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Hajj is Islam's fifth
principle. In other words, it is fard to go and visit the Kaba al- muazzama once in a
lifetime. The second and later hajjes become supererogatory. The lexical meaning of hajj
is 'to mean, to do, to wish.' In the Sharia it means to visit a certain place by doing
certain things at a certain time. These certain things are called Manasik. Each of these
Manasik, (that is, singular form of Manasik), is called Nusuk. Nusuk means worship. Hajj
and Umra also are called nusuk. In the tenth year of the Hegira Rasulullah 'sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam' went on hajj on his camel named Kuswa. It is written at the end of the
chapter about Friday Prayer in the book Durr-ul-mukhtar, "A person who goes (to the
Kaba) both for trade and for hajj gets thawab if hajj occupies the major part of his
intention. [The amount of the thawab varies in proportion to the scope of the intention
for hajj]. If his intention for trade is greater or if the two intentions are equal, he
cannot attain the thawab for hajj. But if he fulfills its precepts he will have performed
the fard only. Thus, he will escape the torment for not having done the fard. So is the
case with the thawab for any worship or pious deed which is done for ostentation."
A person who performs the hajj is called a hajji. There are three
kinds of hajjis:
1 - Mufrid hajji: a person who intends only for hajj when putting
on the ihram. Inhabitants of Mecca can be mufrid hajji only.
2 - Qarin hajji: a person who intends both for hajj and for umra.
First he performs the tawaf [Visiting, and going around the blessed Kaba at Mecca.] and
sa'i [Performance of the course between Safa and Merva.] for umra and then, without taking
off his ihram and without cutting his hair, performs the tawaf and sa'i again, this time
for hajj on the days of hajj. There is more thawab for the qiran hajj than for either of
the other two kinds.
3 - Mutamatti' hajji: he puts on the ihram to perform umra in the
months of hajj, performs the tawaf and sa'i for umra, cuts his hair, and takes off his
ihram. He does not go back to his home town (or country) but, on the day of tarwiya [The
eighth day of Zu'l-hijja.], or earlier, in the same year, wears ihram for hajj, and
performs the hajj like a mufrid hajji. Only, he performs the sa'i after the tawaf, too.
Thawab for this tamattu' hajj is more than that of the ifrad hajj (first kind). The months
for hajj are Shawwal and Zu'l-qada, plus the first ten days of Zu'l-hijja. It is wajib for
the qarin and mutamatti' hajjis to perform the thanksgiving qurban. If they do not, they
will have to fast on the seventh, eighth and ninth days of Zu'l-hijja and also for seven
more days after the 'Iyd (of qurban). All these days add up to ten days. Meccans cannot be
qarin or mutamatti' hajji.
Umra means the performance
of the tawaf and sa'i with the ihram on and the shaving or cutting of the hair on any day
of the year except the five days allotted for hajj. Doing umra once in a lifetime is
sunnat muakkad in (the Madhhabs of) Hanafi and Maliki, while it is fard in Shafi'i and
Hanbali. The hajj which is fard is called Hajj-i akbar or Hajjatul-Islam. Umra is called
Hajj-i asghar.
The hajj has conditions, faraid (fards), wajibs, and sunnas. It
has two kinds of conditions:
A - Conditions for incumbency. They are eight according to Imam
azam:
1 - To be a Muslim.
2 - For a person living in a country of disbelievers to hear (or
know) that the hajj is fard.
3 - To be discreet.
4 - To have reached the age of puberty.
5 - To be free; not to be a slave.
6 - In addition to the necessary livelihood, to have halal money
sufficient for the round trip for hajj and also for the subsistence of the household who
will be left at home. The prescribed necessary livelihood here is the same as that which
is prescribed for zakat. [Please see the first chapter!] He who has haram property is
liable not for the hajj but for returning the property to its rightful owner (or owners).
A person who goes on hajj with haram property will escape the torment for not having
performed the hajj but will not attain the thawab for hajj. It is similar to performing
namaz at a usurped place. Such people should not be discouraged from worshipping. Sins do
not debar worships. A person who doubts whether his money is halal must, as written in The
Fatwa of Yahya Effendi, borrow money from a person whose earnings are halal, and spend it
on the hajj to attain the thawab. And then he must pay his debt out of his doubtful money.
[Pious Muslims have followed this procedure in defraying their needs.]
7 - For the time of hajj to have arrived. The time of hajj
consists of five days: the 'Arafa day, and the (four) days of 'Iyd. The time spent on the
way being taken into consideration, it becomes fard for a person who has the conditions
for incumbency at the beginning of this time (for hajj) to go and perform the hajj once in
his lifetime. A person who is in Dar-ul- Islam and who has property must know whether or
not hajj is fard for him when the time for hajj comes.
8 - Not to be too blind, too ill, too old, or too disabled to go
on hajj.
B - Conditions for performance are four:
1 - Not to be imprisoned or debarred.
2 - For the route to be taken for hajj and for the place of hajj
to be safe and without danger. The hajj is not fard when one is compelled to go by
dangerous means, by ship, train, bus or plane. During years when highwaymen attack the
hajjis' lives and possessions it is not fard to go on hajj. But the murder of a few hajjis
is not an excuse (for not going on hajj). On hajj, it is permissible to pay the tax or
bribes charged for entering the country. Bribery is always permissible when it is for
saving one's life or property. But it is sinful to ask for bribe.
3 - To go on hajj, a woman who lives in a place
three-days-plus-three-nights' way (by walking) to Mecca has to be accompanied by her
husband or by an eternally mahram relative whom she can never marry and who is not on
record sinning. Also, the woman must be rich enough to meet his expenses too. A hadith,
which is quoted by Bazzar in Kunuz ud-daqaiq, declares, "A woman cannot go on hajj
without her mahram accompanying her." Because we live in an age when mischief and
wrongdoing are on the increase, one should not travel with a person who is one's relative
through marriage or rida. [A sucking from the same breasts with another. Becoming another
person's foster brother or sister on this wise. There is detailed information about rida'
in the Turkish original version of Seadet-i ebediyye, Part 2, Chapter 37.] The husband
cannot prevent his rich wife from going on hajj with a mahram relative of hers once. For a
husband does not have the right to prohibit his wife from doing the faraid. [Hadiqa, p.
591]. Again, it is written at the end of the chapter about the afflictions incurred
through speech, "The husband can prohibit his wife from going on nafila
(supererogatory) hajj with her mahram relative. If she goes with his permission, her
livelihood will be provided by her husband throughout the course of her going and coming
back, but not if she goes without his permission." Please see the section dealing
with a marriage contract with stipulated conditions in the thirty-fourth chapter of the
second part of the Turkish version. According to Shafi'i Madhhab, a woman without a mahram
relative accompanying her can go on a hajj which is fard for her by joining two other
women. It will be an excuse for a woman whose mahram dies on the way of hajj to imitate
the Shafi'i Madhhab.
4 - For a woman not to be in the state of iddat, that is, not to
be newly divorced.
