{"id":433,"date":"2015-02-26T03:56:31","date_gmt":"2015-02-26T03:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/azmi.co\/cust\/ngba-wp\/?page_id=433"},"modified":"2017-10-03T15:39:04","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T15:39:04","slug":"hajjpilgrimage-to-makkah","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/?page_id=433","title":{"rendered":"Hajj\/Pilgrimage to Makkah"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the name of All\u0101h,<\/span>
\nthe Beneficent, the Merciful.<\/span>
\nPeace and Blessings of All\u0101h on Mohammad.<\/span>
\nDEDICATED TO<\/span>
\nAll\u0101h\u2013the Glorious and the High,<\/span>
\nLord of the worlds<\/span>
\nAND TO<\/span>
\nMohammad\u2013who brought the world<\/span>
\nto our feet and eternity to our arms.<\/span>
\n*<\/span><\/p>\n

HAJJ\/PILGRIMAGE<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when We made the House a resort for men and a (place of) security. And: Take ye the place of Abraham for a place of prayer. And We enjoined Abraham and Ishmael, saying: Purify My House for those who visit (it) and those who abide (in it) for devotion and those who bow down (and) those who prostrate themselves\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 2:125).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cCertainly the first house appointed for men is the one at Bakkah, blessed and a guidance for the nations. In it are clear signs: (It is) the Place of Abraham; and who-ever enters it is safe; and pilgrimage to the House is a duty which men owe to All\u0101h<\/span> \u2014 whoever can find a way to it.\u00a0<\/i>And whoever disbelieves, surely All\u0101h is above need of the worlds\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 3:96-97).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>And when We pointed to Abraham the place of the House, saying: Associate naught with Me, and purify My House for those who make circuits and stand to pray and bow and prostrate themselves. And proclaim to men the Pilgrimage<\/span>\u00a0<\/i>they will come to thee on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every remote path: That they may witness benefits (provided) for them, and mention the name of All\u00e5h on appointed days over what He has given them of the cattle quadrupeds; then eat of them and feed the distressed one, the needy. Then let them accomplish their needful acts of cleansing, and let them fulfill their vows and go round the Ancient House\u201d \u2013(Qur\u2019an 22:26-29).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bible has Abraham building \u201can altar\u201d to God in at least two places\u2013(Genesis 12:7-8). But these were of Abraham\u2019s own in-clination and personal worship. Unlike God\u2019s instructions to Abraham to erect the foundation of the Ka\u2019bah which will be the \u201cfirst house\u201d of worship and place of pilgrimage for all men. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Abraham\u2019s father may have been a \u201cpoor potter\u201d but according to the Bible Abraham was a wealthy individual. It is not \u201cscarcely credible\u201d that Abraham \u201cwent to Mecca.\u201d Muslims from Asia journey by foot to Makkah to perform the Hajj. Jesus traveled from Palestine to India; Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees and the Alps with elephants; Columbus, survived the Atlantic to reach the Americas; and even today there are tens if not hundreds who ride the deserts. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 The Toronto star of Saturday, March 13, 1999, reported that three Canadians crossed \u201cArabia\u2019s unforgiving desert;\u201d and that \u201cin 1946\u201d \u201cBritish explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger\u201d also crossed this desert. It is very credible then that Abraham, who was of a period and people more seasoned to severe climates and rough travels, could go to Makkah, \u201c300 leagues\u201d away.\u00a0<\/span> \u00a0<\/i>(Being a man of wisdom, Abraham may have camped during the day and traveled from late afternoon through the night into early morning when it was cooler). <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 The Bible says that Abraham left Ur (Iraq) and went to Canaan (Palestine). Then Abraham went to Egypt and returned to Palestine. Next, Abraham has his first son, Ishmael; and that Ishmael and his mother Hagar ended up in Paran (which is in Makkah, Arabia)<\/i>, where his mother \u201ctook him a wife out of the land of Egypt\u201d\u2013(Genesis 21:21). As Abraham can travel from Iraq to Palestine to Egypt where is the difficulty in him traveling from Palestine to Makkah?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 We are next told that upon the death of Abraham that \u201chis sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him\u201d\u2013(Genesis 25:9). That Ishmael was at the funeral of his father clearly shows that Abraham and Ishmael were in close contact with one another \u2013then they could have built the Ka\u2019bah. According to Islamic tradition Abraham was with Ishmael in Arabia on at least two occasions \u2013after Ishmael\u2019s marriage, and at their building of the Ka\u2019bah\u2013 Bokhari Vol. 4, #\u2019s 583, 584).<\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/span><\/p>\n

