1
Let me begin my presentation by reciting :
Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,
In the Name of Allah, The Most Kind, Most Merciful.
To the Muslim audience, I greet you:
Assalamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarokatuh,
and
to the non-Muslim audience, I greet you:
May you have peace in your heart!
THE HAJJ:
A Spiritual and Literary Journey
By Ninie G. Syarikin *
I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM
Islam is from the word 'salam' which means 'peace.' Islam also means submission to the will of Allah. A person who embraces Islam is called Muslim. In order to become a Muslim, you just need to declare 'syahadah,'
"Asyhadu alla ilahaillallah, wa asyhadu anna Muhammadar rasulullah"
a testimony, which means that you believe that there is no God but God (Allah in Arabic language), and Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
There are two sets of pillars that you have to believe and do as a Muslim.
1. 5 Pillars of Islam:
a. Syahadah
b. Salat (prayer) 5 times a day
c. Siyam (fasting) during the month of Ramadan
d. Zakat (almsgiving or charity)
e. Hajj (pilgrimage) at least once in a life time
2. 6 Pillars of Faith
a. Faith in Allah
b. Faith in the Angels of Allah
c. Faith in the Prophets of Allah
d. Faith in the Holy Books of Allah:
Zabur to Prophet Daud (Psalms to David) , Taurat to Prophet Musa
(The Torah or Old Testament to Moses), Injil to Prophet Isa (New
Testament to Jesus Christ) and Al-Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad SAW.
e. Faith in the Day of Judgement
f. Faith in Taqdir (human destiny)
II. THE HAJJ
Allah has destined that the country presently called Saudi Arabia is the Holy Land, because the cities of Makkah and Madinah are located in this area. In the past, there were no national boundaries. The two cities are the holy cities for the Muslims, respectively, with the city of Al-Quds or Jerusalem in Palestine as the third holy city. In those three cities are situated 3 most sacred mosques, which are Masjidil Haram in Makkah, Masjid An-Nabawi in Madinah, and Masjidil Aqsa in Al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Masjidil Haram in Makkah is the central location for hajj rituals, with the two other cities' ruling is only sunnah in its degree of obligation, which means if you don't visit the two cities during your hajj, it does not invalidate your hajj. But, generally, people would want to visit, at least, Madinah, to visit the mosque of Prophet Muhammad (Masjid An-Nabawi), in which the grave of the Prophet is also located within the mosque. Visiting the mosque in Madinah can be done before or after hajj rituals. Some Muslims would also visit Al-Aqsa mosque in Al-Quds, when their time and political situation in Palestine permit. And, if the Muslims visit these two mosques (Masjid An-Nabawi in Madinah and Masjidil Aqsa in Al-Quds), Allah will give them special rewards.
II. 1. The significance of the Hajj
1. It is the 5th pillar of Islam.
2. It is required only once in a life time from every abled Muslim, financially and physically, and that it should not be postponed once a Muslim feels he/she has the means to do it, since there is no knowing how long he/she will live.
3. Pilgrimage is a duty mankind owes to Allah.
4. Performing hajj means fulfilling Allah's call to Prophet Ibrahim: "And proclaim the pilgrimage among humankind. They come to you on foot and on every animal made lean by traveling deep, distant ravines." (Qur'an 22: 27-28)
5. Sound hajj has no reward, except paradise.
6. When a Muslim performs hajj - hence visiting ka'bah, the House of Allah - he/she actually becomes the guest of Allah.
7. Someone who performs his/her hajj with sincerity is like being re-born again.
8. The obligation to perform hajj on every Muslim who is able, implants the idea of traveling to outside one's hometown, and eventually, one's home country, to the Muslims who are from outside Saudi Arabia. The least a modest Muslim should travel to a foreign country is to Saudi Arabia. And we know that "Travel broadens the mind," just as the Al-Qur'an urges to the Muslims in one of its verses, which is to 'explore the universe.'