By the year a person has the conditions for performance as well
as the conditions for incumbency the hajj becomes fard for him. If he dies on his way to
hajj in the same year, he becomes absolved from the hajj. In this case he does not have to
request in his last will the sending of a deputy. But he becomes sinful if he does not go
that year. If he puts off going on hajj until a few years later, he becomes gravely
sinful. For, insisting on small sins causes grave sins. If he becomes ill, imprisoned, or
disabled on his way for hajj or at home in one of the later years, he will have to send a
deputy in his place or money from his country, or request it in his last will. If he
recovers after sending the money, he will have to go in person, too. If he goes on hajj in
a later year, his sin for delaying the hajj will be forgiven. According to Imam Muhammad
and Shafi'i, it is permissible to put it off until later years.
Going on hajj is not fard
for a person who does not have one of the conditions for incumbency. It is not necessary
to provide the conditions for incumbency. For example, it is not necessary to accept the
money or property that is presented to him so that he can perform the hajj. If a person
has the conditions for incumbency but lacks one of the conditions for performance, it is
not fard for him to go on hajj, but if this excuse continues till his death he has to send
a Muslim as a deputy in his place or command in his last will that someone should be sent
in his place. There are three kinds of worships:
1 - Worships that are only done physically, such as salat,
fasting, reading the Qur'an, and dhikr. No one can do physical worships on someone else's
behalf. Everyone has to do them himself. He cannot make someone else his deputy.
2 - Worships that are done only with property. Examples of these
worships are zakat of property, zakat of body, namely, sadaqa fitr, zakat of landed
property, namely, 'ushr, kaffarats such as emancipating slaves and feeding or clothing the
poor. No matter whether or not a person has an 'udhr [Excuse (being incapable,
imperfect).], his worships that are to be done with property can be done by someone else,
even by a zimmi, on his behalf, with his permission and with his property.
3 - Worships that are done both physically and with property,
such as the hajj that is fard. As long as a person is alive, it is only when he has an
'udhr that someone else can perform the hajj on his behalf with his permission and with
his money. He who is not liable for hajj can send a deputy for the supererogatory hajj
even when he has no 'udhr.
A person can give as a
gift the thawab of his worships to a dead or alive person, such as salat, fasting, sadaqa,
Qur'an al-karim, dhiqr, tawaf, hajj, umra, to visit the graves of awliya and giving a
shroud for a dead person, even if they are fard or supererogatory for him, after having
done or while doing any of them. But in the Madhhabs of Shafi'i and Maliki the thawab of
worships that are done only physically cannot be given to someone else as a present.
Imam-i Subki and the later Shafi'i savants (rahmat Allahi ta'ala alaihim ajmain) said that
these also could be given as gifts. It is useless to have your worships done by payment or
to sell the thawab of your worships to someone. It is a payment if you bargain before the
worship is done. And it is to sell the worship if you bargain after doing the worship.
When putting on the ihram, the deputy has to intend with the
heart for the person who has appointed him. A person who has the debt of hajj must command
his trustee by giving him the name of the deputy who will perform the hajj on his behalf
after his death. The dying person or his appointed non-inheriting trustee cannot make one
of the inheritors his deputy unless the other inheritors approve of it. Unless a person
countenances it, it is not permissible to send someone else for hajj on his behalf. But if
the dead person has not made a will in this respect, that is, if he has not reserved money
for hajj, his heir can go on hajj on his behalf or send someone else with the money from
his share of the inheritance. Thus he will have saved his father or mother from the debt
of hajj. If the hajj has become fard for himself, too, he has to go for himself in
addition. But saving his parents from the debt of hajj will make him attain the thawab for
ten hajjes. According to the Madhhabs of Hanafi and Hanbali, the (trip for) hajj must be
started from the city they used to live in. For example, if a person living in Istanbul
loses his father stationed in Erzurum, and if he wants to send someone as his father's
deputy on hajj though his father did not request it in his will, it is fard for him to
send the deputy from Erzurum. It is not permissible to send the deputy from some other
place in the Madhhab of Hanafi. But in Shafi'i Madhhab it is permissible to send the
deputy from any place except Miqat [Place where the hajjis assume the garb that is called
ihram and worn during the rites of pilgrimage.]. In fact, it is permissible in Shafi'i
Madhhab to give money to someone going on hajj and tell him to find a deputy in Mecca and
have him perform the hajj from Miqat on behalf of your father. The Hanafis with little
money can follow Shafi'i Madhhab and make someone in Mecca deputize for their father,
mother, or other close relative who has not commanded it in his or her last will. Yet
while giving the money they have to make their niyya: "I am following Imam
Shafi'i."
If a person performs hajj on behalf of someone else without his
permission, the hajj belongs to him. That is, if he has the debt of hajj he has paid it.
He can present its thawab to the person he has deputized for. Any Muslim can present the
thawab for any of his worships to any other Muslim dead or alive. But the person presented
with the thawab (of hajj) will not be absolved from his debt of hajj. The trustee (wasi),
that is, the person who has been enjoined on the will, sends the deputy commanded (by the
owner of the will). And the deputy cannot send someone else on his behalf, unless he is
told to do as he pleases. If the owner of the will has added the amendment, "My
deputy or someone else," to his will, or if he has not appointed a deputy while
enjoining his will on his trustee, his trustee can go himself as well as send someone else
for the hajj. It is not permissible for a person for whom it is not fard to go on hajj to
send someone else for the fard hajj on his behalf. A child who is discreet but below the
age of puberty can be a deputy. It is not permissible to appoint a deputy by giving him a
certain sum of money in the name of a payment (for his work). Estimating the cost of the
journey and his subsistence during the course of the hajj, you say to the deputy,
"With this money...." The money given to him now is not a payment but a
donation. It is written in Ashbah: "The money left is returned to the inheritors. If
the inheritors tell the deputy that they appoint him also as a deputy to present the rest
of the money to himself and to accept it for himself, the deputy does as he is told."
Though it is permissible in Hanafi for a person who has not made his own hajj and has not
reached the age of puberty to be a deputy, it is not permissible in Shafi'i. It is
permissible for the deputy not to come back but to remain in Mecca after making the hajj.
But it is better to command him to come back. In Ukud-ud Duriyya, it is written,
"Although it is permissible for a poor person who has not performed his duty yet to
perform hajj instead of someone else, when he arrives in Hill, it will become fard for him
also to perform hajj. In this case he will have to stay in Mecca and to perform his own
hajj the next year. On the other hand, due to his staying and not returning home, after
the previous hajj, the dead person's hajj will remain incomplete. If the deputy is told to
do whatever he wishes, then the deputy may also delegate someone else." [If he finds
a deputy in Mecca he performs his own hajj also in the same year]. A hajji's going on hajj
as a deputy (for someone else) is better than his going on hajj once more for himself.