Islam is made up of five components:
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0-Unity of All\u0101h, God: <\/span>He is One and Only; the Eternal, Absolute, He begets not; nor is begotten; there is none like unto Him.
\n<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0 -Prayer: five times daily at appointed times.
\n<\/span>\u00a0 -Charity: 2 1\/2 percent of one\u2019s net worth, above a certain base (usually determined by the Islamic authorities).
\n<\/span>\u00a0 -Fasting, in the month of Ramadan; the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, dating from the Hijrah<\/i>\u2013the Prophet\u2019s migration from Makkah to Madinah in the year 622, of the Christian Era (C.E.). (See\u00a0<\/span>Fasting-reasons & benefits<\/a><\/span>).
\n<\/span>\u00a0-Hajj\u2013a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to Makkah, subject to one\u2019s financial and health considerations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Hajj or pilgrimage consists of:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Circumambulating the Ka\u2019bah<\/span><\/i> \u2013This order to circumambulate the Ka\u2019bah predates the \u201cpagan\u201d Arabs and even the Arab nation. Allah \u201cpointed\u201d out the place of the Ka\u2019bah to Abraham and instructed Abraham and Ishmael to purify the Ka\u2019bah for those who \u201ccompass it round, or use it as a retreat, or bow or prostrate themselves (in prayer)\u2013(Qur\u2019an 22:26; 2:125). Notably, as All\u0101h raised messengers among all people it is within reason that at least some these messengers were given Books as Moses, David, Jesus and Mohammad were given. For All\u0101h tells us that Abraham also was given a book: \u201cHe indeed is successful who purifies himself\u2026Surely this is in the earlier scriptures The scrip-tures of <\/span>ABRAHAM<\/span> and Moses\u201d\u2013Qur\u2019an 87:14-19).<\/span> Thus, All\u0101h pointing out the place of the Ka\u2019bah and instructing Abraham and Ishmael to purify the Ka\u2019bah must have been in the Book given to Abraham.
    \n<\/span>Muslims circumambulating the Ka\u2019bah is symbolic of the Angels worshipping All\u0101h.
    \nIn going anti-clockwise around the Ka’bah Muslims have our heart closer to the Ka’bah;\u00a0 and are going from RIGHT to left (write down the clock numbers from 1 to 12 then move from 12 to 1 to realise that you are moving from RIGHT to left).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Since Allah God \u201cpointed\u201d out the place of the Ka\u2019bah to Abraham\u2013(Qur\u2019an 22:26, which seemed to predate Abraham\u2013Qur\u2019an 14:37<\/i>); and Abraham and Ishmael raised the foundation of this House\u2013(Qur\u2019an 2:127); and Allah God covenanted with Abraham and Ishmael to sanctify His house (the Ka\u2019bah) \u201cfor those who compass it round<\/i>\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 2:125); and all this was done before <\/span><\/i>idolatry, and before <\/i>Judaism<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>And if the Ka\u2019bah later became under the possession of the idolaters who undertook the practice of making circuits (all be it naked) round the Ka\u2019bah, and when the Ka\u2019bah came into the control of Muslims who then observed this injunction to \u201ccom-pass\u201d the Ka\u2019bah that Allah gave to Abraham and Ishmael, it cannot be said that Muslims copied this circuit round the Ka\u2019bah from the idolaters; when in fact, it was the idolaters who adopted this act which was enjoined by Allah God. <\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cTo say that tawaf of the Ka\u2019bah is a remnant of idolatry is to force a meaning on idolatry which it has never borne. Circumambulation of an object which is considered sacred is met with in the history of the Israelites, \u201cwhere the altar is circumambulated once on the first six days and sometimes on the seventh\u201d (En. Is., art. Tawaf),<\/i> yet no critic has ever asserted that the altar was worshipped by the Israelites. And, of all men, the Muslim would be the farthest from the idea of idol-worship in his tawaf of the Ka\u2019bah, when he feels himself in the presence of the One God, crying aloud, labbaika Allahumma labbaika, la sharika laka labbaika<\/i>, \u201cHere am I, O Allah! here am I in Thy presence, there is no associate with Thee, here am I.\u201d (Muhammad Ali, The Religion of Islam,<\/i> pp. 519, 520). <\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Running between the two hills of Safa and Marwah<\/span><\/i> \u2013 <\/i>The Safa <\/i>and Marwah <\/i>are two hills in Makkah. When Abraham left his wife and son, Lady Hajra (Hagar) and Ishmael, in the desert, she ran to and fro between these hills in search of water. Allah God revealed in the Qur\u2019an: \u201cThe Safa and the Marwah are truly among the signs of Allah, so whoever makes a pilgrimage to the House (Ka\u2019bah) or pays a visit (to it), there is no blame on him if he goes round them.\u2026\u201d (Qur\u2019an 2:158) <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \u00a0\u00a0 Muslims are enjoined to imitate this action of Lady Hajra, as a lesson in patience, which is rewarded by Allah. Allah reveals to us in the Qur\u2019an that He raised up messengers among all nations\/ peoples; and that He appointed to every nation rites and ceremonies\u2013(Qur\u2019an 22:67). Since one of the acts of devotion for Muslims is the traversing between the hills of Safa and Marwa, which affords us the lesson of faith, patience and perseverance, it could hardly be considered an \u201cabsurd ritual.\u201d (These physical acts of devotion are training for our moral and spiritual enhancement).<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

