Sha'a'ır is a term the Qur’an uses exclusively for the Hajj and literally means "symbols." The compound in which the Qur’an uses this term to refer to the Hajj is “Sha'a'ır ALLÂH” (lit. "ALLÂH’s Symbols"). Seeing that there is not a single symbol that would per se refer to itself, one must be particularly careful where symbols come under discussion. Every symbol is a reference to a truth beyond it and symbolizes a value. Whoever wishes to understand the Hajj ought to ask oneself the following question: If the Hajj belongs to Symbols set up by ALLÂH (SWT), then, what do those Symbols actually symbolize? In other words, what are those symbols meant to explain? What Has ALLÂH (SWT) Shown through those symbols to his believing servants for whom the Hajj has been made a duty?

The Hajj route symbolizes the "life path". As a matter of fact, the word “Mahajja”, which derives from the same root, denotes a “broad and straight path”. The person setting out on that path is aware of the fact that life is a path (Sirât), that man is a perpetual wayfarer, and that worship is food required for the journey. The path has been created for the wayfarer, but the wayfarer has been created for ALLÂH (SWT), Who Is the Owner of both the wayfarer and the path. It is necessary to prove that the wayfarer is really on that path. So, in this sense, the Hajj is tantamout to “Hujjat”, i.e. proof of the wayfarer’s actually being on the path, which is presented to ALLÂH (SWT).

The aim of Hajj is to prevent the wayfarer from forgetting the path. The wayfarer must not forget that at the end of the path he is to account for the journey made. While standing on the plain of 'Arafat, one recollects all one’s life as if it were on the Day of Reckoning… That is why the Hajj is a rehearsal of the ultimate gathering on Resurrection Day. There is no need to travel too far in order to understand that the Hajj is a rehearsal of the Day of the Gathering. It is enough to look at the simple clothing worn by the pilgrims and their heads. All that one has on is the pilgrim's garb (called ihram), which consists of two pieces of cloth representing the shroud.

The pilgrim's garb makes everyone equal in just the same way as the death does. Social status is of no significance for those who have assumed the pilgrim's garb and joined the pilgrims’ gathering. By assuming the pilgrim's garb, those having set out for the Hajj pilgrimage take off their entire world together with their garments, which resembles the way in which one throws over one’s entire world as one raises one’s hands and says the takbir of beginning in prayers.

Pilgrim’s garb is white. It represents "whiteness", a sort of being “al-Hawariyyun” (i.e. the white-garbed ones), which is the designation applied in the Qur'an to the disciples of Jesus (AS). A pilgrim having put on his garb is already a candidate to becoming one of Ansâr (lit., "helpers") givng whole-hearted aid to the religion of ALLÂH (SWT). If he keeps his word, Islam will migrate to him. If he breaks his word and becames corrupt, Islam will migrate from him.

The Hajj begins by forsaking. This is the first thing that the Hajj teaches. It is so because one cannot find without forsaking. It is not possible to come together without leaving. It is impossible to attain without being deprived. One cannot turn one’s face without turning one's back. One must forsake the price in order to achieve the value. One must forsake the small in order to attain to the great. One must abstain from sin in order to achieve virtue. One must forsake the low in order to attain to the high. One must leave one’s home in order to reach Ka’bah. One must abandon the outside in order to attain to the inside. One must  forsake all uniforms in order to find respect with the pilgrim’s garb representing the shroud.

In Islam all acts of worship are required to be “maqbul” (i.e. “having been accepted”) to the exception of the Hajj, for whose acceptance the term “mabrur” is used (to designate the Hajj included among the Hajj pilgrimages of the truly good ones, having been performed properly with understanding of its deep meaning, giving it its dues, realizing its purpose, doing one’s best to perform it in an excellent manner,). The use of the specific term “mabrur” for the Hajj is similar to the exclusive applicability of the term of “Sha'a'ir” (Symbols) to the Hajj and to no other acts of worship other than it. These terms which are peculiar to the Hajj express the exceptional position of the Hajj among all acts of worship in Islam.