If a poor person goes on a supererogatory hajj, when he reaches
Miqat he becomes like a Meccan and it becomes fard for him to make the hajj walking, and
therefore he must make his niyyat to perform the fard. If he makes niyya (intends) to make
supererogatory hajj, it becomes necessary for him to make hajj again. But the case is not
so with a deputy who is poor. For, he has reached there, and will go back, with someone
else's power. If a deputy, (that is, a person appointed by a rich person to make hajj on
behalf of the rich person), has not made hajj for himself, he must stay in Mecca and one
year later make the hajj for himself, too. The thawab for a rich person's hajj is greater
than the thawab for a poor one's. If a poor person dies of hunger or exhaustion on his way
to hajj, he becomes sinful. Going on hajj is makruh for a poor person who will be in need
and will have to ask for help from others on the way. A deputy who has been given a choice
can give the money to another person and send him instead, regardless of whether or not he
becomes ill on the way. But he cannot send another person if he has not been given
permission. A hajji who dies before standing on Arafat does not have to command in his
last will that his hajj should be made, if his going on hajj and dying happen in the same
year when the hajj becomes fard for him. But if he goes on hajj a few years after (the
hajj has become fard for him), it will be wajib for him to command in his last will that a
deputy should be sent from his own city. A deputy may as well be sent from the place he
has appointed or from any place whence it is possible to send one with the money he has
allotted. Words used in a will must be chosen with care.
In case one-third of a person's property would sufficiently meet
the expense (of sending a deputy on hajj from his town), it is sinful for him, (while
dying), to will the amount of money that will not suffice for sending a deputy from his
town or to command that a deputy should be sent from some other place. If he did not
appoint the place or the amount of money, a deputy is sent from his town, even if he died
on his way for hajj. No one can go on hajj with his own money on behalf of a person who
commanded his hajj while dying. If anyone does, hajj will belong to himself. The dead
person's debt of hajj will not have been paid. The person who makes hajj can present its
thawab to the dead person after the hajj. The dead person's hajj is performed by using
one-third of the property left by him, or the money which he reserved from one-third of
his property, and by starting the journey from his town. The deputy may as well add some
of his own money to this. If the money reserved is insufficient a deputy can be sent from
any place offering convenience. If it is still impossible, the (dead person's) will
becomes invalid. If a person is alive but disabled (for hajj), he has to give the person
he deputes enough money to enable him to go on hajj from his town. If the dead person did
not add the stipulation that the hajj should be done by using the property he left behind,
his inheritor can send a deputy with his own property, whether or not he has the intention
to take the expense from one-third of the heritage. If he has the intention to take it
from the dead person's property, he cannot go on hajj himself. In the hajjes of tamattu'
and qiran the cost of the qurban belongs to the deputy. If the deputy swears that he has
made the hajj he is to be believed. No one can ask him to return the money. A deputy who
has been perfidious can be dismissed before the assumption of the ihram.
A person for whom zakat and hajj become fard, first goes on hajj,
immediately, and then gives zakat of what is left from the hajj. If he cannot go on hajj,
he gives all of the zakat. After the time for hajj has come, that is, after the hajj has
become fard, it is not permissible to spend the money for hajj buying things one needs,
such as a house or a year's supply of food. One has to go on hajj. But it is permissible
to buy them before the time of hajj comes. For hajj does not become fard before its time
comes.
It is necessary to provide the conditions for performing the
hajj. But a woman does not have to get married or imitate the Shafi'i Madhhab in order to
go on hajj. For, the husband does not have to take his wife on hajj. Nor is it permissible
for her to contract a temporary marriage with a man going on hajj. This is written in
Durr-ul-muntaqa.
If a person lacking one of the conditions for incumbency goes on
hajj he has made a supererogatory hajj. He will have to make hajj again when the
conditions are completed. If a person lacking one of the conditions for performance goes
on hajj, he has performed the fard.
A woman cannot go on hajj without a man to accompany her. Her
hajj will be accepted if she goes, but it is haram. When she goes with her husband (or
eternally mahram relative), it is haram for her to join men in a hotel, during the tawaf
and sa'i, or while throwing stones, which would not only annihilate the thawab for hajj
but would also cost her a grave sin. A woman without any eternally mahram relatives sends
a deputy in her place when she is old, when she cannot see any more, or when she catches
an incurable disease. She does not send a deputy before then.
HAJJ HAS THREE FARAID (FARDS):
Hajj is not sahih if any one of these three faraid is not
fulfilled.
1 - To make the hajj in an ihram. An ihram, like large bath
towels, consists of two white pieces of cloth, one of which is wrapped around that part of
the body below the waist and the other is wrapped around the shoulders. It is not fastened
with thread or secured with knots. Before beginning the Tawaf, it is sunnat to wrap the
Ihram round the upper part of body, with the middle part of the ihram under the right arm
and its two ends on the left shoulder.
For people who come (to Mecca) from long distances for hajj,
'umra, trade or for any other purpose, it is haram to go through the places called Miqat
and enter the Harem, that is, the blessed city of Mecca, without the ihram on. Any person
who passes by (the miqat without the ihram on) has to return to the Miqat and put on the
ihram. If he does not put on the ihram he will have to kill an animal of qurban. Between
the places called Miqat and the Harem, that is, the city of Mecca, is called Hil. People
who intend to remain in the Hil for some business while going through the Miqat and people
who live in the Hil are permitted to enter the Harem without the ihram except when they
intend for hajj. For example, the city of Jeddah is in the Hil. The Harem is a little
larger than the blessed city of Mecca and its boundaries are determined by stones set up
by the Prophet Ibrahim 'alaihis-salam.' The stones have been replaced many times. For hajj
the inhabitants of the Hil put on the ihram in the Hil and those who live in the Harem put
it on in the Harem. The ihram is assumed when passing through the places of miqat,
intending in the prescribed way and saying the prescribed prayers. It is permissible -even
better- to assume the ihram before reaching the places of miqat or even in your hometown
(or country). It is permissible but makruh to assume it before the months of hajj.
A person wearing the ihram is prohibited from certain things.
These prohibitions include killing the animals of hunt living on land, wearing sewn
clothes, shaving any part of the body, having sexual intercourse, fighting or quarreling,
using perfumes, cutting the nails, (for men) wearing mests or shoes, covering the head,
washing the head with marshmallows, wearing gloves or socks, entering a bath, plucking or
uprooting oats or trees growing by themselves, and killing the lice found on one's body or
showing them to someone else so that he will kill them. Those who do these knowingly or
unknowingly or by forgetting will have to pay a penalty by killing a qurban or giving
alms. The owner can eat the meat of his qurban of tamattu' or qiran. But he cannot eat the
meat of qurban which he has killed in payment of a penalty. If a qarin hajji commits a
fault which necessitates one qurban in mufrid hajj, it becomes necessary for him to
perform two qurbans, one of which is for the 'umra.
While in the ihram it is permissible to kill fleas or all kinds
of flies, lice found on someone else, animals that are harmful or that would attack a man,
such as mice, snakes, scorpions, wolves, kites, to wash your head with soap, to wear clogs
or other shoes with open upper-part, to have your (aching) tooth extracted, to scratch
yourself slightly provided you shall not kill lice or lose hair, to wear colored ihram, to
make ghusl, to sit in the shade of a roof, a dent or an umbrella, provided your head shall
not touch it, to cover your head with things that are not normally used as head-covers,
[such as bowls and trays], to put a parcel or the like on your head, to wear a belt or
sash round your waist, to carry a money purse, a sword or a gun tied on your waist, to
wear a ring, to pluck or uproot the vegetables or trees sown or planted by people, to
fight your enemy.
