Spiritual Journey of Hajj

Millions perform Rummy

Hajj is not just a religious duty, its a spiritual one as well. It is not just about performing Tawaf of the Holy Kaaba, its about evaluating your life and figuring out for yourself the meaning of life.

Its about understanding why we are here and what is the purpose of our lives. It is about understanding what we owe to our parents, our families, neighbors, friends and man-kind as a whole.

Hajj will guide us through our journey of self discovery and more; only if we think and ponder of why we are here to do Hajj. Only if.

Hajj is not just about religious tourism that is obligated on Muslims to travel once in their life time to Makkah. No, it is much more than that. Hajj is a great teacher. A great healer. We learn a new meaning of the word “patience”, a new understanding of controlling flared up tempers, and leveling the bar for tolerance. There are no rich, no poor, no Arabs, no Whites or Blacks. All are one; equal; no matter what their financial status or makeup of their ethnicity.

We wear the same garment, white unstitched cloth, to cover our bodies making it impossible to figure out where we come from or what is our background. We are one, assimilated into the huge ocean of humans. Millions all performing the Hajj; together.

We are here to take this message back to our societies, our countries and our homes. We are here to not only learn the Oneness of Allah but also take back with us what it means to be human and be part of a larger mankind. We are here to learn that there is no difference in humans be it Muslims or otherwise. There is no difference in Arabs or Blacks or Whites. All are equal in the eyes of Allah and we should treat no one differently.

We are here to learn that it is O.K. to forgive and forget then to keep vendettas against each other. The earth is nearly 14 billion years old. We are here for a meagre 60 odd years. Why kill each other over minor issues that will be long forgotten after our death. So what is the point of waging wars and smoking our enemies out of caves? Or killing each other for oil and other worldly prizes? I mean literally, what is the point?

During Hajj, we are not to hurt any creature of God. Be it even an insect crawling on the desert floor, or a fly buzzing around your face as you pray. When we can tolerate and not hurt a fly, why do we go and bomb our neighboring people? Why do we look down upon them just because they have a different faith or ethnic makeup? Why do we enclose societies in barbed wires and make them live in city size penitentiaries? What if they are not of our faith, why can’t we accept them as our neighbors no matter how different they are?

Hajj teaches us this and a lot more. It is for us to understand and bring the message back home with us. It is truly a spiritual journey, which every human being must undertake once in their lifetime.