      \u201cOn the Safa was an idol called Usaf, and on the Marwah one called Na\u2019ilah, which the pilgrims touched in the days of ignorance, and hence the apprehensions of the Muslims in going round them (IJ). \u201cThe people of Madinah were averse to going round the Safa and the Marwah\u201d, though no reason for their aversion is given (B. 65: ii, 21).\u201d (M. Ali, comm. #\u2019 200).<\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0\u00a0 As this event\u2013Lady Hajra running between the two hills\u2013 (occurred about 2500 BC),<\/i> before the populating of Makkah, the idolaters worship of Usaf <\/i>and Naila<\/i> have no relevancy to the Hajj. Muslims do not engage in this act of running between Safa and Marwah so as to acquire \u201cluck\u201d or \u201cgood fortune.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

      \u00a0\u00a0 The idolaters running between Safa and Marwah in an effort to acquire \u201cluck\u201d or \u201cgood fortune\u201d would seem to be in imitation of Lady Hajra\u2019s running and finding water. <\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. The Sermon on Mount Arafat<\/span><\/i>\u2013<\/i>is an address by the Prophet (and now the Imam) to the pilgrims. This is not of \u201cpagan\u201d origin or a \u201csuperstition\u201d or \u201cadopted\u201d from the Jews.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
          \n
        1. Pelting stones at the Devil<\/span><\/i> \u2013is in remembrance of Abraham\u2019s temptation by the Devil. It is a symbolic expression for the pilgrims to fight off evil temptations. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
            \n
          1. The sacrifice at Minna<\/span><\/i>1<\/span><\/sup>\u2013is in memory of Abraham\u2019s intended sacrifice of his then \u201conly son,\u201d Ishmael. The signi-ficance of the animal sacrifice being, as man has control over the beast, just as much All\u0101h, God, has control over man, who should give himself in sacrifice to the cause of All\u0101h, God, the Glorious and the High. This animal-sacrifice is obligatory on who can afford, or must fast\u2013(Qur\u2019an 2:196; 22:28, 30, 36-37. Bokhari Vol. 2, #71, 750; Vol. 3, #217). Hajj is the only Divinely instituted pilgrimage.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            That Abraham \u201cdeserted\u201d Hagar. Was Moses \u201cdeserted\u201d when his mother put him in a basket in the water? <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 God instructed Abraham to do as Sarah bid him\u2013Gen. 21:12. Abraham obeying the instructions of God is not \u201cdesertion.\u201d Abraham was instructed by God to sacrifice his \u201conly son,\u201d Ishmael, if Abraham had done so would God have hold him guilty of murder? <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 Clearly, in asking Abraham to send Hagar away, God was advancing His purpose of sending to the Arabs and the world Mohammad, the Comforter, who guided us into \u201call truth,\u201d and would abide \u201cfor ever\u201d through the Qur\u2019an.<\/span><\/p>\n

