It is said by the holy prophet that “man offers prayers, keeps fasting, and performs Hajj, gives zakat, distributes his money, does sacrifices & goes for jihad. All these good deeds he performs in the Allah SWT way but on the Day of Judgment he will be rewarded for the mind behind his actions. It means he will be judged on how much he utilizes his brain to think over his responsibilities? To ponder the benefits & blessings they contain? & why is he made responsible for these actions?”

I really thought upon that & analyzed everything. A very strange thing came out that although Hajj starts from the 8^th of the month & continues till the 12 or 13^th of the month, the actual day of hajj”youm ul hajj” is on the 9^th of Dhilhaj. The holy prophet in his last sermon of Hajj declared it as the Hajj of Urfa (Alhajul Urfa) & the day of Urfa (Youm ul Urfa). That is why the stay or the”waquf” of urfa on the 9^th of Dhilhaj is the essence of hajj, Though the Sacrifice remains, throwing pebbles to Satan or Rami remains, the Tawaf or the moving around Bait ul Allah remains, I kept on thinking & tried to sort out the mystery behind the importance of this stay in urfa that the two real ordered prayers are taken away from their actual time. The Asr prayer is offered with Duhar & for Maghrib prayer the holy prophet offered it with Isha prayer while staying in urfa. What was the secret behind………..thinking again & again these verses of Holy Quran came into my mind? Allah SWT has said:

Oh! People: keep this thing in your mind & in your view, when your Lord brought you forth from your generations & took a vow. They were witnessed over it & were asked “Am I not your Lord” & they all agreed “yes, why not”

Then Allah pointed out the reason of this vow that no one will be able to over rule His justice & claims of his being ignorant. It is an authentic & significant vow which is taken from all the offspring of Adam while awarding Adam the designation of next to Allah or the sub ordinate to Allah. The stay of urfa is actually the culmination of this vow which was taken place on the same place & on the same date. It is the place where Adam was awarded the post of His subordinate & he swears on this “am I not your lord”. This oath is taken place when angels are bowing down for man & he is reminding of that the world which is granted to you is only trial from your Lord & you will rule over it as the subordinates of Allah. Do not take it as your domain & it is actually set as the real trial of man. On the other hand it is also pointed out that when man comes into practical life Satan who has promised to take vengeance will play his tricks to deprive them of the Allah’s path & specially to those who posses the authority or have to rule. Satan puts conflicts in their minds & hearts & makes them believe that they are the real sovereign of this world. For this Allah has taken vow from all mankind that never forget that I’m your lord. Neither you claim to be a lord nor accept any one from you as your lord. These words are guaranteed by Allah that there is no God accept Allah, is in fact the Eahde alast; the promise to believe on His sovereignty & oneness.

When a man decides to perform Hajj firstly he takes shower to clean himself &then he changes his dress by wearing only two unstitched sheets & this is Ahram. This ahram is actually the form of coffin. The first step taken is to wear coffin meaning to prepare to sacrifice his life. To complete the mission of Allah; “AM I NOT YOUR LORD”,” why not”. It means that the first step of Hajjis to get prepared to sacrifice your life for the sake of Allah. After this the second phrase which comes on the on the tongue are the Talbehat. This is the continuation of this eternal vow that it is Allah who has granted us His blessings & rewards. it is Allah who is the real master & the owner of all. All praise is to Allah; the king of all kings * we are merely His subordinates.

This announcement or recitation continues the morning prayers to evening prayer on the 9^th Hajj. It begins by wearing Ahram & ends in Mana while a Hajji throw first pebble to Satan; for Rami. As we throw pebbles to Satan what is that? The standing pillars are said to symbolize the Satan & with each pebble we say Allah is great. What does it imply? It implies that the fight is b/w Allah & Satan

& those who believe that they are the supreme sovereign of this world are actually made fool by Satan & that’s why they are condemned. Any one who claims to have share in Allah’s domain & in his authority, & wants to be the master in spite of accepting His subordination the faithful will fight with them. The whole process of Rami is actually the reminding of this challenge.

It was the first step of 10^th DHilhaj now the second step is to offer sacrifice. We sacrifice animal like cow, goat, or sheep but on the deeper level it equalizes the sacrifice of ones own life. It is the renovation of offering your life in the path of Allah & this is the true spirit of sacrifice. The next step after sacrifice is to shave off ones head. How the sacrifice & then shaving off head are interlinked to each other?  In Urfa it is the renewal of this vow & here it is the completion of it. In olden times IT WAS THE CUSTOM OF Arab that when any slave got freedom than as the ritual he head to shave off his head as the symbol of his freedom. It means by getting rid of hairs is actually to kick off the chains of man’s slavery. And for that the true Muslim is free from all chains of man’s slavery & he is only the slave of Allah almighty.

The forth step of Hajjis to get bath & to put off your ahram. You are successful…..you have crushed the rebellions of Allah?& have taken freedom. Now move around the K’aaba for Tawaf by saying that Allah is great.

Hajjis the occasion where in a short stay man goes on to the life long training for preparing the hurdles & the difficulties coming in his way.  The basic objective behind each & every step of Hajjis to fulfill the vow to Allah. But today we have entangled ourselves in the conflicts of sects. In the days of Hajj we explain the issues of sacrifice & others but we ignore the real spirit of hajj. Do you ever realized that millions of followers gather around in Baitullah each year but still their condition is more than worse & are the victims of agony & anguish throughout the world.  The answer is in this Hadith of Hazrat Anas RWA that Holy prophet said:” o’ people time is approaching when the rich of my umma will go to Hajj but not to perform but to enjoy it. The middle class will go only for business  trade. While the scholars & preachers for show off & the poor for begging.”

In the light of above mentioned hadiths of holy prophet Hazrat Abdullah Bin Masood said “gradually the time will come when those who will come to Hajj will be greater in size & the journey will be much easier. People will become prosperous& move to Hajj but…….their will be  futile & they will remain unsuccessful & the remaining amount of their faith will also lost with it".

                                                                                    By scholar Abdul Hameed (Late)