For a modest Saudi Arabian Muslim, who can do the pilgrimage in his/her home country, but who does not have the means to travel to and see foreign countries, at least he/she will be able to see and observe people with their attributes, who come from all over the world, during the hajj season.
II.2. The Hajj Rituals
1. Intention to perform hajj
2. Ihram.
Men put a 2 piece white seamless garment; women put regular, decent dress, covering the body but not the face and hands. This ihram clothes worn by men, symbolizes that no matter what one's worldly status is, be he a king, a president, a farmer, a fisherman, a scholar, a shoemaker, a scientist, or a fruitseller, a street sweeper, they are all equal in the sight of Allah. What distinguishes them is their taqwa, which means the degree of their obedience and surrender or submission to Allah. This is the egalitarian angle of Islam.
3. Tawaf: circumambulating the ka'bah 7 rounds.
4. Sa'i.
Walk briskly between Safa and Marwah hills for 7 rounds, symbolizing the treading of the path of Hajar, the second wife of Prophet Ibrahim and the mother of baby Ismail who later became a prophet. In Islamic history, Allah ordered Prophet Ibrahim to abandon Hajar and their little son in the desert for some time, in order to suppress Sarah's, Prophet Ibrahim's first wife, jealousy, before she was able to bear Ishaq (Isaac), who also later became a prophet. When Hajar and Ismail were left in the desert, Hajar ran to and fro between the hills of Safa and Marwah in searching for water under the heat of the sun. Each time she was on the top of one hill, she saw a pool of cool water on the other hill. Actually she was deceived by the mirage. Finally, after running 7 rounds to and fro, she was rewarded by the well of Zamzam, which still exists to date, after thousands of years, whose unique water is enjoyed by all the pilgrims.
5. Haircut: men shave their hair; women cut very little and short of the tip of their hair.
6. Staying in Mina.
7. Attending Arafat plain.
The importance of attending Arafah is supreme, as the ruling on this is, no hajj without Arafah, or hajj is Arafah. This is a must rite. If other hajj rituals can be done on different days or replaced by a fine during the designated hajj season, standing and staying on Arafah must be done by all pilgrims on the same day, which is on the 9th of the month of Dzulhijjah, the 12th month of Islamic calendar. So, it does not matter if you get sick, are old, handicapped, weak, exhausted, you must attend Arafat, by all means, even if you have to be guided in walking, carried, lifted, etc.
So, on that particular day, at least 2,5 millions Muslims last year (or however many pilgrims come in one year) gather(ed) and scatter(ed) in the Arafat plain from sunrise to sunset.
8. Staying the night in Muzdalifah until sunrise. (Pilgrims pick up pebbles here for stone throwing in Mina).
9. Throwing stones in Mina, at the three pillars, which symbolizes devils, who never stop tempting human beings to do bad things.
10. Slaughtering a sacrifice.
This ritual goes back to the Islamic history, when Allah tested Prophet Ibrahim and his young son Ismail by ordering Ibrahim to sacrifice Ismail. Because both surrendered to the will of Allah with utmost obedience, the sacrifice was replaced by a ram. (Note: this is where it differs with the Judaism and Christianity, in which Ishaq (Isaac) is said to have been sacrificed. In Islam, Ismail was the first child of Prophet Ibrahim with his wife Hajar, while Ishaq (Isaac) was born 14 years later with his wife Sarah).
This triumph (the sacrifice) is commemorated and celebrated every year during hajj season by Muslims throughout the world. The Muslims who can afford to buy an animal, be it a cow, lamb, or goat, slaughter it for sacrifice and distribute the meat to the poor. Meat, in general, symbolizes prosperity, so even poor Muslims are expected to eat meat at least once a year.
In Mina, before the break of the dawn of 10th of Dzulhijjah, every pilgrim must give his or her sacrifice money to the hajj committee in the amount of 350 riyals or about $100.00.
