since then all muslims sacrifie the lamb after the Hadj that ritual I understood as a part of the Hadj.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 37 Surah Saaffat verses 99-111: Ibrahim said, “I shall go to my Lord.  He will guide me.  O my Lord!  Grant me a son who shall be righteous.”  (In answer to this prayer), We gave him the good news of a gentle and clement son (Prophet Ismail).  When the boy reached the age to work with him,  (one day) Ibrahim said to him, “My son!  I have dreamt that I am sacrificing you.  Now tell me what you think of it.”  He (Ismail) said, “My dear father, do as you are being commanded.  You will find me, if Allah so wills, of the patient.”  At last, when the two of them had submitted themselves (to Allah), and Ibrahim had flung his son down on his brow, We called out: “O Ibrahim!  You have indeed fulfilled your vision.”  Thus do we reward the righteous.  This was indeed a manifest trial.  And We ransomed his son for a great sacrifice (a ram), and left for him praise among posterity for ever.   Peace is upon Ibrahim.  Thus do We reward the righteous.  Indeed, he was one of Our Believing Slaves.

In light of the above aayah of the Quran, you are absolutely right that Hadrat Ibrahim (a.s.) sacrificed the ram in place of his son, Hadrat Ismail (a.s.) as per the command of Allah.   And the promise of Allah that He ‘left for Ibrahim praise among posterity for ever’ was also fulfilled, as this great sacrifice of Ibrahim (a.s.) was made part of the Hajj ritual by Allah for all posterity until the end of time, Insha Allah. 

And Allah Alone Knows Best, and He is the Only Source of Strength.

May Allah guide you and us all to the Siraat al-Mustaqeem

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan