Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Sacrifice of a Mother
Ibrahim (Abraham) Chapter 14: Verse 37

"Our Lord! I've settled some of my descendants in this barren valley next to Your Sacred House, so they can, our Lord, establish prayer. So make some people sympathetic towards them, and supply them with fruits so they can learn to be thankful."

Muslims who perform the Hajj or Umra must run in the middle portion of the distance between Safa and Marwa seven times. Safa and Marwa are two hills close to the Kaba. This is a commemoration of one mother's sacrifice for her son.

That mother was Hajira (may Allah be pleased with her). Her son was the Prophet Ismail (peace be upon him). Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) was Hajira's husband, and Ismail's father.

Hajira's example of sacrifice took place when she and her baby was left in the valley of Makkah by Allah's order as pioneers to start a civilization.

Here was the wife of a Prophet, the princess of the king of Egypt, left with her child in the desert. All for the sake of pleasing our Creator.

As Prophet Ibrahim headed for his next responsibility from Allah, he reached an area where Hajira and Ismail could not see him. At that point, he turned back, raising his hands making the above dua.

Today we are bearing the fruits of this mother's struggle and sacrifice. Many of us drink and have drunk from the well of Zamzam. And those of us who have made Hajj run in a much more comfortable way than Hajira ever did, between Safa and Marwa.

Her commitment to her son, her sense of urgency and her unshakable faith in Allah in such harsh circumstances are all examples of not only what an excellent mother she was, but also what a strong believer in Allah she was.

Compiled From:
"Running to Remember a Mother and Her Trust in Allah" - SoundVision.com
"The Holy Quran: Guidance for Life" - Yahiya Emerick, p. 184

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Excellent Practice

The most excellent of those who perform any practice are people who do it with the greatest remembrance of God. The most excellent of those who make the pilgrimage are people who remember God most [in their pilgrimage]. And the same holds true for all other practices.

Ibn Abil-Dunya mentioned in a hadith reliably transmitted from the first generation that when the Prophet, peace be upon him, was asked which of the people who frequented the mosque were best, he answered, 'Those who remember God most.' When asked which of the people who attended a funeral were best, he answered, 'Those who remember God most.' When asked which warriors were best, he answered, 'Those who remember God most.' When asked which pilgrims were best, he answered, 'Those who remember God most.' And when asked which of those who visited the sick were best, he said, 'Those who remember God most.' At which Abu Bakr said, 'Those who remember have taken all the good!'

Compiled From:
"The Invocation of God" - Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, p. 97

Blindspot!

Ummatic Act

The hajj is not a memorial pilgrimage to a place declared holy by its association with a Divine act, a Prophet, a saintly person or simply an historical event of great significance. Its purpose is not merely to remember. Hence, it would not be called 'pilgrimage'. Rather, it must be known by its Quranic name alone, hajj. Certainly, it is an act by an individual worshipper; but it is not an individual act, affecting its subject-doer alone or primarily alone, on the religious level. Moreover, it may not be entered into in private, at random or at any time the subject chooses. It is a collective, rather ummatic, act which must be done at is proper time, and must include a specific sequence. There is no hajj without the Ummah's participation. Indeed, there is no Islam when there is only one Muslim at rest, as it were, with space and time.

Hajj is a re-enactment, a living or going-through once more of the experience of Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael and of the Hijrah from Makkah of the Prophet Muhammad and of his triumphant re-entry eight years later. It is at once the re-destruction of the idols of the Kabah, the re-establishment of Islam as al-Din or the way of life, the primordial religion, the ultimate norm of a person's relation with Allah, the Absolute, as its motto indicates: Labbayk Allahumma Labbayk - Here I am, O Allah, here I am.

On the collective level, the Ummah level, hajj is the coming together of all parties, all races, and peoples, all nations and states, all schools and classes, groups of all colours - to the God of all creation. All subdue and suppress their differences in order to affirm their unity and communion. It is the occasion for the Ummah as a whole to re-dedicate itself to Islam as the cause of Allah in history, to proclaim and to call the nations of the world to join ranks with them as would-be transformers of space-time, the would-be fulfillers of the Divine will in the world.

Compiled From:
Islam: The Way of Revival, "Inner Dimensions of Worship" - Ismail al-Faruqi, pp. 177, 178