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The Hajj: Global Assembly of Muslims at the Ka'aba By Qutubuddin Aziz
Prophet Muhammad(S) made the annual pilgrim age of Hajj at the Ka’aba in Makkah an insepa
rable part of the rituals of Islam for the Muslims because he knew that in the years
to come Islam would spread to every part of the globe and the participation of Muslims from
far and near in the grand assembly of Hajj will strengthen their fraternal ties.
Having spent 53 years of his life in Makkah where the Angel Gabriel unfolded before
him the Word of God, the Prophet was aware of the sanctity of the holy Kaaba as the first
House of God on Earth. But he resented its defiling by the pagan rulers who had installed
some 360 idols in it to perpetuate their idolatrous worship. Imprinted on his memory of
teenage years was the manner in which he had averted a major tribal clash in Makkah by
calling upon the head of each tribe to join him in carrying on a single cloak the celestial
Black Stone to its ancient abode in the Ka’aba. But even as a child he detested the dance
of the naked men and other heathen rites which Makkah’s idol-worshippers performed on the
occasion of the annual pilgrimage at the Ka’aba in the pre-Islam days. When divine
enlightenment came to him and the Holy Quran was revealed, the Prophet smashed some idols
and called upon Makkans to worship the Almighty God. Resenting his iconoclastic zeal,
Makkah’s pagan rulers persecuted him. Guided by the light of God, he migrated to Madina to
continue his Islamic mission and he established the first Islamic State there.
Although fond of the Ka’aba and aware of its holy origin as the abode of Adam
and Eve following their fall from Paradise and its rebuilding by Prophet Abraham, Prophet
Muhammad(S) did not visit it for ten long years after migrating to Madina. But in the 9th
year after the Hijra, when the Muslim control over Makkah was established the Prophet sent
a delegation of Muslims from Madina, headed by his trusted companion, Abu Bakr, to Makkah
at the time of the annual pilgrimage at the Ka’aba to announce publicly that from next year
no idol-worship in any form would be permitted. Idolaters would not be allowed to enter the
precincts of the Ka’aba, he ordered. Having given this stern warning to idol-worshippers a
whole year in advance, it was on the 9th Dhu’lhijja in the tenth year of the Islamic Hijri
Calendar that the Prophet, at the head of more than a hundred thousand Muslims, went to
Makkah from Madina for the annual pilgrimage at the Ka’aba. Thereafter it became the holy
institution of the annual Hajj for Muslims in every part of the globe. It was the last
Hajj of his life because three months later he died.
The Ka’aba
The Ka’aba commands a place of eminence in the traditions and dogma of Islam because
the Holy Quran calls it the House of Allah and God’s first Mosque on earth.
By establishing the institution of the annual Hajj pilgrimage at Makkah for Muslims, the
Prophet gave them a remarkable instrument for forging unity and brotherhood amongst the
global Islamic fraternity. Every Muslim, male or female, must do the Hajj at least once
in his or her lifetime if he or she can, in the words of the Holy Quran, find a way thither.
It is an occasion for the: cleansing of the soul, for spiritual regeneration, for seeking
divine pardon for one’s sins, for making new resolves in the way of righteousness and for
establishing person-to-person contact with the Muslim brothers and sisters from other parts
of the globe. The sight of millions of Muslims from every nook and corner of the world,
gathered in Makkah for the Hajj, with the sartorial uniformity of white unsewn raiments
covering men’s bodies and the very simple garments of women, is an experience that uplifts
the soul and reinforces the Muslims’ faith in God and their religion. The scene of their
skirting the Ka’aba as a part of the Hajj rites and the articulation of their prayers in
unison is heart-warming and soul stirring.
The Hajj pilgrims, rising above the barriers of race, clime, tongue and colour, mix with
one another in a spirit of fraternity and equality. As they pass three days and nights
in little camps out in the desert and in the Makkah foothills, they are in an ecstasy of
devotion to Allah, almost forgetful of their own earthly needs. The Hajj pilgrims think of
only God and His Prophet and the traditions and teachings of Islam-Children of Adam and Eve,
members of a vast human family, invoking the mercy and beneficence of their Creator.
