Hajj is celebrated on April 8

Grandeur of Hajj

By Hussain Packir Saibo

Sacrifice is the key- note, the leit motif as it were, of the Hajj pilgrimage which culminates with Hajj festival which the nearly billion Muslims throughout the world commemorate on Wednesday April 8. Both the pilgrimage and the festival revolve around the story of the sacrifice of the Prophet Ibrahim of his son Ismail by his wife Hajjara. It is this which gives it significance for the followers of Islam - the religion of peace - connoted by its derivation from the word salaam, meaning peace. Hence the festival is also called 'Id-ul-Azha' or the 'Festival of Sacrifice'.

It is a tremendously powerful and moving story. The Prophet Ibrahim, one of the earliest of the Prophets in the line of Islam, not having had a son and heir longed to have one in his old age (he was said to be 82 years old at the time) His wish came to pass when his wife Hajjara conceived and bore him a son in answer to his prayers. He had promised God that he would offer him in sacrifice to God in the event.

The lovely child Ismail grew up to be a young boy of 14 and Ibrahim was one day in a dream reminded by God of his promise. So he took the boy up with him to a lonely hill, gleaming knife in hand and a heavy heart ready to fulfill his forgotten promise. Ismail, who was also later to take on the mantle of a Prophet, sensing his father's sadness offered himself up voluntarily as sacrifice and reassured Ibrahim that he had no fear of being killed. He refused to be bound and lay down willingly on the stone slab waiting for the knife to fall on him. A voice - the voice of God - just then in the stillness of the desert wilderness was heard telling him his promise was surely fulfilled and calling on him to sacrifice a ram in place of the boy. And this he did.

Pivotal to the Hajj for those going to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage at this time of the year is the circumambulation 7 times around the Sacred Kaaba - the enormous black stone cube which houses the prayer precincts built over the sacred stone encased in a niche on one of its four sides.

Pilgrims going round the Kaaba, who are fortunate to reach the stone amidst the millions who are present, kiss the stone reverentially in order to acquire blessings. This stone too has associations with the ancient Prophet Ibrahim and was said to have fallen from Heaven as a sign and confirmation of prophethood. Ibrahim was said to have been responsible for erecting the Kaaba and making it a house of prayer. For Muslims this is significant since the Prophet Muhammed descended in direct line through the Prophet Ismail and his father Prophet Ibrahim.

Another ritual performed by pilgrims is that of running between the mounts of Safa and Marwa a short way from the Kaaba. This is a reminder of how Hajjara soon after she bore the child Ismail ran to and fro between the two low hills desperate with thirst in search of water for herself and the child. She heard a voice telling her to strike the ground with her feet and water gushed forth miraculously from the spring Zam-Zam which to this day flows perennially with cool, pristine water which pilgrims pour over themselves, drink and carry away to preserve and distribute at home as it is said to have much spiritual benefit.

When the pilgrim approaches Mecca - indeed even from the time he or she starts out on the pilgrimage - the cry on every pilgrim's lip is "Allahumma Labaik!" meaning "I have come before Thee My Lord God!." The pilgrim when he sets out wears a single two - piece white garment signifying purity. The cloth worn is much like a shroud and is often preserved as the shroud which will be used to wrap his corpse around after death. What is symbolic in all this is that the pilgrim has left behind all that pertains to the world, all possessions, desires and attachments seeking only God in an ecstasy of Faith and total absorption.

Likewise the sacrifice of sheep during the pilgrimage - a ritual followed the world over by Muslims wherever they may be - signifies in essence the sacrifice of one's self to God.

As the Quran underlines, it is not the blood and flesh of the animal that reaches God but the faith of the sacrificant. Here then is the answer to those who aver that the animals offered in sacrifice during the Hajj festivities is nothing but wanton killing and reflects a lack of compassion on the part of Muslims.

Another symbolic act during the Hajj pilgrimage is the casting of stones at the Devil, an act again which reminds of how the Prophet Ibrahim defied Satan who tried to prompt him against making the sacrifice of Ismail as he had vowed.

Then there is ritual of shearing off a bit of hair from the head, or in the case of male pilgrims the shaving of the head if he so wishes. Here again it is symbolic of casting away of a part of one's physical self. All these are performed at Mina in the vicinity of Mecca after the pilgrims return from the plain of Arafat 12 miles distance from Mecca where the Prophet Muhammed delivered his last sermon and set the seal of Islam for his followers.

When the Muslims in Sri Lanka join in concourse with the Muslims throughout the world on the Hajj Festival day in remembrance of the completion of this grand pilgrimage they will be remembering and re-enacting the grandeur of the Hajj in all its deeply symbolic meaning - the sacrifice of all to Allah. It is indeed in this that the grandeur of Hajj truly resides.

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