            Again, when Hagar\u2019s \u201cwater was spent\u201d \u201cGod opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water\u201d\u2013Gen.21:15, 20.<\/span> A person is never \u201cdeserted\u201d when God is with her or him. Conversely, she or he is \u201cdeserted\u201d when God is not with her or him even though she or he has the entire world at her or his feet. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 According to Islamic tradition, Abraham was with Ishmael in Arabia on at least two occasions; after Ish-mael\u2019s marriage and at their building of the Ka\u2019ba\u2013Bokhari Vol. 4, # 583, 584). <\/span><\/p>\n

            (6)\u00a0Kissing the Black Stone<\/span><\/i>:<\/span> Muslims also kiss the Qur\u2019an, this is not an act of worship. Kissing the Black Stone may be pagan in origin; and this kissing may have been an act of stone-worship of the pagans. But this stone does not possess the power to harm or to benefit; and Muslims only worship the only One Who has the power to effect harm and to confer benefit\u2013All\u0101h, God! <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 There are different kinds of \u2018kiss,\u2019 and with different significance. A man kissing his mother and daughter does not carry the same meaning as when he kisses his wife. Muhammad Ali ex-plains: <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u201c\u2026it must be remembered that the Ka\u2019bah has never been supposed by any Muslim to possess any Divine attribute. The strange conclusion drawn by some Christian writers that the honour thus given to the Ka\u2019bah is a remnant of the pre-Islamic Arab polytheism or idolatry, is quite erroneous. (These Christians should lament their own religion which stands on the foundation of paganism). <\/span><\/i>The Muslims honour the Ka\u2019bah because it is their Spiritual Centre; they do not worship it. (A Divinely ordained Spiritual Centre that Christians do not have).<\/span><\/i> Even the idolatrous Arabs never worshipped the Ka\u2019bah, though they placed idols in it which they worshipped.<\/span><\/p>\n

            It should also be borne in mind that the famous Black Stone was not one of the Arab idols, nor can the kissing of it in performing the pilgrimage be looked upon as a remnant of idolatry. That stone stands only as a monument: <\/span>\u201cThe stone which the builders refused is become the head-stone of the corner\u201d (Ps. 118:22). Ishmael was looked upon as rejected, and the covenant was considered to have been made with the children of Isaac, yet it was that rejected stone, for which the Black stone at the Ka\u2019bah stands as a monument, that was to become \u201cthe head-stone of the corner.\u201d The Black Stone is unhewn, so it is the stone that was \u201ccut out of the mountain without hands\u201d (Dan. 2:45). Jesus Christ made this clear in the parable of the husbandmen, when he plainly told the Israelites that the vineyard (i.e. the kingdom of God) would be taken away from them and given to \u201cother husbandmen\u201d, i.e. to a non-Israelite people, giving indication of that people in the words: \u201cDid ye never read in the Scripture, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? (Matt. 21:42).And he added: \u201cThe kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof\u201d (Matt. 21:43), thus showing that he was referring to a rejected nation. Hence if the Black Stone is kissed, it is not kissed as an idol or as a god, but as a monument of the rejection of a nation which was to become the cornerstone of the Divine kingdom.\u201d(Comm. 191a).<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThere is not the least indication to show where this stone came from and when it was placed there, but as it was there before the advent of Islam and was even kissed, it must have been there at least from the time of Abraham, as the main features of the hajj are traceable to that patriarch. Yet it is remarkable that though the Ka\u2019bah had 360 idols within its walls before the coming of Islam, the Black Stone was never regarded as an idol by the pre-Islamic Arabs, nor was it ever worshipped by them like the idols of the Ka\u2019bah. \u2026..<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u2026It [the Black Stone] was kissed but it was never taken for a god, though the Arabs worshipped even unhewn stones, trees and heaps of sand. And the Mus-lims, to say nothing of the Prophet, were so averse to idolatry that when they saw two idols, the Usaf and the Nailah, on the hills of Safa and Marwah respectively, they refused to make the sa\u2019y<\/i> between these two mountains, until a verse was revealed: \u201cThe Safa and the Marwah are truly among the signs of Allah, so whoever makes a pilgrimage to the House or pays a visit to it, there is no blame on him if he goes round them both\u201d (2:158). \u2026The Muslims so hated idolatry that they could not brook the thought of idols being connected in any way with their religious practices. How could they think of worshipping the Ka\u2019bah and the Black Stone, which even the idolaters had never worshipped? Had the idea of idolatry been connected in the least with the circuits round the Ka\u2019bah and the kissing of the Black Stone, the Muslims would never have resorted to those practices. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u2026And it has just been shown that the Prophet once made circuits of the Ka\u2019bah on the back of a camel; he also touched the Black Stone with the rod in his hand; all of which goes to show that the Muslims never entertained the idea of the worship of these things, nor was their attitude towards them at any time that of the worshipper towards the object of his worship. The Black Stone was not kissed alone; the Prophet kissed both the Black Stone, which is in the Eastern corner, and the Yaman corner, while some of the Companions kissed all the four corners of the Ka\u2019bah.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u201cThat the Ka\u2019bah was rebuilt by Abraham is an historical fact. The Black Stone has been there ever since the Ka\u2019bah has been known to exist, there is not the least reason to doubt. That it was a stone sent down from Paradise, or that it was originally white and became black on account of the sins of men, there is no reliable tradition to indicate.\u201d2<\/span><\/sup> <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 There is no basis for the assertions that many of the practices of Islam are \u201ccontinuations\u201d from Paganism; or that the Pilgrimage is \u201crooted\u201d in ancient Arabian \u201ctribal\u201d worship. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 It would be against reason to entertain that Mohammad, who as a minority fought against Paganism, would, as a majority and with worldly treasures at his command, imitate Paganism. <\/span><\/p>\n