It is necessary for women to cover their heads and permissible to
veil their face, provided the veil shall not touch the skin, to wear sewn clothes, mests,
stockings, and ornaments under cover.
2 - On the day of Arafa to stay for Waqfa at any place of Arafat
other than the place called Wadi-yi Urana after the early and late afternoon prayers. Like
all others, you stand, or sit if you cannot stand, towards the imam, and listen to the
prayers he will say. Then you can sit or lie down.
A person arriving late for hajj goes directly to Arafat. He does
not have to perform the Tawaf-i- qudum. If a hajji stays at Arafat for a while within the
time between the early afternoon prayer on the day of Arafa and the morning prayer on the
first 'Iyd day or if he passes through Arafat with his ihram on or if after putting on the
ihram falls asleep or faints and is carried on a stretcher or something else and is made
to carry out the Manasik or if he gets sick or faints before putting on the ihram and
someone else assumes the ihram and also carries out the Manasik on his behalf before he
wakes up or if he stays at 'Arafat not knowing that it is 'Arafa day, his hajj becomes
sahih and he gets absolved from the tawaf-i- qudum. It is not necessary to know that the
place is 'Arafat or to intend. A person who is not at 'Arafat or who does not go through
'Arafat on that special day or night cannot be a hajji, nor can one who flies by there by
plane. The hajj performed a day earlier, as Wahhabis have been doing for some years, is
not acceptable. A new moon sets close to the setting point of the sun and after the time
of sunset. Its puffed up part is on the western side. At tarbi' (i.e., on the seventh
night) the moon sets six hours later than the sun. At Badr-i tam (on the 14th night) the
moon becomes a full sphere and it rises while the sun sets and sets in the morning. The
daily newspaper Turkiye of July 28, 1987, on a Tuesday, stated that "In the city of
Kayseri, on Sunday the new moon of the month of Zu'lhijja was not seen. On Monday, the
19.50 p.m. At 20.20 p.m., the new moon was seen and it set at 20.55 p.m." According
to this information (in 1987), the first day of the month of Zu'lhijja was Tuesday.
Therefore, the ninth day of the month (Wednesday) became the day of Arafa. But the Wahhabi
government took the hajjis to Arafat on Monday and they prevented the ones who wanted to
visit it again on Wednesday.
3 - To make Tawaf-i-ziyarat to the Kaba. Tawaf means to go round
the Kaba al- muazzama within Masjid al-Haram. Seven turns are made, four of which are fard
and three are wajib. It is permissible to make the tawaf by taking the well of Zamzam and
the Maqam-i-Ibrahim within the circle. It is written in the book Ashbah that it is better
for women not to keep close to the Kaba while making the tawaf. If there is the risk of
the men touching the women, it is necessary for those who are in the Shafi'i Madhhab to
imitate one of the Hanafi and Maliki Madhhabs. It is not permissible to make the tawaf
outside of Masjid al-Haram. It is fard in itself to make a niyya (to intend) for the
tawaf. Also, it is fard to make tawaf-i-ziyarat after (standing at) 'Arafat. If the adhan
is called as you are making the tawaf or the sa'i, you put it off and complete it after
performing the namaz. It is written in the marginal notes by Tahtawi in the book
Maraqilfalah, "There is the fear that a person who goes round any mosque other than
the Kaba for worship may become a disbeliever."
THE HAJJ HAS TWENTY-ONE WAJIBS
1 - To make sa'i, that is, to walk in the prescribed way, seven
times between the mounts of Safa and Marwa, provided this will be after the tawaf-i-qudum
and within the months of hajj. Sa'i without tawaf is not sahih (valid).
2 - To perform (the rite termed) waqfa (pause) at Muzdalfa on the
way back from 'Arafat. Muzdalfa is the place where the Prophet Adam first met the blessed
Hawwa (Eve).
3 - To throw clean pebbles, or anything on which it is
permissible to make tayammum, for three days at Mina.
4 - Before taking off the ihram, to shave at least one-fourth of
your head or to cut or have someone cut at least three centimeters of your hair. It is not
an excuse not to find a barber or a shaver. Even a person without any hair or with a sore
on his head has to pass the shaver around his head without touching his head. Women do not
shave or clip their hair. But they cut a little of it with scissors.
5 - For those hajjis who are Afaqi, that is, who come to Mecca
from places that are farther from the places called Miqat, to make Tawaf-i-sadr, that is,
Tawaf-i-wada' (farewell visit), the day before departing from Mecca. This tawaf is not
wajib for a menstruating woman.
6 - To stay at 'Arafat for a while after sunset. It is written in
the books Jawhara and Majmua-i- Zuhdiyya, "A person who leaves 'Arafat before sunset
will have to kill a qurban. You can stay at 'Arafat when you are junub.
7 - During tawaf-i-ziyarat, to make three more turns after going
round the Kaba al- muazzama four times. The night after tawaf-i-ziyarat is spent at Mina.
8 - Not to be without an ablution or a ghusl while making the
tawaf.
9 - To have on clean clothes.
10 - To make the turns by taking the place called the Hatim
within the circle while making the tawaf.
11 - To make the tawaf with the Kaba al-muazzama always on your
left hand side.
12 - To have made the tawaf-i-ziyarat by the sunset of the third
day of 'Iyd.
13 - To cover the awrat parts [See Chapter 8 of fourth fascicle
of Endless Bliss.] while making the tawaf. This is very important for women.
14 - While making sa'i between the mounts of Safa and Marwa, to
begin from Safa.
Getting on top of the mount of Safa, you turn towards the Kaba.
You make takbir (say: "Allahu akbar") and tahlil (say: "la ilaha
illallah"), and say the prayer of salawat. Then, stretching both arms forward on a
level with your shoulders and opening your palms toward the sky, you say your prayers.
Next you walk towards Marwa. You walk four times from Safa to Marwa and thrice from Marwa
to Safa.
15 - To perform two rakats of namaz in the Masjid al-Haram after
each tawaf.
16 - To do the devil-stoning (the Jumarats) during the 'Iyd days.
17 - To shave the head or cut the hair on the first day of 'Iyd
and within the Harem.
18 - To make the sa'i walking. Men walk faster between the two
green posts.
19 - For people making qiran or tamattu' hajj, to kill a qurban
for thanksgiving.
20 - To kill the qurban on the first day of the 'Iyd.
21 - Doing such forbidden things as having sexual intercourse
before staying at Arafat will nullify the hajj. It is fard not to do such things before
staying at Arafat. It is wajib to forbear from those things other than sexual intercourse
till after taking off the ihram and from intercourse till after making the
tawaf-i-ziyarat.
A person who does not
perform a wajib at its prescribed place and time, whether he knows it or not, is liable to
punishment. The punishment is to kill a qurban or to give alms as much as the amount of
fitra. Nothing is necessary when it (the wajib) is omitted for such reasons as illness,
old age, or for the place to be overcrowded. [Nor is it necessary to have a deputy perform
the wajib (one has omitted for such reasons)]. A woman in the state of haid (menstruation)
or nifas (lochia) cannot enter the Masjid al-Haram. She performs the ordinances other than
the tawaf and the sa'i. And she performs the tawaf and the sa'i when she is canonically
clean. Each day's Manasik may as well be made on the night following it.
