I was asked to share my Hajj experience in this edition of company newsletter. I thought about it for a while and figured that it was quite a challenging task as many readers might not able to appreciate thus this would become a boring reading. This is especially true for the things related to spiritual aspects of the Hajj.
Instead of describing the Hajj and its details which you can Wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj go there, I decided to pick some of the important learning experiences which in a way or another might help to broaden our view in regards to our life in this world and beyond. This will be my version and you may customize it to be your version accordingly.
As I have shared previously on my short note "Akmal off for Hajj" which many of you found it was enlightening, meaningful and interesting reading, the details of those definition of words are still relevant to this reading as I will keep referring to them along this experience sharing.
First of all, Hajj can only be performed at those specific locations in Makkah, no other places and only within the specific dates and times. When I first stepped my foot on this historical ground where prophet or messenger of Allah, Muhammad (to express gratitude for the messages prophets brought to humanity, every time their names are mentioned, we will read "peace be upon him/them") used to live, the feeling was indescribable. The closest I could probably describe was as if you were back in your old town where you and your beloved parents and brothers used to live and spent good times together and now they were all gone leaving you there staring at old home and old playground with all good memories flashing never ending.
The moment I stood in front of the Ka'bah (cube-shaped building which acts as the Muslim direction of Solah/prayer), tears running down my cheek and I found myself fall down in prostration thanking Allah for choosing me to be there out of millions waiting for their turn. This was the place where the prophets, traced back from Prophet Abraham over the generations to Prophet Muhammad, paid their visits and performed Hajj as prescribed accordingly within their times, all in obedience to the Creator. I was there then to perform the same thing also in obedience to the command of my Creator.
There was interesting story related to the building of Ka'bah which the narration was authenticated to be originated from Prophet Muhammad. This story was included in a footnote of English translation of Quran (a copy can be downloaded at http://www.allahsquran.com/goodies/pdf/ShareIslam_Quran_Khan.pdf download here). This is an easy to navigate pdf file with modern English. Select Chapter 014 – Ibrahim and page down to verse number 37 under which you will find footnote on the story.
This was what really amazed me. I witnessed sea of people with diverse skin colors, languages, and social statuses, all coming to a place in answering to the call of Prophet Abraham which was many generations back. Many of them I could see with pretty bad cracks on their heels due to walking from far distance. When Prophet Abraham completed the building of the Ka'bah he was asked to proclaim Hajj to the people but there weren't many people there then. The Quran recorded this event in chapter named "Al-Hajj" where the Creator asked the prophet to proclaim Hajj ["And proclaim to mankind Hajj (pilgrimage). They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, they will come from every deep and distant (wide) mountain highway (to perform Hajj). That they may witness things that are of benefit to them, and mentioned the name of Allah on appointed days, over the beast of cattle that He has provided for them. Then eat thereof and feed therewith the poor"]. If you have a copy of the above pdf then you can navigate to chapter 022 verses 27-28. Look at the words of Quran, revealed over 1400 years ago and that day I witnessed with my own eyes how true those words were. Year 2011 Hajj recorded over 1.8 million registered foreigners came into Makkah with total number reaching over 3 million people. In this country alone, we will have to queue for years for our turn. I registered my kids few weeks back giving them chance to perform Hajj in year 2043.
Given the number of people there, from the young to the old ones, many of them passed away along the journey. As I mentioned in my short note "Akmal off for Hajj", one of the commands in Quran was "Solah" which commonly known as 5 daily prayers with each having specific start and end time. In Makkah specifically in Masjid Al-Haram (the Mosque), I witnessed the mass obedience of hundreds of thousands of humans to this call for Solah with some travelled miles away on foot starting as early as 2 a.m in the morning. After each of the Solah (commonly lasted between 10 to 15 minutes), there was special Solah dedicated for the deceased. I often found the place of Solah near the area where the deceased were placed and I often witnessed 3 to 9 bodies laid there on every single Solah.
Some Solah were just 1 hour in between but there were always new bodies there. That really reminded me of the day that I could never run away from. None of us could. We are all here just for a brief transit. It began when prophet Adam was created with each of our souls, then we live in the womb of the mother in stages Quran described perfectly in the same chapter "Al-Hajj" on the 5th verse (it was a world for us then which was also a brief transit), then here we are in this world for a definite specified time, perhaps a little longer than in the womb, with purpose to fulfill , then we will leave the world to the place Quran also described in many places among others in chapter 013 "The Thunder" verses 22-24 [And those who remain patient, seeking their Lord's countenance, perform Solah, and spend out of that which We have bestowed on them, secretly or openly, and defend evil with good, for such there is a good end. (Eden) Paradise, which they shall enter and (also) those who acted righteously from among their fathers, and their spouses, and their offspring. And angels shall enter unto them from every gates (saying) "peace be upon you for you persevered in patience! Excellent indeed is the final home!"]. Witnessed those bodies laid helplessly on every single Solah really gave me different perspective of life. There wasn't anything that they brought with them but a simple plain cloth. Some might have left behind millions of dollars, mansions and expensive cars which they work their whole life for but what was left with them just a plain cloth.
