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Let us examine closely the square-structured
Ka'bah (The Holy House) at Makkah, in Arabia, wherein in its Eastern corner
lies the Black Stone set up chest-high. Every pilgrim in Makkah tries to
kiss and caress it fondly first thing upon arrival there. This action marks
the start of the act of Tawaf. The word "Tawaf" is an Arabic infinitive noun
which means to circle, compass or move around something. A pilgrim has to
circle the Ka'bah seven times, to complete Tawaf. Each one of the seven
rounds begins by kissing or caressing if possible, or by simply pointing at
the Black Stone. The Black Stone thus, serves to mark the start of each
round. Tawaf is one of the integral parts of Pilgrimage (Hajj), which is
also performed, as a separate act of worship at any time. Thus we find the
Ka'bah continually being circled by people day and night.
THE REAL IMPORTANCE OF TAWAF
Circumumbulating the Ka'bah and kissing the stone are in fact considered the
Tawaf's outer aspects, apart from its inner significance. They resemble
something like the standing, bowing, prostrating and sitting postures
observed in the daily Islamic prayers. Yet, the prayer postures, as well as
the circling around the Ka'bah coupled with kissing, both form the outward
shell of the chaff, which preserves the grain. The grain of the Tawaf lies
in the lofty meanings of the Pilgrim's recitation and prayers, in the
soul-stirring emotions surging in his heart - such as his extreme love for
Allah, his awe of Him, and his high hopes in Him. Examine, for instance, the
words brimful of God's oneness, which the pilgrim utters. It is his regular
formula, at the start of each round of the Tawaf, as he kisses, caresses, or
points at the Black Stone, declaring: "(I begin) in the Name of Allah who is
Most Great. O Allah! (I perform) believing in thee, confirming Thy Book,
fulfilling Thy Pledge, and following the Way of Thy Prophet, Muhammad -
Blessing and peace upon him!" As such, the Tawaf around the Ka'bah is done
solely in the Name of the One Supreme Allah, and that it is never done in
the name of any other deity, nor for the Black Stone itself, as others
allege. The operation of Tawaf is in compliance with the Holy promise the
pilgrim has committed with His Lord. He does it as a believer in the One
God, not as an idolater, but as a conformer of Allah's revealed Books, and
as a follower of His Prophet (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam). Far from
worshipping the Stone, the Pilgrim is kissing it, or pointing at it, just as
was done by the Prophet (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam).
GLORIFYING THE ONE GOD
The pilgrim goes on glorifying Allah the most High, while performing the
rounds, with these noble hymns: "Glory be to Allah! All Praise be to Allah!
There is no deity save God. Allah is Most Great! There is no handling, nor
power, save by Allah's Help." A monotheist (muwahhid -One-God worshipper)
holds these sublime prayers far more valuable than the earth's entire
riches. With these, he praises his One and Only Lord, as he circles a spot
made Holy by the presence of His House. Is there any remotest trace of
Polytheism (multi-god worship) or Idolatry in such an act?
A SELECT PRAYER
As he has left all his worldly affairs behind, the pilgrim, besides praising
Allah, also goes on praying for his worldly betterment, in between. Here is
his all-embracing prayer to Allah, the Benevolent: "O Allah! make me content
with my appointed lot, and bless me therein. And make good to me all, my
losses and needs."
THE TWO-WORLD PRAYER
Unlike unbelievers, the pilgrim has a living faith in the coming eternal
hereafter. He does not fail here, therefore, to say the best possible prayer
man could ever ask. It is from the Qur'an itself, and combines both the good
of this world and the world to come in his supplication as follows: "O Lord!
Bestow upon us the good in this world and the good in the hereafter. And
save us from the torment of the fire" Al-Qur'an 12:201.
COULD A STONE BE GOD?
Although so reverently kissed and caressed during the Tawaf, the Black
stone, in one of the corners of the Ka'bah, is no graven image for the
pilgrims to worship. That is the last thing any muwahhid could ever imagine.