It is permissible to perform the fard or supererogatory namaz as
well as to perform a namaz in jamaat in the Kaba. It may as well be performed by turning
your back toward the imam's back. It is makruh to perform it by turning your back toward
the imam's face or to perform it on top of the Kaba. While performing the salat by forming
a circle round the Kaba, people other than those on both sides of the imam can be closer
to the Kaba than the imam.
THE HAJJ HAS ELEVEN SUNNATS:
1 - For those who are afaqi (from distant places), to go directly
into Masjid al-Haram and make Tawaf-i-qudum. While looking at the Kaba they say takbir,
tahlil, and prayers. Men rub their hands and face gently on the Hajar-i-aswad. After the
tawaf-i-qudum and two rakats of namaz, the sa'i between Safa and Marwa is performed. Then,
without taking off their ihram, they stay in Mecca and make as many supererogatory tawafs
as they like until the day of Tarwiya. Because the mufrid hajjis and the qarin hajjis
cannot take off their ihram till after throwing pebbles and shaving their head (or cutting
their hair), they have to avoid the things prohibited when in the ihram. People who cannot
avoid such things had better become mutamatti' hajji. It is not sinful to pass in front of
people who are performing salat in Masjid al-Haram.
2 - To begin the tawaf from Hajar-i-aswad and to end it there.
3 - For the imam to make the (the speech called) khutba at three
places: The first in Mecca on the seventh day of Zu'l-hijja month; the second at 'Arafat
when the time for the early afternoon prayer comes, before the early and late afternoon
prayers on the ninth day, and the third at Mina on the eleventh day. At 'Arafat, when the
khutba is over, the early afternoon prayer and immediately after this the late afternoon
prayer are performed in jamaat. A person who is late for the jamaat performs the late
afternoon prayer at the time of the late afternoon prayer. After the salat, the imam and
the jamaat (congregation) leave Masjid an-Namra to go to Masjid al-Mawqif and, the imam
sitting on an animal and the hajjis staying on the ground, standing or sitting, they
perform the waqfa. It is better for the jamaat to be on animals, too. It is not necessary
to mount the rocks of Jabal-i-rahma or to make niyya for the waqfa. [The salat which is
performed behind the imam who belongs to a group of bidat should be repeated. For, it has
been conveyed through hadith-i sharifs that worships performed by people who belong to a
group of bidat will not be accepted.]
4 - To leave Mecca for 'Arafat on the day of Tarwiya, that is, on
the eighth day of Zu'l- hijja, after the morning prayer. After Mecca you come to Mina.
5 - To sleep at Mina on the night before the 'Arafa day and on
the nights of the first, second and third days of the 'Iyd. It is not obligatory to stay
at Mina on the third night and day.
6 - To leave Mina for 'Arafat after sunrise.
7 - To sleep at Muzdalfa on the night of 'Arafa. You go from
'Arafat to Muzdalfa and, when the time for the night prayer comes, you perform the evening
and night prayers one right after the other in jamaat. Those who have performed the
evening prayer at 'Arafat or on the way have to perform it again together with the night
prayer at Muzdalfa, in jamaat or alone.
8 - To stay for waqfa after dawn at Muzdalfa. Spending the night
at Muzdalfa, you perform the morning prayer right after dawn and then perform the waqfa at
a place called Mash'arilharam until it becomes rather light. Then you leave for Mina
before sunrise. On the way you should not stop at the valley called Muhassar. This is the
place to stop for the Ashab-i-fil. After coming to Mina, at a place called Jamra-i-aqaba,
which is the farthest from the Masjid al-Khif, by using the thumb and the pointing finger
of your right hand you throw seven pebbles as big as chick-peas at the foot of the wall
marking the place of Jamra from a distance of two and a half meters or more. It is
acceptable if they fall at the foot of the wall after striking the wall or a man or an
animal. Though it is permissible to do the pelting any time until the dawn of the
following day, it is sunnat to do it before noon of the first day. Then, leaving the place
immediately, you slaughter a qurban if you like. For, it is not wajib for a safari person
to perform the qurban. Because hajjis are safari, it is not wajib for a mufrid hajji to
perform the qurban. After the performance of the qurban you shave your head (or cut your
hair) and take off the ihram. Those who are at Mina on the first day of the 'Iyd and all
hajjis do not perform the 'Iyd prayer. Then, the following day or the other day or the day
after the other day, you go to Mecca and, after intending, make the Tawaf-i- ziyarat. This
is also called the Tawaf-ul-ifada. It is makruh to postpone the tawaf- i-ziyarat and the
haircutting till after the sunset of the third day of the 'Iyd, and doing this
necessitates killing a qurban. It is only when you are unconscious that someone else may
perform the tawaf on your behalf. You do not make Raml and Sa'i during the tawaf-i-
ziyarat. After the salat of tawaf you return to Mina. You perform the early afternoon
prayer in Mecca or at Mina. The khutba is made at Mina after the early afternoon prayer on
the second day of the 'Iyd. After the khutba you throw seven pebbles at each of three
different places. You begin with the place closest to the Masjid al-Khif. On the third day
of the 'Iyd you throw seven more pebbles at each place, and the number of pebbles becomes
forty- nine. It is not permissible, or it is makruh (according to some savants), to throw
them before noon. You leave Mina before the sunset of the third day. It is mustahab to
spend the fourth day at Mina, too, and to throw twenty-one more pebbles any time you like
from dawn to sunset. If you stay at Mina until the dawn of the fourth day and leave the
place without having thrown pebbles at all, you will have to kill a sheep. After throwing
pebbles at the first place and at the second place you stretch forward your arms on a
level with your shoulders and turn the palms to the sky or to the qibla, and say your
prayers. The seventy pebbles to be thrown are picked up at Muzdalfa or on the way. It is
permissible to throw the pebbles when on an animal. After the Tawaf-i-sadr you will drink
from the water of Zamzam. You will kiss the threshold of the Kaba, and rub your chest and
right cheek gently on a place called Multazam. Then, holding on to the curtain of the
Kaba, you say the prayers you know and send your invocations. Then, while weeping, you go
out the door of the Masjid.
Mina is to the north of Mecca; Muzdalfa is to the north of Mina,
and 'Arafat is to the north of Muzdalfa. With the recently built asphalt roads, between
Mina and Mecca is 4.5 kilometers, between Mina and Muzdalfa is 3.3 kilometers, between
Muzdalfa and 'Arafat is 5.4 kilometers, between Safa and Marwa is three hundred and thirty
meters, and between the arch on the mount of Safa and the Kaba is about seventy meters.
9 - To make a ghusl before the waqfa at 'Arafat.
10 - During the last return to Mecca from Mina, to stop at a
valley called Abtah and stay there for a while. Thence you come to Mecca, and stay there
as long as you like.
