Come October 5, hundreds of thousand new Hajis will complete their pilgrimage mission. Mecca and Madinah will be flushed with the new Hajis from all over the world. The new and modern facilities provided by the Saudi Government will really be put to the test in terms of their sufficiency and efficiency.From some of the pictures I see in the Facebook, even the three-tiered "tawaf" walkaway around the Kaabah is filled to capacity.
the 3-tiered tawaf walkaway seems full
The Muslims know what it means to complete the Haj mission as required by Islam if you're physically and financially able to do so. It completes your Fifth Rukun, the final requirement to become a "good" Muslim, at least in terms of your efforts to become so. Whether your Haj and other supplications to Allah, are accepted by Him depends on His magnanimity alone.
Those who have gone through the discipline and drills of completing the Haj mission, at both the physical and spiritual level, will certainly not want to recommit the sins of the past. They will surely shudder at the voraciousness, self-pride and haughtiness, the hostilities, cruelties and the ungratefulness of the people to their Creator, as seen in the world today. Religious decorum and sensitivity in some cases. just do not exist anymore, as shown by those involved in political struggle for power and war. The fear of God, by whatever name you call Him, seemed to have vanished. The weapons of war seemed to be their God, by which they live, threaten and control other people, and by which they will die. Material wealth on the other hand guarantees their wellbeing. There seemed to be no more place in their hearts for God, or any fear of Him and the day of Judgment….
a lot of trying experience involved
I wonder what the Hajis in Muslim countries feel about the atrocities and savageries of war in their country. Don't they want to resolve their differences in ways sanctioned or approved by Allah, or are they just to powerless to do so? I'm sure there lots of Hajis who are leaders in their midst. While "Jihad" is sanctioned by Allah and the Prophet (SAW), brutal killing is still not approved by any verse in the al-Quran….
Islam is a religion of peace but as some cynics would say, " You need to go to war to secure peace." The world today is too full of conflicting and contradicting believes, ideals (if not ideologies), aspirations, hopes and goals, to allow people to live in peace and harmony with each other. Yet, aren't all good and ethical ideals, values and the end-goals of life the same for all human beings ( excluding the perverts and insane!). I's only the means to achieve a happy life that differ and human beings are just fighting to uphold their belief in the best means, thereby becoming very mean at times!Don't human beings realise this simple truth?
Well the Hajis in Muslim countries might want to reflect on this as they celebrate the "crowning" of the new Hajis on the eve of Eidil Adha. For the non-Muslims, you have your own ways of acknowledging the height of spiritual achievement and levels of religiosity. If those at the very top can somehow bring home the discipline and experience of achieving the height they have achieved to the common men and women, it will be something like requiring all Muslims to perform the Haj. The discipline and the experience might help to rekindle the fear in God and the Day of Judgement in the people of today, to make this world a more peaceful and pleasantplace to live in. While modern science and technology had improved the facilities of life so much, the facilities will not ensure anything if people start harassing and killing each other due to their aspirational and ideological differences. Modern war machines will just hasten the destruction of the world.
spreading the spiritual experience
Let's learn a little from the Hajis, the Imams, the Priests, and the Men-of-God of the world. After all when we die we would all go to the same hereafter world to face our Creator. If you have the blood of innocent people on your hand, whoever your are, you'll certainly have to answer for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment