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It must be realized that there is no
way of attaining to God, Most High, except by divesting
oneself of desires, abstaining from pleasures, confining
oneself to necessities, and devoting oneself
exclusively, in every movement and rest, to God,
Glorified is He.
It was for this reason that the
ascetics of previous religions used to isolate
themselves from the people, retiring to mountain caves
and preferring solitude to the company of others, in
quest of intimacy with God, Great and Glorious is He.
For the sake of God Almighty, they
forsook worldly pleasures and applied themselves to
strenuous exertions in pursuit of the Hereafter. God
commends them in His Book, where He says:
(That
is because among them there are priests and monks, and
because they are not arrogant.)
(Al-Ma'idah 5: 82)
But when all that had vanished, and
people had become interested only in chasing their
desires, shunning exclusive devotion to God, Great and
Glorious is He, and getting lax about it, then God
Almighty sent His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him)
to revive the way of the Hereafter and to renew the
method of travelling along it in accordance with the
practice of God's messengers.
Members of the earlier religious
communities asked God's Messenger (peace be upon him) if
the ways of the monks and anchorites were followed in
his religion and he replied: "God has replaced them
for us with the Jihad and the declaration of His
supremacy on every elevated place [hajj],"
(At-Tirmidhi).
God, Great and Glorious is He, has
favored this community by making the pilgrimage its form
of monasticism and has honored the Kabah, the Ancient
House, by calling it His own, Exalted is He.
He has made it a goal for His
servants, consecrating its surroundings as a sanctuary
for His House and for the glory of His cause.
He has emphasized the dignity of the
place by declaring its game and its trees inviolate.
That is why they have been enjoined
to perform there certain actions to which the soul does
not readily conform, and the significance of which is
not easily grasped by the mind, like the stoning of the
pillars and the running back and forth several times
between the mounts of Safa and Marwa. The pilgrim
demonstrates through such actions the perfection of his
homage and adoration.
The zakah has the rational appeal of
an intelligible humane purpose. Fasting breaks the hold
of desire, which is the tool of God's enemy, and is
conducive to worship because it dispels distraction.
Bowing and prostration in ritual
prayer promote humbleness toward God, Great and Glorious
is He, through actions symbolic of humility, and the
soul enjoys intimacy in the veneration of God Almighty.
In actions like running to and fro
or throwing pebbles, on the other hand, there is no
pleasure or satisfaction and nothing to suggest any
rational significance. The sole inducement to perform
them is therefore the command itself and the intention
to comply with it inasmuch as it is an order that must
be obeyed.
Rationality is thus put aside, and
the natural self is deflected from where its comfort
lies. For if this was something readily comprehensible
to the mind, there would be a natural inclination
towards it.
That inclination would then back up
the command and provide an added incentive to act upon
it, in which case it would hardly represent a perfect
demonstration of homage and submission.
If it were necessary to question the
wisdom of God, Glorified and Exalted is He, in linking
our salvation to actions that run counter to natural
inclination and that are subject to the control of the
Sacred Law, we would vacillate in the practice of
obedience and following the dictates of submission.
The performance of inexplicable
duties is a form of devotion most effective in purifying
the soul, and in deflecting it from its natural
propensities into the habit of servitude.
If you have grasped this, you will
have understood that perplexity concerning these strange
actions stems from inattention to the mysteries of
devotions. This much will suffice, God willing, to
impart an understanding of the essence of the
Pilgrimage.
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