            The Ka\u2019bah\u2013The House of God\u2019s glory:<\/i><\/strong> The Prophet David says: <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u201cO Lord of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee. Selah. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee\u2026. Who passing through the valley of Baca<\/span><\/i> make it a well\u2026. every one of them in Zion appeareth before God\u201d\u2013(Psalms 84:3-7). <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 This \u201chouse of God to which David refers was no other but the one at Bakka, for the holy temple in Jerusalem had not been built at that time and God lived in Zion (a tent).\u201d David came to Bacca \u201cto seek blessing from the house of God\u201d that was built by Abraham. \u201c\u2018Appearing before God in Zion\u2019, refers to the annual pilgrimage at Mecca,\u201d explains Abdul Haque Vidyarthi\u2013(Muhammad in World Scriptures<\/i>, pp. 224, 225).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 And the Book of Isaiah says: \u201cAll the flocks of Kedar\u201d \u201cshall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory\u201d\u2013<\/strong>(Isaiah 60:7). Muhammad Ali says, \u201cChristianity, in its present form, being opposed to the true teachings of Christ, is thus the only Antichrist known to the Qur\u2019an.\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019anic comm. # 1478).<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 The Church \u201cbeing opposed to the true teachings of Christ,\u201d could not be the house of Christ. Much more, the house of God\u2019s \u201cglory.\u201d Prof. Dawud (the former Rev. David Benjamin Keldani) says in his revealing book Muhammad in the Bible<\/i>: <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u201cThe flocks of Kedar…have never come to the Church of Christ; and it is a fact that the villages of Kedar and their inhabitants are the only people in the whole world who have remained impenetrable to any influence of the Church of Christ.\u201d (p. 6). <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 The Church could not be the \u201chouse\u201d of God\u2019s glory\u201d when the \u201cflocks of Kedar\u201d \u201chave never come to the Church of Christ,\u201d and when the fulfillment of the prophecy necessitates the coming of the \u201cflocks of Kedar\u201d to this \u201chouse.\u201d Neither could a mortal-appointed shrine be the house of God\u2019s \u201cglory.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