For a stone is just a mere stone after all. It has no power whatsoever to do
good or inflict harm to any one, apart from Allah, the Sole Deity of
mankind. That is a thing cherished either knowingly, ignorantly or
figuratively - by those who take to stone-worship instead of God-worship, a
belief and practice as unholy as it is senseless. This is why the Black
Stone becomes a mystery to such people, and so, some out of ignorance openly
charge that Muhammad (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) did break every Idol in
Islam except one - meaning the Ka'bah, or the Black Stone. Why, even
unwitting Muslims get easily confused about the Black Stone. It was hence
that 'Umar, the second Caliph (radiallahu 'anhu), did well to remove this
hidden doubt from the mind. So when he came to kiss the Stone, he cried out
publicly to it: Narrated `Abis bin Rabi'a: `Umar (May Allah be pleased with
him) came near the Black Stone and kissed it and said, "No doubt, I know
that you are a stone and can neither harm anyone nor benefit anyone. Had I
not seen Allah's Messenger (Peace be upon him) kissing you, I would not have
kissed you. [Summarized Sahih Al-Bukhari, Al-Hajj, page 396 No. 808 on the
Black Stone]
TRUE STORY OF THE BLACK STONE
More than five thousand years ago today, the father of the prophets, Prophet
Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam) the Upright (Haneef), had built the present
structure of the Ka'bah under Allah's own orders. He ('alaihi salaam) built
it along with his youthful son, Ishmael ('alaihi salaam), forefather of the
Arabs. This is how the Qur'an describes their building it together: "And
(remember) when Ibrahim (Abraham) and (his son) Isma'il (Ishmael) were
raising the foundations of the House (the Ka'bah) at Makkah, ( saying), `Our
Lord! Accept (this service) from us. Verily! You are the All-Hearer, all
Knower.'" ( Qur'an 2:127). The father and the son, true onotheists
(Muslims), were thus raising the foundations with trembling hearts, for the
Muslims are Allah's most devoted servants, ever fearful of his displeasure.
While building the Ka'bah, therefore, both of them were afraid that Allah
may not accept their humble service, hence that prayer of theirs. How
touching of such fidelity, how moving of such humility towards Allah the
Great! It is the essence of Monotheism, the ideal pattern of Faith and
Actions great and small for all Muslims to follow. When raised to a certain
height, Ibrahim ('alaihi salaam) ordered his son to choose a piece of stone
to mark the main cornerpoint. Even as the lad was searching for it, the
Archangel Gabriel appeared with the Black Stone from Heaven.
Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) said: "The Black stone
descended from heaven, when it was whiter than Milk, but people's sins have
blackened it". At-Tirmidhi, Kitab Al-Hajj, the Black stone,
Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam) took it up and fitted it in, and there it stands
up to this day. It is a heavenly stone, then, and not an earthly one. It was
selected by Allah for His Holy House (the Ka'bah).
TEACHING THE PILGRIMAGE RITES
The building thus finished, this is how Ibraheem and Ishmail ('alaihimus
salaam) went on further praying to Allah, in the next Verse; "Our Lord! And
make us submissive unto you and of our offspring a nation submissive unto
You, and show us our Manasik (all the ceremonies of Pilgrimage - Hajj and
Umrah etc.) and accept our repentance. Truly, You are the One Who accepts
repentance, the Most Merciful." ( Qur'an 2:128). Thereupon Allah taught them
through revelation the pilgrimage rites, which includes the Tawaf.
IS KISSING ESSENTIAL?
We have known the working procedure of the Tawaf, it consists of circling
around the Ka'bah seven times. Each circle begins by kissing the Black
Stone, or by caressing it, which is its normal procedure. But Tawaf is not a
one-man business, hundreds, even thousands, are circling the Ka'bah at one
and the same time. How could each person kiss the Black Stone separately?