II.3. The Hajj Obstacles
In the old days, the obstacles to performing the hajj for the Muslims were long distances, as the Muslims traveled by sea, through the desert in caravans of camels and horses. Other impediments were disease, death, and sometimes robbery.
Most pilgrims went in large companies which gathered in one of the great cities of the Muslim world, such as Cairo or Damascus. Then the journey from both cities to Makkah would take between 30 to 40 days, and by the end of the 15th century about 30 to 40,000 pilgrims made it every year. Those pilgrims might bring goods with them to sell on the way or in the holy cities, in order to pay the expenses of the journey. (This is similar with what my mother told me, as family history, when her grandfather and father went to hajj from Indonesia in the 30's and 50's by ship, which took about 2 months).
The event of hajj is and has always been one of the largest human gatherings on earth which happens at the same time and at one place, in world's religions or events. Now, in our modern world, with fast air transportation, more prosperity, modern medicine, disease is no longer a factor of death. Muslims from afar, such as from America, are able to perform their hajj in two week's time. But this also means the number of pilgrims doing the hajj keeps increasing from year to year, which is no longer a matter of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, but millions, especially many people want to perform their hajj more than once in their life, which is not required in Islam.
This huge number, combined with ignorance and negligence, have caused tragedies during hajj. So, in 1991 the tragedy at the tunnel of Mina occurred, resulting in 900 deaths, mostly Indonesians; in 1997 the burning of tents in Mina, mostly Indians and Pakistanis were the victims, which accounted to approximately 300 deaths; and then last year, when my parents and I went, the stampede of Mina, resulting in no less than 160 deaths, of mixed origins.
III. HAJJ AS A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
One of the most famous Muslim travelers of the past, Ibnu Batuta (1304-1377) who traveled from what is presently called Morocco, and who did his hajj at the age of 21, recalled that "the pilgrimage was also a market for the exchange of news and ideas brought from all parts of the world of Islam."
And to give the recollections of a figure of our own times, whom you must know or are at least familiar by name, let me quote what the black civil rights leader, Malcolm X, or El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, as he called himself, after his hajj journey, said about his spritual trip to Makkah, in his book: "The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley."
"Back at the Frankfurt airport, we took a United Arab Airlines plane to Cairo. Throngs of people, obviously Muslims from everywhere, bound on the pilgrimage, were hugging and embracing. They were of all complexions, the whole atmosphere was of warmth and friendliness. The feeling hit me that there really wasn't any color problem here. The effect was as though I had just stepped out of prison." (P. 321)
"Packed in the plane were white, black, brown, red, and yellow people, blue eyes and blond hair, and my kinky red hair -- all together, brothers! All honoring the same God Allah, all in turn giving equal honor to each other." (p. 323)
"Love, humility, and true brotherhood was almost a physical feeling wherever I turned." (p. 325)
"He spoke of the racial lineage of the descendants of Muhammad, the Prophet, and he showed how they were both black and white. He also pointed out how color, the complexities of color, and the problems of color which exist in the Muslim world, exist only where, and to the extent that, that area of the Muslim world has been influenced by the West. He said that if one encountered any differences based on attitude toward color, this directly reflected the degree of Western influence." (p. 335)
"I said, "The brotherhood! The people of all races, colors, from all over the world coming together as one." (p. 338)
"Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and the overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this Ancient Holy Land, the home of Ibrahim, Muhammad, and all the other prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors." (p. 338)
"There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white." (p.340)
"During the past 11 days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug) -- while praying to the same God --with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and in the deeds of the 'white' Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana."
(p. 340)
Now, to me personally, the hajj, besides primarily responding to Allah's call, as well as enjoying a special time just to worship Allah, is also "a journey of traveling around the world from and in Makkah." Because, basically, only physically I was in Makkah, but spiritually, my eyes and my mind were actually brought to traveling around the world, to see and observe many different kinds of people who come from every corner of the earth, with their distinctive features, and costumes.