11 - Before setting out for hajj, it is a sunnat to ask for
permission from your parents who are not in need, from your creditors, and from your
surety. If your parents are needy it is haram to set out without their permission. Also,
it will be haram to set out without your wife's permission if you do not leave subsistence
with her. It is mustahab to enter Mecca through a door called Mu'alla, and the Masjid
through the Babussalam and while it is daylight.
He who omits the sunnats of hajj is not liable to punishment. Yet
it is makruh and causes a decrease in the thawab (not to do them). If the 'Arafa day
coincides with a Friday it produces the thawab of seventy hajjes. It is common among the
people to call this Hajj-i- akbar, which is not true.
Lying between two opposite combinations of mountains extending in
a north-south direction, Mecca covers an area of three kilometers in length and one
kilometer in width. Its stone-built houses have mostly three to four stories. In the
center of the city is a great mosque named Masjid al-Haram. Masjid al-Haram is open on the
top and has a yard which, like the yards of Istanbul's mosques, is surrounded by three
rows of domes. The domes number five hundred and are supported by 462 pillars, of which
218 are made of slender marble, 224 are carved from a stone called Hajar-i-shams, six or
eight angled, and yellow-colored. Masjid al-Haram has an oblong form, its north wall is
164 meters long, south wall 146 meters long, east wall 106 meters long, and west wall 124
meters long. Wahhabis in 1375 [1955 A.D.] extended these four walls, so that Safa and
Marwa were included in the Masjid. Hence, the mosque became one hundred and sixty thousand
square meters. The blessed mosque of Saint Sophia in Istanbul is 77 meters long and 72
meters wide, and the blessed SultanAhmad (blue) mosque is 72 meters long and 64 meters
wide. Masjid al-Haram has nineteen doors, of which four are on the east wall, three on the
west wall, five on the north wall and seven on the south wall. It has seven minarets.
During the time of the Ottoman Empire, the distance between Mecca and the port of Jiddah
was 75 km., between Medina and Jiddah 424 km., and between Medina and Badr 150 km. The
shortest road between Mecca and Medina is 335 km. The coastal way by which Rasulullah
migrated was 400 km. Mecca is 360 meters above the sea level. Medina is 160 kilometers
inland from the coast.
Before the time of Hadrat 'Umar (radi-Allahu 'anh), Masjid
al-Haram did not have any walls. Around the Kaba was a small square, which was surrounded
by houses. The Caliph 'Umar had some of the houses demolished and had a one-meter-high
wall built around the Kaba, and thus Masjid al-Haram was built. Masjid al-Haram was
restored various times. Today's Masjid al-Haram, together with the eleventh restoration of
the Kaba al-muazzama, was built in 1045 hijri [1635 A.D.], during the time of Sultan Murad
Khan IV, the seventeenth Ottoman Emperor. Now Wahhabis, on the pretext of enlarging them,
are demolishing and annihilating those historic Islamic works, building in their place
things that have only materialistic value. At the cost of desecrating the Kaba
al-muazzama, they are building taller houses and hotels.
The Kaba al-muazzama is a cubical room built of stone in the
middle of Masjid al- Haram, and is 11.4 meters tall. Its north wall is 9.25 meters long,
south wall 8.5 meters long, east wall 13.5 meters long, and west wall 13.3 meters long. On
the corner of the east- south walls is the stone of Hajar-i-aswad, which is over one meter
above the ground. With so many hajjis having kissed it, its surface is now rather concave.
The Kaba has a door on the east wall. 1.88 meters above the ground, the door is 1.7 meters
wide and 2.6 meters high. Its inner side, as well as the floor, is covered with colored
marble. Its minaret-like spiral staircase near the corner called Rukn-i-Iraqi, which has
twenty-seven stairs of which seven are made of marble and the rest of wood, was restored
by Mustafa Khan II. To the right of the door is a hollow and three pillars reaching high
up to the ceiling. The outer side of the Kaba is dressed with black silk tissue. The door
is curtained with green satin.
The Zamzam well, also within Masjid al-Haram, is in a room
opposite the corner of hajar-i-aswad and fourteen and a half meters away from the corner,
and has a stone curb 1.9 meters high. Its diameter is two and a half meters long, and its
depth is thirty meters. The room, built by Sultan Abd-al Hamid Khan I, who also had the
Beylerbeyi Mosque built in Istanbul, has a floor covered with marble, sloping near the
walls, and ending in gutters at the feet of the walls. The gutters are of such competent
work that they do not let any water ooze into the well. The mouth of the well is about one
meter and half above their level. This work of art, a valuable keepsake of history, was
barbarously destroyed in 1383 [1963 A.D.] They lowered the mouth of the well and an area
of several meters around it to a level several meters below the earth's surface.
The four corners of the Kaba are called the four rukns. The one
pointing to Damascus is termed Rukn-i-Shami, the one pointing to Baghdad is termed
Rukn-i-Iraqi, the one toward the Yaman is termed Rukn-i-Yamani, and the fourth corner is
termed Rukn-i-hajar-il- aswad.
It is mustahab to drink Zamzam after the farewell tawaf. With
hundreds of thousands of hajjis drinking the Zamzam, washing themselves with it, and
taking lots of it to their countries, the water in the well cannot be exhausted. And now
everyday the water has been pumped out day and night with a machine and a large-hose pipe,
but it still does not seem to be exhaustible.
There is a Gold Gutter on the north wall of the Kaba. The space
between this gutter and the curved small wall, which is below the gutter and in line with
it, is called the Hatim. While making the tawaf it is necessary to make the turns outside
of this Hatim wall.
The earth has only one Kaba. And it is in the city of Mecca
al-mukarrama. To perform the hajj believers go to the city of Mecca al-mukarrama, and
there they do the things commanded by Allahu ta'ala, and become hajjis. Disbelievers go to
other countries and visit other places. They are not called hajjis. Muslims' acts of
worship and disbelievers' irreligious acts are different things.
If people living in the Hil enter Mecca without the ihram it
becomes wajib for them to make hajj or 'umra.
The final pages of the part entitled "Twin apples of the
eyes of Muslims" in the Turkish book Ashab-i Kiram, give detailed information
indicating that after making the hajj it is necessary to go to Medina-i-munawwara and
visit the Prophet's blessed grave. The Hujra- i-saada (the Prophet's grave), being close
to the east corner of the qibla wall of Masjid ash-Sharif, remains on the left side of a
person who stands towards the qibla in the mihrab. And the Minbar remains on his right.
The area between the Hujra-i-saada and the minbar is called Rawda-i-mutahhara. The
Hujra-i-saada is enclosed by two walls, one within the other. There is a hole in the
middle of to the ceiling of the inner wall. The outer wall reaching up to the ceiling of
Masjid, its green dome can be seen from long distances. The outer walls and the high
grating outside are screened with curtains called Sattara. No one can go inside the walls,
for they have no doors. On the 384th page of the book Mirat-i Medina it is written that
when Masjid as-saadat was first constructed, its width was 60 dhra' [25 meters], and its
length 70 dhra' [29 meters]. Two months before the Battle of Badr, i.e. in the month of
Rajab of the second year, after the heavenly order to change the qibla direction towards
the Kaba was revealed, its door was moved from the north wall to the south wall, and the
masjid's length and width were extended to a hundred dhra' [42 meters] each. This door is
named Bab-ut-tawassul. During the restoration period of Walid bin Abdulmalik and the
Abbasi Caliph Mahdi (rahmatullahi alaihim ajmain) in 165 [781], the masjid's length became
126 meters and its width 76 meters. Wahhabis extended it in 1375 [1955] and its length
became 128 meters and its width 91 meters. They changed the historic names within Masjid
an-Nabi and put the Wahhabi names in their places..