The Hajj provides them an opportunity to learn of the progress and practice of the Islamic
faith in other countries. They are also reminded of the wisdom and the beauty of the Holy
Prophet’s inspiring sermon on Mount Arafat which is the epitome of his divine teachings and
a testament of faith for every Muslim. Particularly relevant at this time is that part of the
historic sermon in which he warned the Muslims against the danger of fratricidal warfare after
his demise:
What do these powerful words of the Prophet mean? To him the killing of a
Muslim by his brother Muslim is tantamount to defying God. Two Muslims or groups of
Muslims, resorting to violence against each other, render themselves liable to the charge
of being called infidels. In the Hajj sermon, the Prophet instructed that the differences
of opinion amongst the Muslims should be thrashed out amicably by seeking guidance from the
Holy Quran. The Holy Quran commands Muslims to respect the sanctity of the Ka’aba. It is the
duty of every Muslim pilgrim at the Hajj to help preserve the sanctity and peace of Islam’s
holiest House of God at the Ka’aba in Makkah.
Islam’s belief in the equality of mankind and its opposition to racial prejudice and racism
in any form is impressively demonstrated during the Hajj pilgrimage at the Kaaba in Makkah.
The huge concourse of Muslim men and women, drawn from every part of the globe, presenting
every hue and colour of the human rainbow-black, brown, white and yellow-has no colour or
race consciousness. Differences of social standing, rich and poor, status and power are
forgotten during the ritual of the Hajj. In his last Hajj sermon, the Prophet had outlawed
racism when he declared:
‘No Arab is superior to a non-Arab and no non-Arab is superior to an Arab. No dark-skinned
person is superior to a white person and no white person is superior to a dark-skinned person.
The criteria for honour in the estimation of God Almighty is the individual’s righteousness and
honest living.’
The Prophet’s resounding Hajj sermon on Mount Arafat in Makkah, whose imperishable echoes have
inspired Muslims all through the past fourteen centuries, remains unmatched for its purity of
noble thought in the annals of human eloquence. It was the soul and essence of the Quranic
commandments which the Prophet had so dedicatedly preached to mankind. Reflected in the
Prophet’s sermon was the Islamic concept of Human Rights so lucidly projected in the
Holy Quran. A British historian and philosopher, H.G. Wells, was so greatly impressed
by the Prophet’s Hajj sermon that he wrote in his well known book, the Outline of
History (London: 1920 : p. 325): A year before his death, at the end of the tenth year
of the Hegira, Muhammad made his last pilgrimage from Madina to Mecca. He made then a
great sermon to his people. The reader will note that the first paragraph sweeps away
all plunder and blood feuds among the followers of Islam. The last makes the believing
Negro the equal of the Caliph. . . . they established in the world a great tradition of
dignified fair dealing, they breathe a spirit of generosity, and they are human and workable.
They created a society more free from widespread cruelty and social oppression than any society
had ever been in the world before.
In his Hajj sermon, the Prophet declared that he had completed on earth his divinely-ordained
mission of conveying the Message of God to Mankind and that his followers should carry God’s
Word, as embodied in the holy Quran, to the farthest corners of the world. His inspiration to
his followers was so profound that when they succeeded him as Caliphs. the city state of Madina
bloomed into the inter-continental Empire of Islam, larger in its geographical sweep than the
Holy Roman Empire. A French statesman, poet and novelist, Alphonse de Lamartine,
in his historical book. Histoire de la Turquie, (Paris: Vol. II, pp 276-277) wrote: Never
has a man accomplished such a huge and lasting revolution in the world because in less than
two centuries after its appearance, Islam, in faith and arms, reigned over the whole of Arabia.
and conquered, in God’s name, Persia, Khorasan, Transoxonia, Western India. Syria, Egypt,
Abyssinia, all the known continent of Northern Africa, numerous islands of the Mediterranean,
Spain and a part of Gaul (France).... If greatness of purpose, smallness of means and
astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any
great man in modern history with Muhammad(S)
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