THE INVIOLABLE
Many claim to love God.
But what are the traces of our love? Does it flicker in our eyes when we see His signs? Or mingle with our marrow when we read His Book? Do our hearts leap when the heralds on minarets call us to prayer? Or do we race to His House when the funds are there?
If not, what a strange proclamation.
One of the noble resemblances of love for God is in following His final Messenger (s): Say (Prophet), ‘If you love God, follow me’ [3:31].
In the year 10 AH, when the Ḥijjat al-Wadā’, The Farewell Ḥajj and the Prophet’s only pilgrimage, was announced, one hundred thousand pilgrims followed him on this sacred journey, keen to perform the Ḥajj in his (s) footsteps. These Muslims were sincere, unlike those who preferred not to join him on the ‘Umrah, Minor Pilgrimage in the year 6 AH because the potential for material benefit, as was the case with military expeditions, did not exist. They were given solely to material motivations at the expense of spiritual wealth: ‘These people love the fleeting life. They put aside [all thoughts of] a Heavy Day’ [76:27].
But those who sincerely waited in anticipation for Youm al-Tarwiyyah, The Day of Quenching Thirst, 8 Thul Ḥijjah, when the rituals of Ḥajj begin, have only thoughts for that Heavy Day when the King of The Day of Debt will judge all souls by their works.
Today, Friday, 14 June 2024, is Youm al-Tarwiyyah, and pilgrims will enter the state of iḥrām, the ceremonial dress for Ḥajj, synonymous with the burial shroud, and set aside the fleeting life. After which, sincere and truthful proclamations will resound and reverberate throughout the Holy City of Makkah as they cry: “Labbayk Allahumma Labbayk, labbayka lā sharīka laka labbayk, inna l-ḥamda wa n-ni’mata, laka wa l-mulk, lā sharīka lak—Here I am [at your service] O God, here I am. Here I am [at your service]. You have no partners; here I am. To You alone is all praise and all excellence, and to You is all sovereignty. There is no partner to You.”
Loving God is to embrace death, and Ḥajj is an enactment thereof. Pilgrims, in their death clothes, will move to Mīna. There, they will spiritually and mentally prepare themselves before flowing in their millions to the plains of Arafat and live out the most memorable day of their lives and the best day of the year: Youm al-Arafat—The Day of Arafat, The Day of Amends Making, the ninth day of Ḥajj and the pilgrims’ foretaste of Judgement Day.
It is the most sacred day, for Allah forgives more sins this day than any other. And pilgrims who attain salvation would have successfully reversed verse 76:27 above.
Nothing endures, and so on the most inviolable day, the sun too will set. But a new dawn will schedule a sunrise that shines on hearts bursting with love for God and hope of deliverance.
And the world, in solidarity with the pilgrims on the plains of Arafat, will fast, then celebrate and exalt God.
Eid Mubarak!
GOD’S DOORS
God’s Will.
How do we come to know it? Is it through intuition? Feelings? Wise men and women, maybe? Is it by conjecture or some other conjured device?
None of these propositions is hardly a means to attain certainty of the Highest Will for our lives.
So, how do we determine God’s Will?
Only one route exists. Through God’s chosen prophets: ‘Whoever obeys the Messenger obeys God’ [4:80]. Here, the Messenger is Muhammad (s), the seal of all prophets.
But the same is true for all prophets and their communities. Obedience to them is submission to God: ‘We took a solemn pledge from the prophets-from you [Muhammad], from Noah, from Abraham, from Moses, from Jesus, son of Mary–We took a solemn pledge from all of them’ [33:7].
The prophets’ covenant with God is the weightiest and most tremendous responsibility. Prophethood is the highest office. Thus, Allah protected them from corruption and imbued them with the following attributes:
Divinely chosen, prophets were trustworthy conduits of the great transference of knowledge from heaven to earth and the door for us to God’s Will.
Humans do not precede the Holocene epoch. However, we may argue that many of our aboriginal selves have become fossilised. To connect my current self to the primordial me requires a palaeontological skillset. The dig will be arduous, but it is the only way to uncover the layers which have hidden the real me.
Until next week, InshaAllah
Zaahied Sallie
Author of The Beloved Prophet – An Illustrated Biography in Rhyme
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