            The house of God\u2019s \u201cglory\u201d has to be a Divine designated sanctuary. Such is the house at Makkah\u2013the Ka\u2019bah. That the Ka\u2019bah in Makkah is the \u201chouse of my glory\u201d is borne out by the Qur\u2019an and history: \u201cCertainly the first house appointed for men is the one at Bakkah, blessed and a guidance for the nations\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 3:95).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBakkah is the same as Makkah\u2026. The Jews and the Christians are told that the Temple at Jerusalem was erected long after Abraham, while the Holy House at Makkah was there even before Abraham, and was, in fact, the first House on earth for the worship of the Divine Being.\u201d (M. Ali Qur\u2019anic comm. # 467)<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u201cAnd when We made the House a resort for men and a (place of) security. And: Take ye the place of Abraham for a place of prayer. And We enjoined Abraham and Ishmael, saying: Purify My House for those who visit (it) and those who abide (in it) for devotion and those who bow down (and) those who prostrate themselves\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 2:125).<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHistory bears out these three distinguishing characteristics of the Ka\u2019bah. It exists from the remotest antiquity; it was visited annually by people from the most distant corners of Arabia; and its sacredness was respected by the whole of Arabia. Thus writes Muir: \u201cA very high antiquity must be assigned to the main features of the religion of Mecca.\u2026Diodorus Siculus, writing about half a century before our era, says of Arabia washed by the Red Sea: \u2018There is in this country a temple greatly revered by the Arabs\u2019. These words must refer to the Holy House of Mecca, for we know of no other which ever commanded such universal homage \u2026Tradition represents the Ka\u2019bah as from time immemorial the scene of pilgrimage from all quarters of Arabia: from Yemen and Hadramaut, from the shores of the Persian Gulf, the deserts of Syria, and the distant environs of Hira and Mesopotamia, men yearly flocked to Mecca. So extensive a homage must have had its beginnings in an extremely remote age\u201d (Life of Mahomet).\u201d (M. Ali, comm. #168a)<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>The Ka\u2019bah is\u201cthe place of Abraham\u2026.and pilgrimage to the House is a duty which men owe to Allah\u2013whoever can find a way to it\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 3:96). The Qur\u2019an is the only revealed Scripture to define a \u201cfirst house\u201d of worship and place of pilgrimage. Some five thousand years ago the prophet Abraham was instructed by All\u0101h, God to purify <\/i>this \u201chouse of my glory\u201d \u2013the Ka\u2019bah\u2013for the devotees of Allah\u2013(Qur\u2019an 2:125). <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 Some three thousand years after Abraham, All\u0101h, God instructed the Prophet Mohammad to \u201cproclaim to men the Pilgrimage: they will come to thee on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every remote path\u201d\u2013(Qur\u2019an 22:27). Some 1400 years after this revelation to the Prophet Mohammad, the fulfillment of this mighty prophecy of the Qur\u2019an is evident as males and females from all over the world journey by air, land, and sea to the Ka\u2019bah in Makkah.<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 God says (in Deut. 33:2) that He \u201cshined forth from mount Paran\u201d with 10,000 saints. And as Prof. Abdul Ahad Dawud \u2013the former Reverend David Benjamin Keldani\u2013 <\/span>points out that in \u201cthe whole history of the wilderness of Paran\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u201cyou will find no other event but when Mecca was con-quered by the Prophet. He comes with 10,000 followers from Medina and re-enters \u201cthe house of my glory.\u201d\u201d3<\/span><\/sup> <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 The Religion from God is Islam<\/i>. The comprehensive law of God is the Qur\u2019an<\/i>. The Universal Prophet of God is Mohammad<\/i>. The world language from God is Arabic<\/i>. The House of Gods\u2019 \u201cglory\u201d is the Ka\u2019bah<\/i> at Makkah. This gathering to the \u201chouse of my glory\u201d at Makkah is, in the history of religion, the only Divinely ordained pilgrimage.<\/span><\/p>\n

            (7) Muzdalifah:<\/span><\/i> Allah God assigns acts of devotion to man. If Pre-Islamic Muzdalifah was a place of \u201cfire worship,\u201d this Pagan custom has no connection to Muslims Hajj journey from Arafat to Muzdalifah to Minna. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 The Prophet Mohammad allowed the visiting Christians of Najran to offer their prayers in his Masjid\/Mosque. These Christians in all likelihood sat facing the front of the Masjid which faced the Ka\u2019bah. These Christians, by supplicating in this Masjid and facing the Ka\u2019bah, were not honoring the Ka\u2019bah as their Qiblah and accepting Allah as their God.<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 Likewise, Muslims associating with Arafat and Muzdalifah and Minna cannot be taken as an acceptance of paganism. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 There are churches that have been converted into Masjids; Muslims who offer prayer in these churches are not conferring Divinity to Jesus Christ. Likewise, Muslims associating with Arafat and Muzdalifah and Minna cannot be taken as an acceptance of paganism. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 In some countries the Ka\u2019bah lies in an easterly direction, but Muslims do not worship the rising sun as the pagans did. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 Only in two places are Muslims forbidden to prostrate ourselves in worship \u2013in a cemetery and washroom.<\/span> And only three times of day \u2013while the sun is rising but not yet fully ascended from the horizon, at its zenith (midday), and when it is setting but not yet fully set\u2013<\/span> for these were the times when the pagans worshipped the sun. At every other place and time Muslims can worship Allah God, irrespective of the history of the place. <\/span><\/p>\n