I am not discouraging the hard work and accumulation of wealth but I am just throwing another perspective into the subject so that there is always balance in this life of brief transit along our journey to the next world, which is a definite certainty, as certain as there is tomorrow. No one can deny death and we witnessed it ourselves very often. In Makkah, I witnessed it every single day for over 30 days. We like it or not, when the time comes, we will have to go and leave behind whatever we have. If you scroll down a little more on chapter 013 "The Thunder", on verse 26 ["Allah increases the provision for whom He wills, and straitens (it for whom He wills), and they rejoice in the life of the world, whereas the life of this world as compared to the hereafter is but a brief passing enjoyment."]. It really is a brief passing enjoyment. We always think that 20 or 30 years is a long time, but when we went through it, it wasn't really that long. Remember your childhood time, was it that long ago? No, it was just like yesterday. It always happens in parallel, we anxiously waiting for our bonuses, promotions and all the provisions due to us over the years, the same time we are also approaching our finishing line which no one knows when but certainly there is one.
If you agree with me, our actions and words are big deals – people remember bad things we do or bad words we say to them for years if not lifelong. Then it makes sense these are the things that we are bringing with us to the next world for the judgments. I don't know how but neither do I know how a drop of sperm can turn into such a complex human yet we are all here in existence. Different seeds that we planted, on the same soil, watering with the same water, bear different trees, flowers and fruits with different look, colors, taste and smell…how? We witnessed this in front of our very own eyes. So things that we don't know are not necessarily not there or not going to happen.
I think this is getting too long for a quick reading. As I mentioned earlier, this is my version of sharing this truly enlightening experience with you and since this is such a complex subject, you are free to disagree. However, I encourage everyone to spend some time to find out what is in the Quran which as I mentioned in my note, is memorized cover to cover in Arabic by over 10 million people, mostly non-Arabs. There is no book like this ever. You can have an idea how massive this is (to memorize) if you take a look at the pdf file with some chapters contain over 200 verses. It will take you days to read it continuously cover to cover. I am nobody but I memorized not less than 20 chapters (from 114 chapters). These are short chapters ranging from 3 to 30 verses. It is just amazing. Thank you if you read till this point!
Instead of describing the Hajj and its details which you can Wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj go there, I decided to pick some of the important learning experiences which in a way or another might help to broaden our view in regards to our life in this world and beyond. This will be my version and you may customize it to be your version accordingly.
As I have shared previously on my short note "Akmal off for Hajj" which many of you found it was enlightening, meaningful and interesting reading, the details of those definition of words are still relevant to this reading as I will keep referring to them along this experience sharing.
First of all, Hajj can only be performed at those specific locations in Makkah, no other places and only within the specific dates and times. When I first stepped my foot on this historical ground where prophet or messenger of Allah, Muhammad (to express gratitude for the messages prophets brought to humanity, every time their names are mentioned, we will read "peace be upon him/them") used to live, the feeling was indescribable. The closest I could probably describe was as if you were back in your old town where you and your beloved parents and brothers used to live and spent good times together and now they were all gone leaving you there staring at old home and old playground with all good memories flashing never ending.
The moment I stood in front of the Ka'bah (cube-shaped building which acts as the Muslim direction of Solah/prayer), tears running down my cheek and I found myself fall down in prostration thanking Allah for choosing me to be there out of millions waiting for their turn. This was the place where the prophets, traced back from Prophet Abraham over the generations to Prophet Muhammad, paid their visits and performed Hajj as prescribed accordingly within their times, all in obedience to the Creator. I was there then to perform the same thing also in obedience to the command of my Creator.
There was interesting story related to the building of Ka'bah which the narration was authenticated to be originated from Prophet Muhammad. This story was included in a footnote of English translation of Quran (a copy can be downloaded at http://www.allahsquran.com/goodies/pdf/ShareIslam_Quran_Khan.pdf download here). This is an easy to navigate pdf file with modern English. Select Chapter 014 – Ibrahim and page down to verse number 37 under which you will find footnote on the story.