Masjid an-Nabi now has five doors. Two of them are on the west
wall; the one near the qibla is called Babussalam, and the one near the north corner is
called Baburrahma. The east wall has no door on the qibla side. The east wall has the
Bab-i-Jibril, which is opposite the Baburrahma. Please see the picture at the end of the
first part of the (Turkish) book Faideli Bilgiler (Useful Information).
It is written in Durr-ul-mukhtar, "The fard hajj must be
made before visiting Medina. It is also permissible to visit Medina first. While making
the supererogatory hajj you go to the city which is on your way first. When entering
Medina you must intend only to visit the Prophet's 'alaihis-salam' grave. One prayer of
salat in Masjid an-Nabi is superior to a thousand prayers of salat at other places. So is
the case with such kinds of worship as fasting, alms, dhikr, and reading the Qur'an. You
do not wear the ihram when you enter Medina. The prohibitions that are valid as you wear
the ihram in Mecca are not valid in Medina. Ibn Taymiyya said that one should not go to
Medina in order to visit the Prophet's grave, but his assertion has been answered by the
savants of Ahl-as-sunnat. Imam-i-Abu Hasan Ali Subki 'rahmat-ullahi ta'ala alaih', [in his
books Arraddu li-Ibni Taymiyya and Shifa-ul-sikam fi ziyarat-i Sayyid-il anam], refutes
Ibni Taymiyya's misleading words with strong proofs. It is permissible even for women to
visit the blessed grave at times when it is not crowded, provided they shall cover
themselves." The articles refuting Ibni Taymiyya, by Imam-i-Subki and other savants,
have been published in Arabic in the book Islamic Savants.
It is written in Maraqilfalah and in its marginal notes,
"Seeing Medina from a distance, you say salat and salam. Then say a certain prayer,
which exists in the Turkish version of our book, Endless Bliss. You make a ghusl before
entering the city or Masjid. You put on some good alcohol-free perfume. You assume new,
clean clothes. It will be good to enter the city walking. After placing your luggage, etc.
at some place, with a hanging head and a broken heart, meditating on the value and the
greatness of those sacred places, saying the prayer, "Bismillahi wa 'ala millati
Rasulillah," and the eightieth ayat of sura Isra, which was revealed on the night of
Hegira, and also the salawat-i-Sharifs, which are said also in namaz, you arrive at
Masjid. Entering Masjid either through the Bab-us-salam or through the Bab-ul-Jibril, you
perform two rakats of Tahiyyat-ul-masjid namaz near the minbar. The pillar of the minbar
must be in line with your right shoulder. Rasulullah 'sallallahu alaihi wa sallam' would
pray there. Then you perform two rakats of namaz of thanksgiving. After saying your
prayers you stand up and with adab come near the Hujra-i-saada. With your face toward the
wall of Muwajaha-i-saada and toward Rasulullah's blessed face and your back toward the
qibla you stand with adab, about two meters from the blessed grave. You keep in your mind
that Rasulullah sees you, hears your salam and prayers, and answers you, saying amin.
Beginning with, "Assalamu 'alaika ya sayyidi, ya Rasulallah...," you say the
long prayer in the (above-named) book. You say the salams sent (by others) through you.
Then, first saying the salawat, you say the prayers you choose. Then, moving one meter to
your right, you greet Hadrat Abu Bakr by saying the long prayer in the book which begins
as, "Assalamu 'alaika ya khalifata Rasulillah..." Then, moving half a meter to
your right you greet Hadrat 'Umar by saying the long prayer in the book. Then you pray for
yourself, for your parents, for those who asked you to pray for them, and for all Muslims.
Then you come back opposite Rasulullah's blessed face. You say the prayer in the book and
also other prayers which you will choose. Then you come to the pillar to which hadrat Abu
Lubaba tied himself and made tawba (penance). Here, and in the Rawda-i-mutahhara, you
perform supererogatory or qada salat. You make tawba and pray. At your own discretion, you
should also visit Masjid al-Kuba, Masjid Al-qiblatayn, the martyrs of Uhud, the graves at
Baqi, and many other sacred places."
Ibn Qayyim says, "You pray by turning your back to
Rasulullah's grave. Likewise states Abu Hanifa." It is written in Durar-us-saniyya
that "Alusi, too, states so in his tafsir." However, all the savants of Ahl-as
sunnat write that you pray by turning toward the blessed grave while putting the qibla
wall behind you. Even Alusi, who is a follower of Ibni Taymiyya and Ibni Qayyim, is
reasonable enough not to hide the fact, and writes in his Ghaliya: "After performing
two rakats of namaz in Masjid, you come to the Hujra-i-saada, turn towards his blessed
face and, standing with adab as you would do if he were alive, say salat and salam and say
the prayers prescribed by the Sharia. For, Rasulullah is alive in his grave too. Most
savants say that it is a sunnat to come from far away places only to visit the blessed
grave. For, a hadith declares, 'He who comes to visit me and only visits me without doing
anything else will have the right upon me that I should intercede for him,' and another
hadith declares, 'I return the greeting of the person who greets me.'"
Abdulhaq-i-Dahlawi 'rahmat-ullahi ta'ala alaih' says in Persian
in his book Jazb-ul- qulub: As the Masjid ash-Sharif was being built, two more rooms were
built, one for Aisha and one for Sawda 'radiallahu anhuma'. Then, a room was built for
each wedding, and the number of rooms became nine. It being a custom in Arabia, the rooms
were made of date branches and were roofed with hair felt. Its doors were no more than
hanging curtains. The rooms were on the south, east and north sides of Masjid. Some of
them were made of sun- dried bricks. The doors of most of them opened into Masjid. Their
ceilings were a span higher than a man of medium stature. There was a door between the
rooms of Hadrat Fatima and Hadrat Aisha. A few days before his passing away, he had the
doors of the Sahaba's rooms opening into Masjid closed, with the exception of that of Abu
Bakr.
In the seventeenth year of the Hegira, Hadrat 'Umar 'radiallahu
anh' had Masjid enlarged on the north, west and south sides. With the rooms belonging to
the Zawjat-i-tahirat 'radi- allahu ta'ala anhunna' being on the east side, he did not do
any enlargement on the east side. Thus, its south-north wall became a hundred and forty
dhra' [seventy meters] and the east- west wall became a hundred and twenty dhra'. He said,
"I would not enlarge Masjid if I had not heard the Prophet's command: 'It is
necessary to enlarge my Masjid!' " He had the new walls made of sun-dried bricks and
date branches like the old ones. Hadrat Abbas donated his room, which was adjacent to the
west wall. Half of Jafar Tayyar's house adjacent to it having been bought, the two were
added to Masjid ash-Sharif. In the meantime hadrat 'Umar had the Hujra as-saada restored
with sun-dried bricks. In the thirtieth year of the Hegira hadrat 'Uthman had these walls
demolished again and the Masjid enlarged. He had the new walls and the pillars made of
stone and the ceiling of teak timber. A hadith conveyed by Abu Huraira declares, "If
they enlarged my Masjid as far as San'a city in Yaman, all of it would be my Masjid."