            (8) Shaving the head:<\/span><\/i>This shaving of the head is a sign of the pilgrim getting out of the \u201cstate of ihram<\/i>\u201d\u00a0<\/i>(ceremonial garment).<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 The Prophet is reported as saying that one who completes the Hajj is like a newborn baby.\u00a0 As Islam requires the head of the newborn be shorn, this shaving of the pilgrim\u2019s head is symbolic of that birth. For women, clipping of a lock of hair is sufficient.<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 It is only ignorance to claim that the Hajj was \u201cshamelessly\u201d adopted from \u201cpre-Islamic practice.\u201d The Prophet, in order to disassociate the practice of Muslims with anything relating to paganism went so far as to forbid Muslims to pray at the time of the rising of the sun, its zenith, and its\u2019 setting. It is not credible that he would then incorporate other aspects of paganism into the religion of Allah God. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 The Muslim acts of prayer, fasting, and hajj are the greatest levelers of ranks. They compel the stiff-kneed, the proud, and the vain to bend in ranks with the poor, to feel their hunger and thirst, and to dress in the bare essentials.<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 In his ritual of five prayers daily, Muslims achieve exercise, morality, and meditation. The body is exercised through the phy-sical movements; morality is strengthened through implementing the prayer into practice; and spirituality is strengthened through meditating on the Power that shaped us \u2013All\u0101h, God!\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

            Prior to his Call, the Prophet Mohammad spent time meditating in a cave in Mount Hira. Upon the revelation of the Qur\u2019an, he spent the last ten days of the month of Ramadan in retreat to the Masjid\u2013(Qur\u2019an 2:187. Bokhari Vol. 3, #\u2019s 242, 243, 251).<\/span><\/p>\n

            While there are Muslims who spend the last ten days of Ramadan in the sanctuary of the Masjid in meditation, Muslims in general, who offer daily prayers engage in meditation some five times a day. One who is in harmony with the physical, moral, and spiritual may be said to be at peace. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 Rewards of the Hajj: This place of pilgrimage \u2013the Ka\u2019bah and other sites\u2013 is located in a place of rock, sand, and stifling heat. All\u0101h, God, could have had His sacred House in a place of lush valleys and shady trees and cool breeze\u2013a place of comfort and pleasure. Why did All\u0101h, God, choose the desert instead? In the words of Hazrat \u2018Ali, the fourth Caliph:<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u201cthe Lord wants to test the quality of faith and the sincerity of His creatures through hardships and sufferings. He wants to test and see how they bear troubles and sufferings in obedience to His commands, how happily they offer their prayers and thanks in the midst of troubles and worries, adversities, and reverses, or distresses and disappointments, so that their minds may be cleansed of pride and vanity as well as arrogance and self conceit. And through meekness, humility, faith and sincerity they may gain His favors and may find place in His Heaven.\u201d (Nahjul Balagha<\/i>, sermon # 197, p. 358).<\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 To every pilgrim Hajj may be a different experience. Hajj may make one realize that whereas formerly he worshipped Allah God because of fear of the Fire and for want of Paradise; that, though he still prefers Paradise over Hell, he now worships Allah because of His goodness, His mercy, His magnificence.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 Hajj may give an understanding as to how the prophet Jesus was content with the earth as his bed and the rock as his pillow. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 Hajj may give an insight as to how the Prophet Mohammad, being the king of Arabia with all the treasures at his command, was content with a bed made of palm leaves, and a wooden scepter. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 Hajj may give an understanding as to how the Caliphs \u2018Umar and \u2018Ali were content with wearing worse than the poorest of their subjects. <\/span><\/p>\n

