The significance and message of the pilgrimage is for man to turn towards God, making God the central focus of his life. Although the Hajj lasts for just a few days, the lessons it provides have a much broader significance. Hajj is a comprehensive guide for the entirety of one’s life.
When we take leave of our homes and families and set off for Hajj, we feel as if we are journeying towards God. It feels like we have left our world and are entering the world of God. We feel we are heading towards the House of God, to the abode and place of experience of God’s Prophet and his companions—to the historically significant places of people who had devoted their entire lives for the sake of God, and who gave their lives in God’s path. With this, the pilgrim also realizes the fact that he is setting off for that place which God specially chose to reveal his final guidance to humankind.
The significance and message of the pilgrimage—is for man to turn towards God, making God the central focus of his life.
In this manner, Hajj leads to the pilgrim becoming a God-oriented person. He recalls and remembers God. His mind is filled with thoughts of God. If earlier he used to think principally about himself, now he thinks mainly or wholly of God.
A man’s psyche is moulded in accordance with his thoughts. If we think about and act only for ourselves, we become self-centred. But when we set off towards God, our mind turns towards Him. We begin to think of God. We now remember that it was God who created us; that it is God who gave us so many different opportunities; that it was He who made us capable of doing many things in this world; that it was because of His blessings that we are able to journey towards His house; that, finally, the day will dawn when we will die, after which we will have to directly appear in His court. All this makes the pilgrim’s journey into a truly spiritual one. Although, the Hajj is in the form of a physical journey, due to its internal spirit it becomes a meaningful one that leads the pilgrim to a lofty stage.
As the Haji reaches a particular place close to the place of pilgrimage he calls out the following words:
God is the Greatest! God is the Greatest! There is none worthy of worship other than Him! And God is the Greatest!
God is the Greatest! And all praise is for Him!
By constantly repeating these words, a consciousness develops in a Haji (Hajj pilgrim) that all greatness is for God alone. In comparison to God, everything else pales into complete insignificance. The greatness of everything else is only so that it can be drowned or surrendered in this greatest of all glory—the glory of God. This is the real secret of social consciousness. You cannot have unity and harmonious collective living where every person thinks that he or she is greater than the others. On the other hand, when everyone surrenders their sense of individual greatness, you will find unity and harmony. People can live harmoniously together only when everyone surrenders their sense of greatness before a single being.
When people from different parts of the world arrive close to the place of pilgrimage, they remove their distinctive dress and don the same sort of simple, unstitched white clothes—a uniform known as ihram. This symbolizes that they have now entered a new world. By removing their national costume or personal dress, it is as if they are shedding the lifestyles that they had been conditioned into. They are now stirred by a powerful God-consciousness, being dyed in the hue of God.
As we set off for Hajj, we feel that we are journeying towards God. It is as if we have left our world and are entering the world of God.
Putting divine clothes on their bodies, the pilgrims begin to utter divine words. Labbaik! Allahuma Labbaik! ‘Here I am at Your service! Here I am at Your service!’, they cry out, as if God had called them and they are rushing towards Him. The cries of Labbaik! Labbaik! ‘Here I am at Your service! Here I am at Your service!’ resound continuously from the pilgrims all around. When the pilgrim cries, Labbaik! ‘Here I am!’, he doesn’t mean to say that he has come to settle in Makkah.
It isn’t a declaration of his having left his homeland and arriving in Makkah. Rather, it is a declaration of having left his previous conduct or behaviour. It is an announcement to say that, ‘I am here with a complete willingness to obey You (God), and do whatever You (God) command. To submit my life and soul to Your command.’ Although the pilgrim declares, Labbaik, ‘Here I am at Your service!’ at the place of Hajj; he must stand by this declaration in practice in his personal life on his return from Hajj, too.
On reaching Makkah, the first thing that the pilgrim does is to circumambulate the Kabah. This is an important ritual of Hajj known as the tawaf. The Kabah is a historical structure originally built by Prophet Abraham in the centre of a large courtyard also called the House of God. In the courtyard, the pilgrims go around the Kabah seven times, symbolizing their willingness to have God as the centre of their lives. They affirm that they will consider God as the focus around which their lives will revolve. It is as if scattered bits of iron are being pulled towards a divine magnet.
Disunity is a result of the distribution of greatness and unity is a result of the acknowledgement of a single greatness.