In the eighty-eighth year the Caliph Walid gave an order to the
governor of Medina 'Umar bin Abdulaziz, and all four walls were demolished, and the rooms
of the Zawjat-i-tahirat, which were on the east side, were added to Masjid. The four walls
of the Hujra-i-saada were demolished and rebuilt with dressed stones from the base. As the
base was being dug out Hadrat 'Umar's one foot was seen. It had not rotted at all. A
second wall was built around the Hujra. It had no doors. The ceiling of the Hujra became
half a meter higher than Masjid, and Masjid became two hundred dhra' long and a hundred
and sixty-seven dhra' wide. Forty craftsmen had been brought from the east Roman Empire,
and the walls, the pillars, and the ceiling were ornamented with gold. For the first time,
the mihrab and four minarets were built. The work took three years. In the hundred and
sixty-first year Mahdi, one of the Abbasid caliphs, enlarged it by erecting ten pillars
only on the north side. Also the Caliph Mamun enlarged it a little more in the year 202.
Then, in the year 550, Jamaladdin Isfahani made a grating of sandalwood around the second
wall. This grating is called Shabaka-i-Saada. A white silk curtain, which was sent from
Egypt in the same year and on which the Sura-i-Yasin was written in red silk embroidery,
was hung around it. This curtain is called Sattara. In the year 678 [1279] the Turkoman
sultan of Egypt Salih Klawun 'rahmat Allahi ta'ala 'alaih' had today's Kubba-i hadra built
and had it covered with sheet-lead. Today's Masjid was built in 888 [1483] by Ashraf
Qaytabay 'rahmat Allahi ta'ala 'alaih', one of the Circassian sultans of Egypt, and was
restored and embellished by the Ottoman sultans. Thus, we end our translation from
Jazb-ul-qulub.
The center of Da'wat-ul-islamiyyat-ul-alamiyya, which is in
Mirpur, in Pakistan, sent a declaration to all Muslim countries in 1398 [1978]. The
declaration stated:
Our center of Da'wat-ul-islamiyyat-ul-alamiyya has met with
disgust the article that proposes the demolition of the Qubba-ul-hadra and which was
written by a Wahhabi named Sadulharamein in the Shaban 1397 [1977] issue of the periodical
Ad-da'wa, which is published in Saudi Arabia. Our members convened in Mirpur, Pakistan, to
protest the article. The assembly was presided over by Allama Muhammad Bashir
'rahmat-ullahi ta'ala alaih'. The following is a summary of speeches made in the presence
of that great audience:
The Qubbat-ul-hadra is the apple of the eye of all Muslims.
Muslims regard visiting this Hujra as a means for their salvation. For, our Prophet
'sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam' declared, "My shafa'a (intercession) is wajib for a
person who visits my grave." That squalid article of Sadul-haramein's is a great
mischief and is a surreptitious stratagem of the enemies of Islam. Could a Muslim ever
think of such a thing? Could he act as a ringleader in destroying the ensign of Allahu
ta'ala? We swear by Allah that he could not. We have reason to believe that the scandalous
article has been buttressed up by clandestine hands, e.g. Jewish forces, from behind. It
is beyond doubt that their exhumation of the blessed bodies of the Sahaba and of our
Prophet's father Abdullah from their graves has emboldened them to the detestable thought
of demolishing the Qubba-i-hadra. This abominable article will lead to great mischief.
There is no value in this. The Saudi Arabian government must explain whence the daring
comes for this ugly article which has deeply hurt Muslims, whose hearts are filled with
the love of Rasulullah and of the Qubbat-ul- hadra. Muslims, no doubt, love the Arabs
because they have been serving the Haramein-i- Sharifein and the Qubbat-ul-hadra. If the
Arabs desecrate these sacrosanct places, Muslims' hearts will certainly no longer have any
love for them. We call upon the Muslims all over the world to inform the government of
Saudi Arabia with the vehemence of the sorrow caused by this detestable trickery and to
join the struggle for the neutralization of this atrocious stratagem!
The Arabic origin of the above-given summon has been appended to
the end of the 1978 edition of the book Al-madarij-us-saniyya.
It is written at the end of the chapter about hajj in the book
Ibn Abidin: "A poor person who goes on hajj does supererogatory worship until he
arrives in Mecca. Hence he is given the thawab of supererogatory worship. When he arrives
in Mecca it becomes fard for him to make the hajj. But a rich person begins to earn the
thawab of the fard the moment he leaves his country for hajj. If a poor person leaves his
country (or hometown) after putting on the ihram, he will earn the thawab of fard on the
way too, thus attaining the same thawab as the rich one does. A person whose parents do
not need him can go on the hajj which is fard without their permission. [But he cannot go
on the supererogatory hajj without their permission.] Doing things useful for Islam, such
as building mosques, schools for teaching the Qur'an, and the like, causes more thawab
than the supererogatory hajj. If the money spent on the supererogatory hajj is portioned
out to Muslims in need, making supererogatory hajj or 'umra will cause more thawab than
giving alms in your own country. For, in this case, you will be worshipping both through
property and through the body. It is stated in the twenty-sixth letter in
Maqamat-i-mazhariyya that in this hajj it is necessary not to omit a fard or wajib without
an excuse and not to commit an haram or makruh. Otherwise making the supererogatory hajj
will produce sins rather than thawab. Please see the final part of the seventy-fourth
chapter and the section dealing with zakat in the forty- sixth chapter in the first part
of the Turkish original version and the letters 29 and 123 and 124 in the (Turkish book)
Mujdeci Mektublar. Serving Islam by joining the army or through publication or propagation
causes more thawab than the supererogatory hajj. For a person who does not have such
services, helping the poor, the needy, the pious, the sayyids with money causes more
thawab than making the supererogatory hajj or doing such services as building mosques,
schools for teaching the Qur'an, and the like."
An eye whose looks take no warning,
Is one's enemy on one's own head.
Ear that takes no advice at each hearing;
In its hole one must pour hot lead!
A hand that has no good, pious doing,
Is not given Paradise grade.
Foot must be cut if worship's not its knowing;
Hang it near mosque, let others dread!
If the heart's not inhabited by divine loving,
Don't call it heart, it's fed in the mead!
Don't call the devil my nafs; it takes you to evil-doing.
Nafs will run to good, like downhill sled.
How could one call it heart, which Satan's leading;
By pride it's led, and on grudge it's fed.
Source:
21 June, 1995 Copyleft c Waqf Ikhlas, Istanbul, 1995.
Permission to reprint & distribute is granted
only if this heading included, and the text is not modified in any way, shape or form to
alter the intended meaning.
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