Naturally, when so over-crowded, the kissing will have to be dispensed with
by some or many of them. At such times it is quite enough therefore, to face
the Black Stone from any distance, and only point at it by one's right hand,
at the start of each round. The pilgrim then recites his formula and
proceeds on.
HISTORY UNFOLDS A RARE ASPECT
Assuming that the Black Stone is missing for one reason or another, does it
render the Tawaf and Pilgrimage invalid and void on such account? Absolutely
not. This is exactly what has already happened in the history of Islam. The
Karamathians (Arabic: al-Qaramitah), the most un-islamic sect in Islam, had
removed the Black Stone during their mad merrymaking in the year 317 AH/980
AD. They carried it away with them to their territory in Al-Ahsa (in the
Arabian Gulf). After keeping it there for twenty years, they had returned it
back to Makkah in the year 339 AH (see shorter Encyclopedia Leiden 1953, P.
219). In such an event, the Shariah (Law) maintains that the pilgrim shall
perform his Tawaf without the Black stone. Instead of the Black Stone, the
pilgrim shall touch its place at the corner of the Ka'bah, or point at its
spot, and continue his Tawaf. Thus the total absence of the Stone itself
makes no difference in the validity of the Tawaf and the Pilgrimage. This
shows how tiny a part is being played by this stone. How ignorant of others
and how childish, therefore, sounds the charge that it is the "most Precious
Idol preserved by Islam"!
DOES KISSING MEAN WORSHIPPING?
Kissing a stone is not a sign of its worship at all. Kissing the Black Stone
cannot be twisted into an idol worship, for the stone is no image, just as
mere kissing is not worshipping by any stretch of the imagination. Anyone
might allege that Muslims do worship a certain `idol', but the fact remains
that they do not worship anything save Allah, the One. The idol and its
worship simply do not exist. The Bible is kissed in lawcourts; does that
mean then that it is worshipped? Moreover, parents kiss their children
lovingly, without any trace of worship in it at all. A big question-mark
that should come to one's mind are the pre-Islamic Arab idolaters who had
held the Ka'bah. With all their polytheism and idolatry, they too used to
circle the Ka'bah and kiss the Black Stone. Had their kissing been an act of
idol- worship, why then was there still a need for them-despite the presence
of the "almighty" Black Stone-to install three hundred and sixty idols
therein? This proves beyond a shadow of doubt that it is one thing to kiss
the Black Stone under Divine Orders, and quite another to worship a stone or
an idol. Most notable, perhaps, is the fact that One-God worshippers do
nothing beyond simply kissing the Black Stone. They neither venerate it with
folded hands, nor kneel down, nor prostrate themselves, nor squat before it.
For all these is done only by idol-worshippers before their idols.
IS THE PILGRIMAGE A PAGAN RITE?
Some non-Muslims think or are made to believe that the Pilgrimage to Ka'bah
is purely a pagan rite or one form of idol-worship. That it was being
practiced by the Arab idolaters before Islam, and that Islam borrowed it
from them. This assumption is further aided by the fact that the Ka'bah
itself had been a temple housing no less than three hundred and sixty idols.
Nevertheless, this is a pure conjecture belying facts and figures. For it
was not the idolaters of Makkah, but prophet Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam), who
had initiated and established the holy Pilgrimage thereof, ages ago. On the
contrary, it was these very idolaters, the degenerate descendants of Abraham
and Ishmael ('alaihimaa salaam), who had defiled Allah's Holy Ka'bah into a
huge pantheon. It was these rank idolaters who had injected pagan rites into
the purely Islamic Pilgrimage laid down by Prophet Abraham ('alaihi salaam),
one of the greatest worshippers of Allah. All honour is due to Prophet
Muhammad (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam), the seal of the prophets and the
last of Ibraheem's line of Prophethood, who first swept clean the Holy
Ka'bah from its heathen idols. It was he again who restored the original
pilgrimage to its pristine purity. The Muslims, are in fact the true
followers of the Religion of Prophet Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam), the
grand-father of prophet Muhammad (sallalllahu 'alaihi wa sallam), where
pilgrimage to Makkah is a notable heritage as well as an important fixture
of the religion. How different could these facts be from the Non-muslims'
random conjecture?