Unlike other acts of worship, the call for the Hajj is made to “all of humankind”. It is also emphasized in the Qur’anic Verse, where Prophet Ibrâhim (AS) is bidden to “Call upon humanity to perfom the Hajj!” as well as in the Qur’anic Verse (3:97) “The Hajj unto the Temple is a duty owed to ALLÂH (SWT) by all people who are able to undertake it”.

The deepest concern felt by every conscious believer going on the Hajj pilgrimage finds its expression in the following question: Has my Hajj been accepted? The “acceptance” of an act of worship can be guaranteed by none but ALLÂH (SWT). Moreover, the requirements for the Hajj to be accepted as “mabrur” are found in a number of authentic Traditions which contain the glad tiding concerning the Hajj.

Well, how to perform the Hajj or what to do in order that one’s Hajj be accepted as “mabrur”?

Before we answer this question, we must ask other questions to ensure our understanding of the cause, wisdom, spirit and the pupose of the Hajj. Here are some of those questions:

Does the performance of the Hajj pilgrimage as an act of worship give one an advantage? If yes, shall those who cannot go on the Hajj pilgrimage be classified as “losers right from the start”?

The answer is obvious:

The Hajj is not an advantage, but responsibility. It is just as spending in charity when one has enough wealth to do so. To undertake the Hajj is an obligation for everyone upon whom it is incumbent to fulfill this duty. But, not every person going on the Hajj pilgrimage returns a Hajji. A person goes on the Hajj pilgrimage a “bitter person” and returns a “Hajji”. A person goes on the Hajj pilgrimage a “bitter person” and returns a “bitter person”. A person goes on the Hajj pilgrimage a “sweet person” and returns a “bitter person”.

How many of those going on the Hajj pilgrimage there are whom Ka’bah escapes from! How many of those devout but unable to go on the Hajj pilgrimage there are whose hearts Ka’bah comes to circumambulate. I wonder where we should place the person whom I, during one of my Hajj pilgrimages, heard with my own ears saying “Is it for this they have brought us on top of this mountain (i.e. Arafat)?”; or the person who, taking Ka’bah for a saint's tomb/his father’s tomb, says “Nothing interesting”? Where should we put the ‘religious tourism’ profiteers who, in spite of having nothing to do with religion or faith, are given a share of the pie merely because of having an A-Class tourism certificate and who say “I have been bringing people on the Hajj pilgrimage for 20 years, but I haven’t even once wondered about that place (i.e. Ka’bah)”? Therefore, those who sacrifice the Hajj to numbers should be reminded that our beloved Prophet (SAWS) undertook the Hajj pilgrimage only once in his life.

Our beloved Prophet’s farewell pilgrimage is his exhortation of his life to Ummah. In this way he (SAWS) transmitted his exemplary / model life through codes and symbols. By saying “Take your rites of Hajj from me” our beloved Prophet (SAWS) actually meant “Take the codes of a life graced with ALLÂH’s Goodly Acceptance” at the same time…

The point is this: To go on the Hajj pilgrimage is not to finish, but to begin; not “to take a pledge from ALLÂH (SWT)”, but “to give a pledge to ALLÂH (SWT)”; not an advantage, but responsibility; not protocol and discount, but exercise…

Acts of worship can be dead and alive. In the Qur’an, rendering an act of worship dead is synonymous with “losing all thought of” it. For instance, the Qur’an mentions the losing [all thought of] prayer. To lose means  “to neglect, to use to no avail, to make ineffective”. An act of worship becomes dead when it is lost and it becomes alive when it is gained. Losing the Hajj is equivalent to losing one’s life. … Of course, gaining the Hajj amounts to gaining one’s life.

In order to understand the reason thereof it is necessary to make a summary of the Hajj:

Ihram represents respect for the existence and obedience to the limits of what is permissible.

Talbiya represents the answer to the Divine Invitation.

Arafat represents knowledge.

Maş’ar represents consciousness.

Jamarat symbolizes man's striving hard in ALLÂH’s Cause and struggling against Satan and the impulses entering into his service, against evil and oppression.

Sacrifice represents man’s closeness and unconditional surrender to ALLÂH (SWT).

Tawaf is an actual signature put at the foot of the covenant between ALLÂH (SWT) and man. It represents the voluntary participation in Nasheed of the universal chorus.

Sa’i represents lifelong exertion and effort to realize the purpose of one’s existence based on the belief that life is an eternal migration and that man is a perpetual migrant.

