Khutbah on the Glorious Message of Hajj

In the Name of Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala the Merciful, the Compassionate.
To Those who seek the Truth for the sake of Truth.

As Salaamu ‘alaykum wa-Rahmatullaahe wa Barakaatuhu.
Al-Hamdu Lillaahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen was Salatu was Salaamu ‘alaa Asrafil Ambiyaa’e wal Mursaleen.

All Praise belongs only to Almighty Allah Azza Wajjal Who hath blessed some with happiness, and reduced others to destitution; Who hath brought some to death, and others to life; Who hath brought some things into existence, and other things He brought to naught;Who hath created life from emitted clot, and then set Himself apart from His Creation through His Attributes of independence (Ghina) and endued some of His servants with excellence, enriching with His Blessings those who toil and labour, and withholding His rewards from those who are indolent and languid. May His everlasting Peace and Blessings be upon His Beloved Nabee Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam.

Wa Bad:

Alhumdoelillah! Once again the Supreme Will of Rahmathul Liel Ala’meen has brought together the faithful in the home of Tawhid and the abode of Divine Mercy and munificence, summoning them to the Holy Ka’bah. Once again, the celestial call of verse 27 of Surah Al-Hajj is echoed all across the world:
“Proclaim among mankind the Hajj” This proclamation has overcome the physical as well as the imposed distances that separate the Muslim Ummah from one another, pulling a galaxy of hearts that throb with one faith, Muhabbat, and a single yearning towards the centre of the Unity of Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala and the unity of the Ummah of His Beloved Nabee Muhammad Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam.

For many years, pagan ignorance and enmity have endeavoured to cut off this great Islamic family from its creedal roots and to break the mutual bonds of brotherhood based on faith. And, yet, every year, the duty of Hajj has revived the spirit of Tawhid and unity within this ancient noble family. Every year new buds that sprout – in a greater number than the year before, bear the good news of a new spring of religious life, Imaan, and Islamic love and fraternal feelings, thus undoing the work of the enemy. It is a miracle of Hajj that despite the frequent confrontations between Muslim States, the intellectual, emotional, and religious bonds between the Muslim Ummah have remained unbroken and their mutual influences have continued on an ascending course.

Although the secrets and mysteries of Hajj are greater than what can be expressed, there are prominent characteristics that are visible to every discerning eye even at a first glance. The Hajj is the only religious rite wherein Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala has summoned every individual Muslim, that is, everyone who has the means and the ability – to a single location from all over the Doonya, drawing him or her out of the solitude of homes and the places of worship during certain known days, and linking the individuals together in the course of various movements and pauses and collective rites of Ibadah as declared in verse 199 of Surah Al-Baqara:

“Then march on from where the people march on, and pray for Allah’s forgiveness.
Allah is All-Forgiving, All Compassionate.”

In the course of these outward collective rites, the ultimate goal is the remembrance of Rahmathul Liel Ala’meen, which is something inward and performed within the innermost recesses of the heart as pointed out to us in verse 28 of Surah Al-Hajj:

“That they may mention Allah’s Name on days well known over such beasts of the flock as He has provided them: So eat thereof, and feed the poor.”

Each and every act of performing Hajj are clear and eloquent lessons in purposeful, collective, and conscious movements to a Muslim in his or her journey in the orbit of Tawhid and through the arena of life around only one single centre – Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala. Life in the mirror of Hajj is a perpetual movement, or, rather, a motion involving perpetual becoming towards Rahmathul Liel Ala’meen. Hajj is a living and everlasting practical lesson which, if learnt intelligently, can direct the conduct of our life in practice and shape it. This great global gathering of the Ummah is held every year so that in its atmosphere of Muhabbat, solidarity and understanding, and the air of Almighty Allah Azza Wajjal’s remembrance, every Muslim may find the path and direction through life and then return back to his and her loved ones and homeland.