This was what really amazed me. I witnessed sea of people with diverse skin colors, languages, and social statuses, all coming to a place in answering to the call of Prophet Abraham which was many generations back. Many of them I could see with pretty bad cracks on their heels due to walking from far distance. When Prophet Abraham completed the building of the Ka'bah he was asked to proclaim Hajj to the people but there weren't many people there then. The Quran recorded this event in chapter named "Al-Hajj" where the Creator asked the prophet to proclaim Hajj ["And proclaim to mankind Hajj (pilgrimage). They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, they will come from every deep and distant (wide) mountain highway (to perform Hajj). That they may witness things that are of benefit to them, and mentioned the name of Allah on appointed days, over the beast of cattle that He has provided for them. Then eat thereof and feed therewith the poor"]. If you have a copy of the above pdf then you can navigate to chapter 022 verses 27-28. Look at the words of Quran, revealed over 1400 years ago and that day I witnessed with my own eyes how true those words were. Year 2011 Hajj recorded over 1.8 million registered foreigners came into Makkah with total number reaching over 3 million people. In this country alone, we will have to queue for years for our turn. I registered my kids few weeks back giving them chance to perform Hajj in year 2043.
Given the number of people there, from the young to the old ones, many of them passed away along the journey. As I mentioned in my short note "Akmal off for Hajj", one of the commands in Quran was "Solah" which commonly known as 5 daily prayers with each having specific start and end time. In Makkah specifically in Masjid Al-Haram (the Mosque), I witnessed the mass obedience of hundreds of thousands of humans to this call for Solah with some travelled miles away on foot starting as early as 2 a.m in the morning. After each of the Solah (commonly lasted between 10 to 15 minutes), there was special Solah dedicated for the deceased. I often found the place of Solah near the area where the deceased were placed and I often witnessed 3 to 9 bodies laid there on every single Solah.
Some Solah were just 1 hour in between but there were always new bodies there. That really reminded me of the day that I could never run away from. None of us could. We are all here just for a brief transit. It began when prophet Adam was created with each of our souls, then we live in the womb of the mother in stages Quran described perfectly in the same chapter "Al-Hajj" on the 5th verse (it was a world for us then which was also a brief transit), then here we are in this world for a definite specified time, perhaps a little longer than in the womb, with purpose to fulfill , then we will leave the world to the place Quran also described in many places among others in chapter 013 "The Thunder" verses 22-24 [And those who remain patient, seeking their Lord's countenance, perform Solah, and spend out of that which We have bestowed on them, secretly or openly, and defend evil with good, for such there is a good end. (Eden) Paradise, which they shall enter and (also) those who acted righteously from among their fathers, and their spouses, and their offspring. And angels shall enter unto them from every gates (saying) "peace be upon you for you persevered in patience! Excellent indeed is the final home!"]. Witnessed those bodies laid helplessly on every single Solah really gave me different perspective of life. There wasn't anything that they brought with them but a simple plain cloth. Some might have left behind millions of dollars, mansions and expensive cars which they work their whole life for but what was left with them just a plain cloth.
I am not discouraging the hard work and accumulation of wealth but I am just throwing another perspective into the subject so that there is always balance in this life of brief transit along our journey to the next world, which is a definite certainty, as certain as there is tomorrow. No one can deny death and we witnessed it ourselves very often. In Makkah, I witnessed it every single day for over 30 days. We like it or not, when the time comes, we will have to go and leave behind whatever we have. If you scroll down a little more on chapter 013 "The Thunder", on verse 26 ["Allah increases the provision for whom He wills, and straitens (it for whom He wills), and they rejoice in the life of the world, whereas the life of this world as compared to the hereafter is but a brief passing enjoyment."]. It really is a brief passing enjoyment. We always think that 20 or 30 years is a long time, but when we went through it, it wasn't really that long. Remember your childhood time, was it that long ago? No, it was just like yesterday. It always happens in parallel, we anxiously waiting for our bonuses, promotions and all the provisions due to us over the years, the same time we are also approaching our finishing line which no one knows when but certainly there is one.
If you agree with me, our actions and words are big deals – people remember bad things we do or bad words we say to them for years if not lifelong. Then it makes sense these are the things that we are bringing with us to the next world for the judgments. I don't know how but neither do I know how a drop of sperm can turn into such a complex human yet we are all here in existence. Different seeds that we planted, on the same soil, watering with the same water, bear different trees, flowers and fruits with different look, colors, taste and smell…how? We witnessed this in front of our very own eyes. So things that we don't know are not necessarily not there or not going to happen.
I think this is getting too long for a quick reading. As I mentioned earlier, this is my version of sharing this truly enlightening experience with you and since this is such a complex subject, you are free to disagree. However, I encourage everyone to spend some time to find out what is in the Quran which as I mentioned in my note, is memorized cover to cover in Arabic by over 10 million people, mostly non-Arabs. There is no book like this ever. You can have an idea how massive this is (to memorize) if you take a look at the pdf file with some chapters contain over 200 verses. It will take you days to read it continuously cover to cover. I am nobody but I memorized not less than 20 chapters (from 114 chapters). These are short chapters ranging from 3 to 30 verses. It is just amazing. Thank you if you read till this point!
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