The occasion of Hajj causes the largest concentration of believers of any faith on Earth and offers a significant opportunity to Muslims. However, they are yet to exploit its political, social, ideological, economic and intellectual potentialities. So far, they are content with realizing its religious, spiritual and divine realities.

Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam accordidng to which every sane adult Muslim, who can physically as well as financially afford it, must travel to Mecca in the month of Dhul Hijjah to perform cetain religious rituals wearing two pieces of unsewn white cloth called Ahram. Dhul Hijjahj is the twelfth month of the Islamic lunar calendar.

Hajj is a tremendous show of untapped, unexploited and raw strength, which, if intelligently channeled, can yield tremendous benefits toUmmah (Islamic Nation).

Hajj Offers Huge Opportunity to Muslims

The Hajj offers huge opportunity to Muslims to transform themselves spiritually. The people are enthralled by the sanctity and purity of time and place and are hugely affected by this Islamic experience. They go through a collective experience of an upheaval that is spiritual and transcendental in nature and contents. This is an experience that generally gives a nation voice, raises its spirit, cherishes hopes, inspires and motivates, provided that energies of such phenomena are channelised properly. The Ummah, currently bearing with trying circumstances, simply requires this to happen.

Islam is an all-inclusive comprehensive religion that takes in its pale all economic, social, cultural, ethnic, spiritual, political as well as foreign policy aspects of human society. It furnishes a unique concept of prayers (lbadat) not to be found in any other religion of the present world.

Show of Unity on Hajj Magnifies Tauhid

The most pronounced aspect of Islamic prayers is Tauhid (Unity) which finds expression in the “collectivism” which every prayer so jealously emphasizes. Islamic prayers are not just a jumble of disconnected rituals; instead, every movement, every action, every bending and every prostration establishes one fact: the Grandeur and Unity of Tauhid.

If any prayer (lbadat) fails to do so, it becomes a spiritless ritual that does not bring any benefits to its performer. Very cautiously, one has to say that Hajj of today leaves much to be desired. The “collectivism” an expression of Tauhid, which is projected there in the sacred days of Hajj fails to yield benefits to the Ummah as were promised to it.

According to Dr Shariati, “...the performance of Hajj is a simultaneous show of many things. It is a “show of creation, a show of history, a show of unity, a show of the Islamic ideology and a show of the Ummah.” However, we see that Hajj, in its present shape, is nothing more than a set of rituals. The message that the Hajj rights inculcate and promote has been totally ignored.

Umayyad amd Abbasid Rulers Robbed Hajj of its True Spirit

How did it happen? History is witness to the fact that political exigencies of Umayyad and Abbasid rulers robbed Hajj of its true spirit. They were despots, aggressors and usurpers and they feared that politically conscious largest gathering of Muslims at the time of Hajj could rob them of their so-called legitimacy.

To avoid this, they began to project only the spiritual aspect of Hajj and it so happened that through the course of history the economic, social, cultural, political, and foreign policy dimensions, which also had religious moorings, were totally overshadowed by this aspect. There now remains only a semblance of “collectivism” otherwise individualism is so glaring and conspicuous that one does not need deeper insight to notice.

Hajj Rituals Have Become More Important Than the Substance

Hajj has been described as sure key to Paradise. Significant stress is being given to rituals as an end in themselves, the philosophy behind rituals, is being totally ignored. Hajj is the sublime apex of all Islamic emotions. Every Islamic prayer has been gathered /collected into Hajj. Prayers, fasting, sacrifice and Alms giving all find significant expression in Hajj. Whereas no prayer (lbadat) in Islam is without its attendant social, economic, political, cultural and spiritual gains then how can Hajj only be regarded as a set of religious rituals?

Hajj certainly entails tremendous cultural, social, economic, and religious dimensions to the Ummah and its benefits are so tremendous that they cannot be overestimated and over-emphasised.

Sources:

1- The Holy Quran

2- Dr. Ali Sharieti, Hajj, Islamic Digital Library.