In The Name Of Allah, The Most Compassionate, The Most Merciful

THE FIFTH PILLAR OF ISLAM
AL-HAJJ (PILGRIMAGE)
INTRODUCTION - THE SACRED MONTHS

In the Name of Allah: No Assistance except from Him. Our praise to Allah: No Gratitude except for Him. Glories to you my Lord: You Created me and I am in full obedience to your command. I hold my covenant to You by whatever is in my power. I bear witness that there is no Deity except Allah. I send my prayers and greetings to the best among all creatures Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the Messenger of peace who received the last message of the heavens to guide the worlds and delivered Allah's Integrated Legislation and Wisdom in a perfect manner.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam, I greet you by the greeting of Islam: Asslamu Alikum Wa Rahmetu Allah Wa Barakath:

I will ask your permission to stop the series of Khutbas around worship (Ibadat) to talk today about the last one of Ibadat, that is the Pilgrimage (Hajj).

For this Friday and the next two Khutbas Inshaa Allah, we will deal with the season of Hajj. I hope and pray that, whoever did not have this experience, will have the opportunity to fulfill this mission very soon. And who performed the Hajj to repeat this wonderful journey Inshaa Allah.

Every Muslim is commanded to take the direction of "Kaaba" in his/her daily prayers. So, we are performing a kind of pilgrimage at least five times everyday to fulfill the Command of Allah, stated in Sura # 2, Al-Baqarah, Verse # 144, where Allah Says:

"And whenever you are, turn your faces in that direction of the Sacred Mosque."

In addition to this kind of pilgrimage, every human being is commanded to perform the Hajj once per life time, as stated in the Holy Quraan Sura # 3, Al-Imran, Verse # 97, where Allah Reveals:

"Pilgrimage thereto is a duty people Owe to Allah, Those who can afford the journey."

Between the many subjects related to Hajj, our topic today will cover the Sacred Months in Islam.

Allah Says in Sura # 9 At-Tauba, Verse # 36:

"The number of months in the Sight of Allah is twelve (in a year)- So Ordained by Him The day He Created the heavens and the earth; Of them four are sacred: That is the right religion."

Islam was revealed among the Arab pagan community. Allah Entrusted this community to be guided to Islam, to preserve this last message and to spread Islamic regulations among human beings allover the world. For this mission Allah Chose the best among mankind to deliver the message and to be an example for implementation of all its requirements, that is Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), the last Messenger Sent from Allah to guide All Mankind.

The two major Islamic rules in conveying the message were:

  1. What is related to Tawheed (Allah is one): The call of Islam presented that as a fact that is not disputable. In that regard, there were no tolerance or moderation.
  2. What was related to changing the bad habits among the community, Islam used gradual steps in implementing the change. This is like an alcoholic who is admitted to a hospital to cure him/her from addiction. According to his/her special degree of addiction, doctors usually specify gradually decreasing doses of alcohol spread on a period of time until the dose reaches zero and the patient then becomes cured completely recovering from his/her addiction

In addition to these two main rules, it was not the intention of the new Islamic regulation:

  • To cancel instantly all the old habits of this community whether it were good or bad.
  • And to establish a brand new system as when some people make a revolution against the ruling party in a country.

The Legislator in the case of Islam Is Allah Who Created and Knows what will be the best for mankind.

Islam came to encourage the good habits among humans, to regulate the habits twisted from their good intentions and to change gradually the bad habits.

Among the habits twisted from their good intention, there was a long established custom of observing four months as those in which fighting was forbidden. Allah Who Created mankind and Knows that good and evil personalities live with each soul of His Creation, Commanded Stopping the fighting between people for periods of time as a gradual cure (treatment) of the evils in their souls which calls for killing between their tribes. Fighting sometimes starts as a cause of trivial matters. An example happened and was well known in Arabia before Islam: Someone from a tribe killed (probably by mistake) a camel that belongs to another tribe, accordingly several tribes got involved in fourty years of continuous fighting and killings.

The Verse about the sacred months came to condemn the arbitrary and selfish conduct of the pagan Arabs who twisted the old rule of honoring four month every year by enjoying peace and avoiding disputes which lead to killings. They changed the months about or added or deducted months when it suited them to get an unfair advantage over their enemy tribes. If it suited them they postponed one of these months, and so a prohibited month became an ordinary month, while their opponents might hesitate to fight, they got an undue advantage. It also upset the security of the month of pilgrimage that was an old tradition before Islam.

The message of Islam came with two approaches:

  • FIRST: Cure (to correct the bad habits).
  • SECOND: Mercy (to have a shelter against reverting to the bad habits.)

The cure in this case is to leave the four months as they were and fix it through the years. These are the sacred Months: Ragab, ZulQaida, ZulHijja and Muharram.
The Mercy in this case is to heal the addiction, so that people will have four months of peace to reconsider their situation and think wisely about these killing.

If people are fighting for five months until they reach the month of Ragab, they will stop fighting and killing for one month. This will be the first small dose of the treatment where they will enjoy peace and have a time-out to be wise and reconsider. Then, they are left on their own, if they continue fighting for the next three month after Ragab, they will come to the next dose of treatment which is longer this time and they will have to enjoy peace in the three sacred months of ZulQaida, ZulHijja and Muharam. This is the reason that these four months are specified as a single sacred month followed by three ordinary months then three sacred months in succession.