BUILDING THE HOUSE AND PROCLAIMING THE HAJJ
This is how Allah declared to prophet Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam) regarding
his Sacred House after showing him the site thereof: " And Remember when We
showed Ibrahim (Abraham) the site of the Holy House (the Ka'bah) at Makkah
saying : Associate not anything in worship with Me, [La Ilaha ill-Allah
(none has the right to be worshipped but Allah - Islamic Monotheism], and
sanctify My House for those who circumambulate it, and those who stand up
for prayer, and those who bow and submit themselves with humility and
obedience to Allah), and make prostration in prayer." Qur'an 22:26. Ibraheem
('alaihi salaam) is being himself ordained in this verse to keep perfectly
away from idolatry. He is being told, as well, to sanctify the House of God
from all kinds of impurities, especially from that of idol-worship. Then
follows the two-fold purpose for which that House was being built. First, is
its being the center of Tawaf for those who compass it round, and its being
the prayer-place for those who pray therein their daily Prayers second. This
is as much as to say that the Tawaf and the Pilgrimage do depend upon the
house of God, as much as do the prayers. For this reason all those who pray
all the world over do turn in the one direction of the Ka'bah at Makkah.
After being ordained to build and sanctify God's Ka'bah, prophet Ibraheem
('alaihi salaam) receives in the next verse the command to proclaim the
Pilgrimage to the Ka'bah, in this manner: "And proclaim to mankind the Hajj.
They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, they will come from
every deep and distant wide mountain highway to perform Hajj." Qur'an 22:27.
That definitely proves that it was Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam) who built the
Ka'bah, and that it was also he who proclaimed the Pilgrimage, facts that
should equally refute the oft-repeated allegation put forth that pilgrimage
was some pagan rite invented by the heathen idolaters, and retained by
Islam.
HIGHLIGHT OF PILGRIMAGE
Initiated by Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam), and reflected by the Seal of the
Prophets, Pilgrimage to the House of God is a unique experience to every
true Muslim. For a "Muslim" is essentially the one who shifts from the false
to the true Religion - from disbelief to Belief in God, and from multi-god
to One-God worship. This trait made Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam) a "Perfect"
Muslim when he entered the Pantheon at Babylon, and smashed the idols
therein to pieces. Allah entrusted him with building His House at Makkah,
and tasked him to proclaim the Pilgrimage to it. Henceforth, Pilgrimage to
the House of God becomes the most predominant trait of being a Muslim. A
haven of absolute freedom, and a sanctuary of perfect peace and security,
this Holy Mosque is the only spot on earth set up by Allah for one and all
the people alike, without any distinction. It is the House of God wherein
all men are equal, none being entitled to own it exclusively. This is told
in these words of Allah: "...and from Al-Masjid-al-Haram at Makkah which We
have made open to all men, the dweller in it and the visitor from the
country.... "(Qur'an 22:25) The message of this Surah 22, verses 26-27 named
"The Pilgrimage" itself, is describing the construction of the Ka'bah and
its sanctification, it being the focal point of Tawaf as well as the center
of Prayers. Thus, the incumbency of Pilgrimage to this "first house of
One-God worship", etc. Verses 28-37, do contain the basic elements of the
Monotheistic religion of prophet Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam), wherein one of
the main objectives emphasized is the need to celebrate the Name of Allah
Alone over the animal-whether ordinarily slaughtered, or offered as
sacrifices to Allah, as against those offered to the idolaters' idols, as
evidenced particularly by verses 28, 30, 34, 36 and 37. "Avoiding the
abomination of idols", and "neglecting the word that is false" (telling and
witnessing falsehood), these two cardinal sins, have been specially
prohibited in Verse 30. But the crowning message of unparalleled importance
is the commandment: "Hunafa' Lillah (i.e. to worship none but Allah), not
associating partners (in worship, etc.) unto Him...", which is the soul and
the heart of Monotheism (one-God worship), and the annihilator of all
Polytheism (multi-god worship). This last, but not the least message, is the
essence of Pilgrimage, as also the topmost concern and happiness of every
Muslim. The Makkahn idolaters too, used to perform the Pilgrimage, calling
themselves thereby as "Haneefs" (followers of Abraham). And therefore,
Muslims are being told to perform the Pilgrimage, and call themselves as
"Haneefs" but with this difference: "Being true in faith to Allah, and never
assigning partners to Him". Thus the sublime Truths, the essence of the
creed: "There is no deity save God", seem to be beyond the comprehension of
idol-worshippers, all over the world, and in all ages.
