Faisal Bin Ali Al-Ba’adani
Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 42 | Size: 2.5 MB
All praise is due to Almighty Allah. We praise Him and seek His assistance and forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and from our sinful deeds. Whosoever Allah guides, there is none to misguide him; and whosoever He leaves astray, none can guide him. I bear witness that there is no god worthy of worship besides Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. May Allah bestow His peace and blessings upon Prophet Muhammad, upon his good and pure family, as well as upon all his noble companions and those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Reckoning.
Hajj is one of the finest institutions of Islam that serves a multitude of purposes. It is a demonstration of the universality of Islam which attracts to it people from all walks of life and from the four comers of the world; it is the largest annual ‘conference of faith’ where Muslims get to know one another, discuss their common affairs and promote their general welfare; it is a reminder of the Grand Assembly on the Day of Judgement when people will stand equal before the Lord of the worlds; it also confirms the commitment of the Muslims to their Lord and their willingness to relinquish the material interests in His service. It is a course of spiritual advancement and moral uplifting, a course of exceptional devotion and disciplinary experience, and a course of humanitarian interests and inspiring knowledge.
Allah the Almighty commands His obedient servants to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet (pbuh) in numerous verses of the Qur’an. Allah says, “And whatsoever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain from it.” (59:7) He made the Prophet (pbuh) an exemplary model to emulate: “Verily you have in the Prophet of Allah an excellent model, for him who fears Allah and the Last day and who remembers Allah much.” (33:21) He also informs us that obedience to the prophet (pbuh) is a clear indication of Allah’s love for those who do so: “Say, ‘If you love Allah, follow me: [then] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins.'” (3:31) Besides, He points out that this obedience is synonymous with obedience given to Allah Himself: “He who obeys the Messenger obeys Allah indeed; and whoever turns away then We have not sent you to watch over them.” (4:80) For those who follow in the prophet’s footsteps Allah has prepared a great reward in the Hereafter: “And whosoever obeys Allah and the Messenger shall be among those on whom Allah has bestowed His blessings, namely, the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs and the righteous. And excellent companions are these!” (4:69)
Hajj is an act of worship which tests one’s true following in the Prophet’s footsteps. A number of Muslim scholars have rendered Muslims a good service by delineating, in sermons as well as in writing, its rulings, the common mistakes committed by certain pilgrims during the Hajj, as well as the acts that are bound to invalidate it. Talks and writings to this effect have benefited Muslim a great deal. The fact that these rulings are indeed important, even necessary, since the validity of the Hajj is largely contingent on them, has made many people forget other equally important aspects of the Prophet’s conduct during his Hajj. Consequently, a number of pilgrims nowadays perform many acts that are not exactly in line with the Prophet’s guidance. Therefore, the main aim of the present book is to give an accurate account of the Prophet’s conduct during the Hajj. The importance of knowing this neglected aspect is manifest in a number of points, the most prominent of all are:
a. Studying this aspect in the life of the prophet (pbuh) and acting upon the teachings it entails helps one understand the noble purposes this great institution could serve as well as realize the true worship and submission to Allah as it should be.
b. Many pilgrims are not aware of the Prophet’s conduct during the Hajj and only content themselves with knowledge of the rulings of the Hajj rituals.
c. The Hajj is a unique and very special act of worship in that the prophet (pbuh) dealt with people from a variety of social strata. He also met various people who had never before had an opportunity to witness his conduct in the course of a few days at a certain place and time. Therefore, it reveals many facets of his social dealings with people that do not exist anywhere else.
d. The Prophet (pbuh) accompanied his wives and a number of the weak members of his household on this spiritual journey, which revealed a bright aspect of his conduct towards them, in a manner not known before then.
e. His conduct during the Hajj revealed a great deal of significance not known-let alone acted upon-even by some students of religious knowledge who are concerned with the study of the Sunnah of the prophet (pbuh).
The present study attempts to give a general description and a lucid account of the Prophet’s conduct in Hajj. It does not attempt to provide a description of the rules and steps followed during the Hajj, as this is not the main concern of the book. For details showing this, the reader may consult the elaborate works on the subject.
Since it is next to impossible to cover all aspects of his conduct in the present work, only the most prominent ones will be stated. Regrettably enough, in giving examples of the Prophet’s conduct, only one or two examples are cited. In some other cases only the reference where such an example can be found is given. The reader may therefore refer to major works on the subject for more details.
Furthermore, given the enormity of the task and the limitations of space, it is impossible to produce an exhaustive study in a small book of this nature. The present work will attempt to give only general hints about the subject without going into details. For reasons of simplicity and better understanding, the present work will be divided into three main sections:
I. The Prophet’s Conduct towards his Lord
II. The prophet’s Conduct towards Muslims in general
III. The Prophet’s Conduct towards his Family members In particular
We pray Almighty Allah to make the present work beneficial to all those who intend to perform Hajj-or ‘Umrah for that matter-in the same manner the Prophet (pbuh) performed it. We also pray Him to make all our endeavors sincere and to accept all our good deeds. Surely, He is the Hearer of prayer.
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