To make a summary of the summary, in brief, the Hajj consists of respect for the existence and obedience to the limits of what is permissible, consciousness and knowledge, striving hard and struggling in ALLÂH’s Cause, closeness and unconditional surrender to ALLÂH (SWT), loyalty to the the Divine Covenant, belonging to the universe, the spiritual migration from the domain of evil to that of righteousness, exertion and effort.

Well then, what are the codes of a life graced with ALLÂH’s Goodly Acceptance?

These are exactly the same things enumerated above. In other words, the things which make a Hajj pilgrimage a true Hajj pilgrimage are the very same things which make a person’s life a life graced with ALLÂH’s Goodly Acceptance. If we were to sum up the codes of our beloved Prophet’s life, what else could we have found if not those very codes of Hajj summarized above?

In this case, the legacy of Hajj which our beloved Prophet (SAWS) left at the end of his life few days before his death by saying “Take your rites of Hajj from me” was in fact his life. Our beloved Prophet (SAWS) left his life to us by codifying it into Hajj, so to speak, into “a compressed (zip) file”.  It was both his legacy and his exhortation.

Those who go on the Hajj pilgrimage in fact go to take the codes of a life they are to lead. It is for this very reason that to go on the Hajj pilgrimage was to go and take the file of a life graced with ALLÂH’s Goodly Acceptance, namely “to go and bring” rather than “to go”.

Those going on the Hajj pilgrimage had to represent to some extent those unable to go; they were supposed to somewhat go on behalf of those unable to go in order to first learn “a life graced with ALLÂH’s Goodly Acceptance” through symbols (Sha’a’ir), whereafter they were to adapt the truths shown by those symbols to their lives as they did durig the “exercise”.

Mother of the believers (AS), in reply to a question asked by Ummu Salama, describes our beloved Prophet’s Hajj as Jihad. There are also other authentic narrations in which Hajj is likened to Jihad. This analogy is interesting indeed. Everyone knows the definition of Jihad: man’s striving hard and struggling in ALLÂH’s Cause. In other words, striving hard to carry Hajj into life is actually nothing else but “carrying life into life”.

Now that we understand the truth of Hajj, we can understand that those who cannot go on the Hajj pilgrimage can still undertake it just as those who can go on the Hajj pilgrimage. Those who can go on the Hajj pilgrimage cannot by any means be categorized as “necessarily lucky winners” and  those who cannot go on the Hajj pilgrimage as “necessarily unlucky losers”. The Hajj is neither a “washing machine” for the rich to wash their sins nor a "warranty" given in advance to everyone who comes.

According to the Qur'an, all of humanity has been invited to Hajj (3:97). Consequently, the believers fulfill the Hajj pilgrimage, which is a duty upon them, but at the same time they ensure the fulfillment of this act of worship on behalf of the whole of mankind upon whom it is incumbent. A discourse putting in the dock those who cannot go on the Hajj pilgrimage because of not having the financial means for it, brings to mind something else. There some from whom Ka’bah escapes in spite of their being by the side of Ka’bah.  But, there also some devout people who cannot go on the Hajj pilgrimage but whom Ka’bah itsel comes to visit. A devout Muslim having set out for the Hajj pilgrimage turned back half way because he gave all his travel money to the orphans, of whose starveling and destitute state he had become aware. Here is a great example of the Hajj pilgrimage of a person who is unable to go on the Hajj pilgrimage...

Our beloved Prophet (SAWS) has had the final word: “The Hajj which has been accepted as mabrur will receive no other reward than Paradise”, but this is not applicable to every Hajj. In order that one’s Hajj be accepted as mabrur, i.e. “in order that it be included among the Hajj pilgrimages of the truly good ones, in order that it acquire quality, in order that be fulfilled in the best possible manner,” one must realize the truthes symolized by the rites of Hajj, which constitute the “Symbols” (“Sha’a’ir”) of ALLÂH (SWT). And this is only possible by carrying Hajj into life.

Question: When will it become clear whether your Hajj has been accepted as mabrur?

Answer: When you die, namely when you awaken.

May our Sustainer Make our Hajj our life and our life our Hajj.

(4 November 2008)