            \u00a0\u00a0 Hajj may give a glimpse of what those righteous people were seeing of the Glory of Allah. Enough of an insight to know that those people in whose hearts burn the desire to make the Hajj, not because it is a command or a duty, but of their love and gratitude to our Lord, that they will go even if you were to tell them that they have to pass through a wall of fire. They will go!<\/span><\/p>\n

            The Hajj is the only Divinely ordained pilgrimage for man.<\/span><\/p>\n

            Prayer, Zakaat\/Charity, Fasting and Hajj are nutrients for the soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

            *<\/span><\/p>\n

            NOTES<\/span><\/p>\n

            1. Swami Prabhupada, commenting on the Bhagavad Gita As It Is 18:3, states: \u201cAlthough animal killing in a sacrifice is recom-mended in the Vedic literature, the animal is not considered to be killed. The sacrifice is to give a new life to the animal. Sometimes the animal is given a new animal life after being killed in the sacrifice, and sometimes the animal is promoted immediately to the human form of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

            In which event the Muslims annual sacrifice of Eid-ul-Adha might be doing a tremendous good to millions of souls trapped in animal forms by freeing them \u201cimmediately to the human form of life.\u201d Perhaps even freeing the Swami\u2019s parents and\/or relatives; and the Swami himself. Hindus are to be eternally grateful to Muslims for this tremendous humanitarian sacrifice to benefit them. (This sacrificing of animals cannot be restricted to Hindu-ism. For, as Lord Krishna says in the Gita 4:6-8: \u201cI still appear in every millennium\u201d \u201cWhenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice\u201d \u201cTo deliver the pious\u2026;\u201d and since the Arabs of 7th Century Arabia were in a \u201cdecline in religious practice,\u201d Lord Krishna, according to his saying, must have \u2018appeared\u2019 to the Arabs.<\/p>\n

            As the Qur\u2019an sanctions the slaughter of animals for food, any preaching against the eating of meat would seem to be a preaching against Lord Krishna. It is against reason that Lord Krishna would sanction the eating of animals [and fish] if the killing of animals cause \u201ckarmic reaction.\u201d If Lord Krishna came as Mohammad, he revealed the Qur\u2019an to himself; and has given conflicting doctrines\u2013Resurrection and Judgment to Islam versus Karma and Reincarnation to Hinduism. But the Gita \u201cBeing opposed to the Veda, it cannot be held to be an authority,\u201d says Swami Dayananda Saraswati, \u201cKrishna could never be God,\u201d he says\u2013(Light of Truth, p. 219).<\/p>\n

            That animal \u201csacrifice is recommended in the Vedic literature,\u201d (even if the animal is given \u201ca new animal life\u201d or \u201cis promoted immediately to the human form of life\u201d), seems to be a contra-diction of the teaching that \u201ckilling an animal interrupts its progressive evolution through the species,\u201d as The Higher Taste says (p. 44).\u00a0 In some parts of India \u201cgramadevatas\u201d (village deities) are appeased with \u201canimal sacrifices as a way of warding off and removing epidemics, crop failures, and other natural disasters\u201d\u2013(Ency. Brit. 15th Edn; art. gramadevata, Vol. IV, p. 667).\u00a0 Goats are \u201csacrificed\u201d to the goddess Kali \u201cdaily.\u201d And \u201cto avert cattle epidemics a bull is sacrificed to Rudra\u201d (who is Shiva in another form)\u2013(Hamlyn, Man and his Gods, p. 180).<\/p>\n

            2. Muhammad Ali, The Religion of Islam, pp. 517, 518, 519, 520.\u00a0 Muhammad Ali has dealt in depth with the rites and places of Hajj in this book.<\/p>\n

            3. Prof. \u2018Abdul Ahad Dawud \u2013the former Reverend David Benjamin Keldani\u2013 Muhammad in the Bible, p. 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            In the name of All\u0101h, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Peace and Blessings of All\u0101h on Mohammad. DEDICATED TO All\u0101h\u2013the Glorious and the High, Lord of the worlds AND TO Mohammad\u2013who brought the world to our feet and eternity to our arms. * HAJJ\/PILGRIMAGE \u201cAnd when We made the House a resort for men and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-433","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=433"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3288,"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/433\/revisions\/3288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nogodbutallah.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}