Because of the two main reasons of cure and Mercy, Islam:

  • Revived the very ancient usage made for fair dealings all round,
  • condemned the infraction (twisting) by the pagan,
  • And most important rationalized the objectives of treatment to overcome addiction to violence by the right usage of the sacred months.

Dear Brothers and sisters:

This is the second time this year, we talk about sacred months. The first time was in the Month of Rajab, two Months before Ramadan. Today is the eighteenth of ZulQaida, which is one of the sacred months and ZulHijja will follow, that is another sacred month characterized by the performance of Pilgrimage (Hajj)

The question of a solar astronomical year as opposed to the Lunar Islamic year, arises automatically in occasions like fasting and Hajj. The Islamic year was definitely fixed as a purely lunar year of roughly 354 days. The months have been calculated by the actual appearance of the moon. After that, every month of the Islamic year came about 11 days earlier in the solar year, and thus the Islamic months traveled throughout the seasons and the solar year. So, out of the Mercy of Allah, Muslims living in different climates will experience fasting in Ramadhan rotating to cover the different seasons along their life. Sometimes they fast 16 or 17 hours when Ramadan falls in summer and some other time they fast 12 hours in the days of winter.

Since, this is the season of Hajj, we will talk about the blessings of the sacred month of ZulHijja.

This month in addition to being a sacred month, it is a blessed one. Because of its importance, Allah (SWT) Swore by the first ten days of ZulHijja in Sura # 89, Al-Fajr Verses # 1-5 by Saying:

"By the dawn, by the ten nights, by the even and odd (contrasted) And by the night when it passeth away;-Is there (not) in these an adjuration (or evidence) for those who understand?"

Four striking contrasts are mentioned to show Allah's Power and Justice and appeal to those who understand:

  • The First: (The dawn or the daybreak)
    It is the glory and mystery of the bread of day. It just succeeds the deepest dark of the night when the first rays of light break through. Few people except those actually in personal touch with nature can feel its compelling power. In respect both:
    • Of beauty and terror,
    • Of hope and inspiration,
    • Of suddenness and continuing increase of light and joy.
    This "holy time" of night may well stand as the type of spiritual awakening from darkness to faith, from death to resurrection.

    With all these contrasts in mind, rearrange your life and instruct your children, family, friends and relatives that Muslim's day starts at the dawn. The day starts specifically by standing humbly in the Hands of Allah. It starts by the reception of the first activity in the day through a Meeting with the One Who Created the night in which we spent in rest and the coming day in which we receive all the bounties created for our happiness.

  • The Second: The Ten Nights
    By the ten nights are usually understood the first ten nights of ZulHijja, the sacred season of pilgrimage. These are the days in which a person completes all the five pillars Ordained by Allah. In these days thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the world are gathered to fulfill all the Commands of their Creator by performing the last pillar. This is why it is given as a rank for the Muslim who performs pilgrim by calling him "Hajj". While the Hajj is one pillar of Islam like Shahada, praying five times per day, fasting the month of Ramadan, paying the Zakat, but the rank of Hajj is given to the Muslim to give the meaning of a person who completed all the five pillars. We do not call a Muslim the faster or the payer of Zakat, but:
    • We appreciate: All those who willingly discard their ordinary dress- representing every kind of costume- to the simple and ordinary sheets of Ihram,
    • We honor those who refrain from every kind of fighting and quarrel,
    • We respect those who abstain from every kind of luxury and self-indulgence,
    • We appreciate those who hold all life sacred, however humble, except in the way of carefully regulated sacrifice,
    • And, we greet those who spend their nights in prayer and meditation.

  • The Third and Fourth striking contrasts in the last Verse I stated are: The even and the odd
    The Prophet (PBUH) was asked about the even and the odd in the Oath of Allah, he said: Prayers are either even or odd, the even like Fajr, Thuhr, Asr and Isha prayers, and the odd like Magrib and the three rakaat of "Witr" prayer after Isha.

Next Friday we will share more thoughts about the blessings during the month of ZulHijja.

Ask Allah forgiveness and be sure that He, Almighty Will Respond and Reward you.

Praise be to Allah:

"Who Forgiveth Sin, Accepteth Repentance, Is Severe in Punishment, And Is all-Bountiful. There is no god But He: to Him Is the Final Goal."(40-3)

I ask Allah to shower His Peace and Prayers on Prophet Muhammad, his family and all his companions.

Dear Muslims:

It was narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) had said:

"Whoever fasts the day of Arafa (One day before the Eid, or the ninth of ZulHijja, this year will be the nineteenth of May) Allah will forgive him for two years in succession."

Please Notice:

  1. This fasting is not for the people performing Hajj.
  2. The Forgiveness is from minor sins. Grave sins are forgiven by repentance. If the fasting person had committed no minor sins, Allah Will Reduce his/her grave sins.

I will pray and ask Allah, Please say Amen