The tawaf is symbolic of making all of one’s efforts constrained to a single focus. This is akin to our solar system, where all the planets revolve around a single sun, the axis around which they whirl. In the same way, Hajj teaches us to lead God-centric lives; to make God the focus of every aspect of our lives and to spend our lives according to His will. This is the same with all the other rituals of Hajj. Thus, in different ways, all rituals of Hajj have the same symbolic significance of a God-conscious life.
Believers all over the world turn towards the Kabah every day, offering their five daily prayers. Ordinarily, this is just a notion in the minds of people, but when they gather together during the Hajj, it becomes an astounding reality. When believers from all over the world pray together facing the Kabah, they experience an amazing sense of unity when they realize that they are facing the same Kabah of the believers of the whole world.
During the tawaf, the orderly circumambulation of the Kabah provides the pilgrims another invaluable lesson—of working together, of doing things together and in harmony. Here, differences between rulers and subjects are wiped off completely, as are ethnic differences. It is as if every single person has just one status: as a servant of the one God. At this time, they have no other status but this.
After the tawaf, the pilgrim runs seven times between the hillocks of Safa and Marwah. This too, is a symbolic declaration—an expression of the pilgrim’s determination to devote all of himself to God’s path. This running between the two hillocks is not simply a mere physical act. Rather, in the form of repetition of a historical act, it stands for the pilgrim’s willingness to spend his whole life running in God’s path. It is symbolic of making all activities throughout one’s life to be contained within certain boundaries. If our activities are not bounded or regulated in this manner, it would lead to chaos. Such regulation is necessary for a well-ordered life.
One of the most important acts of worship during Hajj is the heading to and staying in the plain of Arafat. This presents a truly astonishing sight. Vast numbers of people, from across the world, assemble here, wearing the same simple clothes and uttering the same words, ‘Here I am at Thy service O Lord, here I am.’ It is a worldly rehearsal of the Day of Judgment, when all people will be brought before God. It is a reminder of the great truth that one day we will all have to stand before God, accountable for all our actions.
People can live harmoniously together only when everyone surrenders their sense of greatness before a single being.
If one realizes this significance of the assembly at Arafat, one’s life can be totally transformed. It is as if all the differences among human beings have suddenly vanished, and that, setting aside all their conflicts, they have surrendered themselves to the one God. It is as if they have all become one, just as their God is one. Despite their differences of language, colour, status and gender, they have become identical and one. Different nationalities, it appears, have all turned into one single nation or community. Hajj is a glorious and unparalleled expression of human unity and collectiveness. One cannot find anything similar elsewhere in the world.
Another part of the rituals of Hajj is the collection of pebbles for stoning of the Jamarat. It symbolizes preparation for warding off the evil whispers of the devil. By stoning the Jamarat, the pilgrim refreshes his determination to repel evil and cause the devil to flee from him. He announces his enmity against, and opposition to, the devil. If one converts this symbolic act into actual practice, one can truly expel all evil and negativity from oneself.
Following this, the pilgrim sacrifices an animal in God’s path. In the Quran it is included in the divine symbols. Sacrificing an animal stands for sacrificing one’s own self. By sacrificing an animal, the pilgrim symbolizes his willingness to sacrifice everything in God’s path, including even his own life if need be. He expresses, thereby, his commitment to offer his everything for God’s sake.
Hajj teaches us to lead God-centric lives; to make God the focus of every aspect of our lives and to spend our lives according to His will.
Although the rituals of Hajj are completed in Makkah, many pilgrims go to Madinah after finishing their Hajj. The ancient name for Madinah is Yathrib. Towards the end of his life, the Prophet of Islam made it his centre, and that is why it came to be known as Madinat ul-Nabi or ‘The City of the Prophet’. Madinah is a short form of this term.
In Madinah is a mosque built by the Prophet, where his grave is also located. Here also one finds the footprints of his prophetic life. When Hajis arrive in Madinah, they are reminded once again of the collective unity of mankind despite its diversity. The mosque of the Prophet reminds them that their one true guide is the same Prophet. They return from here with the feeling that despite their geographical or national differences, they have to follow the same path, the one shown by the Prophet. This is another powerful symbol of their unity. They return from Madinah inspired by the understanding that no matter what their differences—of nation, ethnicity and so on—they must all walk on the path of their same prophet, that they must take as their guide the same blessed figure, and that their God is the One God.
