by Editor (Editor's Desk, Crescent International Vol. 40, No. 8, Dhu al-Qa'dah, 1432)
Some two million Muslims are assembled in Makkah al-Mukarramah for the performance of Hajj. If the past is any guide, this Hajj will also be performed as a set of rituals in which the hujjaj go through various motions without realizing why they are doing this.
Some two million Muslims are assembled in Makkah al-Mukarramah for the performance of Hajj. If the past is any guide, this Hajj will also be performed as a set of rituals in which the hujjaj go through various motions without realizing why they are doing this.
In Islam, every act of ibadah has a spiritual as well as ritualistic dimension. The spiritual dimension is the essence but most Muslims have been deliberately kept in the dark about it. Hajj, the most arduous of Islamic ibadaat, is also a victim. Whereas it should be a journey in obedience to Allah and a submission to His Will in fulfilling the sacrifice of Ibrahim (a), it has been reduced to a set of empty rituals. Pilgrims are required to openly proclaim their dissociation from the mushriks but how is that possible when the occupiers of the Haramain — the House of Saud — themselves are the most obedient servants of the mushriks?
Further, the Saudis are busy demolishing the historic sites of Islam, turning the noble sanctuaries in Makkah and Madinah into replicas of Las Vegas and New York. Where is the spirituality in concrete and glass monstrosities that have sprung up replacing such historic sites as the house of Khadijah (pbuh), the be-loved wife of the Messenger (pbuh), or the house where Abu Bakr Siddiq (pbuh) lived? Some 90% of the historic sites have been destroyed. Will Muslims rise up to save their heritage from the cultural hooligans?
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