Question: What is the significance of Hajj (the pilgrimage) in Islam?

Many times when we are sitting in our homes, in society, doing business, we forget about God. Taking a religious pilgrimage, traveling to a holy place and seeing the reminders of the religion, to physically touch the symbols, to be in a sacred setting, can help you in your faith.

In Hajj, most of the places and rituals are reminders of the “Father of Prophets” (the common point between Jews, Christians, and Muslims), Abraham (Ibrahim ‘alaihis salaam):

The Ka’bah - was the first house of worship which Abraham built
The Hills of Safa and Marwa - where Hagar was left with the baby Ishmael
The Well of Zam Zam - the miracle of the water which appeared
The Jamaraat (the pillars where Abraham was tempted) - this is where Abraham went to sacrifice his son - and why the Muslims at the time of ‘Eid do the sacrfice of the lambs, as a commemoration

I think it is sad that nowadays people go on “vacation”, spending money and time for frivolity, to relax their bodies, when they could spend their time and money to learn, to refresh their souls. I recommend any person of any faith to spend SOME of your time and money to travel in search of God or to travel to ponder what it is you believe in, at least once in your life.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 6:51 am and is filed under Islam. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.