THE FIVE-TIME PRAYERS
This performance of the Pilgrimage --- a colossal feat of Monotheism, is
closely knit around the Ka'bah and its surrounding environment. It occurs
only once a year, but far more important and surpassing is the performance
of prayers in Islam, which are equally connected with the Ka'bah. Prayers
are an obligatory duty upon every Muslim. This is why every Muslim anywhere
around the world turns towards Allah, facing in the direction of the Ka'bah
five times daily. Of course, the Ka'bah is for outward direction to face in
one's prayers, though inwardly, one faces his entire heart, to the Lord of
the Worlds Himself. In this manner, Muslims are so intimately related to the
Ka'bah through their Pilgrimage and Prayers, till the last moment of their
lives. Not only this, but every Muslim is made to face the direction of the
Ka'bah when breathing his last. Nay, even after death he is buried in his
last resting place, i.e. in the grave, so that he faces the same direction
of the Ka'bah.
PRAYERS AND SACRIFICE
Both the Pilgrimage and the prayers are equally connected with the Ka'bah.
And offering an animal and the Prayers are major Hajj ceremonies, where both
the prayer and sacrifice are special tokens of the single worship of Allah,
with both being jointly dedicated to Him. It is a most sublime dedication
the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was asked to offer in the following
words: "Say [O Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him)]: `Verily, my Salat (prayer), my
sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin
(mankind, jinns and all that exists), He has no partner, And of this I have
been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims)." [Al-Qur'an 162-163] And
this forms the only straight path, that is the religion of our father
Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam), which is referred to in the preceding verse: "Say
[O Muhammad] "Truly, my Lord has guided me to a Straight path, a right
religion, the religion of Ibrahim. [Al-Qur'an 6:161]
INTERNATIONAL GATHERING
On the whole, the Hajj is a unique annual gathering of its own kind. Herein,
true Muslims from all over the world come together on the basis of one-God
worship, that is pure Monotheism and true Islam. Forgetting their mutual
differences of caste, color and social status, they assemble in this
international city of Makkah to glorify the One Lord of all creation.
Incidentally, they get a rare opportunity here to discuss together all sorts
of communal, religious, economic, social and political problems on an
all-world scale, after which no better or more beneficial gathering could be
imagined. Such a high, all-embracing congregation has been held every year
in the House of Allah for thousands of years now. All these manifold
benefits are hinted at in the words: "......That they may witness things
that are of benefit to them.." [Al-Qur'an 22:28] Pilgrimage, therefore, is
never a pagan rite, but rather the fulfillment of an incumbent duty
concerning One-God worship!
INVITATION TO NON-MUSLIMS
This is the legacy left behind by Prophet Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam) for all
posterity to accept and follow, and no people of any country or nation, are
an exception to that posterity. Instead of regarding the Pilgrimage duty as
a pagan rite, people ought to reflect upon their own age-old idolatry, and
accept and follow the religion of our father Ibraheem ('alaihi salaam). The
hour has come for these very people to proclaim of their own accord: "There
is no God Worthy of worship except Allah!" May they perform the Pilgrimage
to the House of Allah in Makkah! And may they offer their Prayers regularly
facing towards that same House! Ameen.
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