Year after year others will come and learn, find and return, to speak and to act, to listen, think and contemplate; that, ultimately, the entire Muslim Ummah may attain what Rahmathul Liel Ala’meen and the Din of Al Islam have taught them: to always keep in one’s view the great panorama of the life of the Ummah of Islam. This great panorama of the life of the Ummah of Islam manifests itself so much so that one is able to see beyond national, racial, ethnic, and tribal frontiers; to examine the depths of one’s own existence and to learn the conduct, the path and the direction of a life worthy of a Muhmin; and to do all this in the light of the remembrance of our Glorious Creator and Sustainer.

This is the refreshing spring of consciousness that in Hajj, every year. gushes forth in the Divine Sanctuary for the benefit of the great multitude of Hujjaj, and this plenteous and perpetual source of guidance can satiate everyone who open their hearts and minds to receive its limpid abundance. Hajj is a manifestation of the unity and solidarity of Muslims. The fact that Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala – the Exalted, has called all Muslims to assemble at a certain place at a certain time and to perform certain rites and movements that symbolize coexistence, harmony and discipline, and to assemble together for several days and nights, its first salient impact is to infuse each one of them with a feeling of love, solidarity and communal unity.

The annual Hajj with its sacred rites, rituals and places, must revive the spirit of unity, oneness and greatness in all the Muslims of the world and forge a single united Ummah out of the different nations and tribes and then lead that single united Ummah into the secure valley of exclusive service of Rahmathul Liel Ala’meen and prepare the ground for the realization of the words of our Glorious Creator and Sustainer in verse 92 of Surah Al-Anbiyaa:

“Verily, this Ummah of yours is a single Ummah and I am your Lord, so serve and worship Me.”

The Hajj of Nabee Ebrahim Alayhis Salatu Wasallam is the same as the Hajj of our Beloved Nabee Muhammad Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam wherein the movement of Tawhid and unity is the driving spirit of all the rites and ceremonies. It is a Hajj that is a source of Baraka’h and guidance and is the main support of the life and strength of the one single united Ummah. It is a Hajj that possesses abundant benefits and is rich with the remembrance of Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala, a Hajj wherein the Muslim nations get a concrete feeling of being part of a world-wide Muslim Ummah and are relieved from feelings of weakness, impotence and self-alienation through an invigorating sense of Muhabbat, brotherhood and fraternal closeness with other nations.

There have been attempts, in the past as well as in the present era, to project the Hajj as a religious duty on an individual character, wherein everyone’s concern is his or her own worship and prayer, to say nothing of those victims of ignorance and neglect who view the Hajj as a kind of commercial and sight-seeing trip. However, with its salient features, which are not to be found in any other Islamic rite, the Hajj is far above the narrow conceptions of the former and the stale and erroneous notions of the latter group.

The true meaning of Hajj is to discover the significance and worth of the great duty to the House of Almighty Allah Azza Wajjal. The Hajj is a manifestation of Tawhid (monotheism) and the Ka’bah is the home of Tawhid. The repetitive mention of ‘remembrance of Allah’ (Dhik’rullah) in the noble verses related to Hajj, indicates the presence in this Sanctuary should have the blessed result of wiping out the traces of every agent aside from Almighty Allah from the mind and conduct of Muslims. The traces of the various forms of Shirk must be wiped out from their life.

In its surroundings, the axis and focus of all movement is Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala. The Tawaf around the Holy Ka’bah, the Sa’ee between Safa and Marwa, the (Rami) pelting of Shaythaan at the Jamarats, the Wuqoof at Arafat and all other Divine rites involved in the Hajj – each of them symbolizes, in its own way, attraction towards none other than Rahmathul Liel Ala’meen. This is the sincere creed of our beloved father Nabee Ebrahim Alayhi Salatu Wasallam the great idol breaker and herald of Tawhid who stands at the apex of history.

Shirk does not always have a single form. The idols are not always images of stone, wood and metal. The Baitullah and the Hajj must serve to identify and negate Shirk in its specific contemporary forms in all ages as well as identify the idols and false deities and their specific manifestations. Today, of course, the idols of Lat, Manat and Uzza are no longer there, but their place has been taken by the more dangerous idols of imperialist power and wealth and the idols of pagan, domineering, and anti-Islamic systems whose influence fills the entire atmosphere of the life of Muslims all over the world.

Today, the idol whose worship is imposed on a large section of the world’s population, and many Muslims are forced to offer it homage and obeisance, is the idol of American dominance which has overshadowed all the cultural, political, and economic aspects of the life of Muslims. This idol drives the nations willy-nilly in the direction of its interests and objectives which are contrary to the interests of the entire Muslim Ummah.

The Hajj and the great congregation around the House of Tawhid should negate these manifestations of Shirk and warn the Muslims against them. The Hajj in this clear and unambiguous sense has been considered the highest platform for the declaration of Bara’ah with the Musrikin and it is the day of the Greater Hajj (Day of Arafat) that has been assigned by Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala for the declaration of Bara’ah with the Musrikin on His Own behalf and that of His Beloved Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam for Almighty Allah has made this crystal clear in verse 3 of Surah At-Tauba:

“And an announcement from Allah and His Messenger, to the people (assembled) on the Day of the Great Pilgrimage, –
that Allah and His Messenger dissolve (treaty) obligations with the pagans. If you repent, that will be better for you; but if you turn your backs, know that you cannot frustrate Allah. And give thou good tidings to the unbelievers of a painful punishment.”

The call of Bara’ah that the Hujjaj make during Hajj is a call for the condemnation of imperialism and its agents who, regrettably, exercise a powerful influence over Muslim countries. By imposing a pagan culture, polity and way of life over Muslim societies, they have shattered the practical basis of Tawhid in the life of Muslims and involved them with the worship of non-god. Their allegiance to Tawhid is purely a verbal and nominal one and there is no trace of the spirit of Tawhid in their lives.

The mysteries and secrets underlying Hajj are much more than what I have indicated here, and reflection on these secrets, all of which are meant to revive the Islamic personality of the Muslim individual and society – and to revive the struggle against the agents hostile to it, opens up a new horizon before the pilgrim and draws him or her towards a world of relentless effort and dynamism. The primary duty of each and ever pilgrim is to reflect upon these secrets and to exchange views with other Muslims from all over the world in order to find clues and solutions to solving problems facing and confronting the global Muslim Ummah. Is it not the purpose of Islam and its luminous laws to administer and guide the material and spiritual affairs of human life?
Is it not the case that religiosity and politics are inextricably united in the Islamic ethos?

Alhumdoelillah! Today when the Muslim Ummah are once again awakening and rising up to the task of struggling for the sake of Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wata’ala, the aroma of liberty, independence and return to Islam and to the Most Holy and Glorious Qur’an and to the Sunnah of Almighty Allah’s Beloved Nabee Sallallahoo Alayhi Wasallam has filled the atmosphere in many Islamic countries. It is essential, more than ever before, that we, as a united Ummah, strenghten our bonds with our luminous and miraculous past, with the first era of Islamic struggle and Qiyam, Ruku and Sujood for the sake of none other than Rahmathul Liel Ala’meen.

We must begin to examine the tools that were created for us. As Muslims, we must become aware of other people defining for us our reality. We must be able to detach ourselves from man-made concepts of right and wrong, good and evil, individuality and equality.

In order to see our problem objectively, and define our struggle, we must elevate our consciousness above the temporal concepts found in man-made documents. Only by becoming aware of the Sacred Source of Legislation can we understand for what goals we should be struggling. As the ‘favoured Ummah’ – let us seek to implement Divine Justice. Let us struggle for what Almighty Allah Azza Wajjal has commanded. That, my most beloved brothers and sisters in Islam is our purpose in life. That is the true reality.

Baarak – Allaahu Feekum – wa sal-Allahu wa-salam ‘alaa Nabiyyinaa Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam.

Was Salaamu ‘alaykum wa Rahmatullahe wa Barakaatuhu.

Abdul Hamid Lachporia.