One of the newer categories on MyUmmah.co.za is the Islamic Art category and this is the very first submissions.

Below are some beautiful digitally masterpieces themes on Hajj, Kaabah & ZulHajj, the last image is the Labbaik dua that pilgrims repeat during Hajj and Umrah.

Click on each image to enlarge.

click to enlarge

At the center of the Islamic religion lies the Ka‘ba. Uniting the aspects of the divine beauty and the divine majesty, it is ‘a place of resort and safety for human beings’. It lies in a city protected by the prayer of Ibrahim al-Khalil, alayhi’l-salam: ‘My Lord, make this land a sanctuary.’

The Ka‘ba has many meanings. One of these pertains to the Black Stone, which is the point at which the pilgrims come closest to its mystery.

‘Ali ibn Abi Talib narrated that when God took the Covenant, He recorded it in writing and fed it to the Black Stone, and this is the meaning of the saying of those who touch the Black Stone during the circumambulation of the Ancient House: ‘O God! This is believing in You, fulfilling our pledge to You, and declaring the truth of Your record.’’

The Ka‘ba therefore, while it is nothing of itself – a cube of stones and mortar – represents and reminds its pilgrims of the primordial moment of our kind. Allah speaks of a time before the creation of the world:
‘when your Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their reins, their seed, and made them testify of themselves, He said: ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said, ‘Yea! We testify!’ That was lest you should say on the Day of Arising: ‘Of this we were unaware.’’ (7:171)
When we visit the House, we are therefore invited to remember the Great Covenant: that forgotten moment when we committed ourselves to our Maker, acknowleding Him as the source of our being. The Black Stone itself is, according to a hadith which Imam Tirmidhi declares to be sound, ‘yaqutatun min yawaqit al-janna’ – a gemstone from Paradise itself.
The Ka‘ba functions, in the imagination of those who visit it on Hajj, or turn towards it in Salat, as the centre and point of origin of all diverse things on earth. It is oriented towards the four cardinal points of the compass. Its blackness recalls the blackness of the night sky, of the heavens, and hence the pure presence of the Creator. Allah tells us that there are signs for us in the heavens and the earth; and recent astronomy affirms that the spiral galaxies are revolving around black holes. A powerful symbol, written into the magnificence of space, of the spiritual vortex which beckons us to spiral into the unknown, where quantum mechanics fail, where time and space are no more.

The yearning for the Ka‘ba which sincere Muslims feel whenever they think of it is therefore not, in fact, a yearning for the building. In itself it is no less part of the created order than anything else in creation. The yearning is, instead, a fragment, a breath of the nostalgia for our point of origin, for that glorious time out of time when we were in our Maker’s presence.

That yearning is the central emotion of Islam. It is of the heart: the heart knows the Ka‘ba’s splendour; the mind cannot understand it: it is, after all, only a cube 12 metres high.

Hence Jalal al-Din Rumi says:

‘The intellect declares: The six directions are limits, and there is no way out.
Love says: There is a way, and I have travelled it many times.’
And later he says:
‘By the time the intellect has found a camel for the hajj, love has circled the Ka‘ba.’

This fundamental emotion of the Islamic religion, which is in fact part of the fitra – the primordial human nature, the state of grace into which we were born – is love, mahabba, a painful desire to return to the beloved.
Wa’lladhina amanu ashaddu hubban li’Llah. ‘Those who have faith’, as the Qur’an insists, ‘have the greatest love for God’. (2:165) To know one’s origin is to love it.
This nostalgic yearning to return, to circle back to the point of origin, for which the Ka‘ba is no more than the earthly symbol and reminder, is the most common theme in the splendid and subtle poetic tradition of Islam. Here, for instance, is a poem by the 13th century Turkish poet and lover of Allah, Yunus Emre:

‘We need to serve a King who never may be driven from His throne
To rest within a place which we may ever feel to be our own.
A bird we need to be, to fly, to reach the very rim of things,
To drink that cordial whose joy we never may disown.

We need to be a diving bird, to plunge into the waters’ flow;
We need a gemstone to recover such as jewellers cannot know.

To enter in a garden, there to dwell in contentment’s shade;
To pass the summer as a rose – a rose whose petals never fade.

Mankind must lover be, must ever search to find the true Beloved;
Must burn within the flame of Love – nor burn in any other flame.’

Islam is hence the religion of the Alastu bi-rabbikum: ‘Am I not your Lord?’. We follow the Great Covenant, unlike adherents of previous religions who follow lesser, local, ethnic covenants. The Ka‘ba represents our way of centring ourselves directly on the divine presence, the origin of all manifestation.
We need to ponder the divine wisdom in this. Islam appeared in a time and place where there was no civilisation. If a Quraishite Arab had travelled five hundred miles north, south, east or west, he would have found a developed culture. But Arabia was a pocket of primordial simplicity. And Allah subhanahu wa-ta‘ala chose this vacuum for His final message, the one that would end all previous covenants with Him, and gather the nations of the earth to the restored Great Covenant itself.

One deep wisdom to be gained from this is the fact of Islam’s simplicity. Our doctrine could not be more straightforward. The most pure, exalted, uncompromising monotheism: the clearest idea of God there has ever been. A system of worship that requires no paraphernalia: no crosses, confessionals, priests or pews. Just the human creature, and its Lord. The Hajj and Umra also take us back to an ancient time, as we wear the simplest of garments, and perform primordial rites that reconnect us with the symbolic centre, around the purest building there has ever been. The fast of Ramadan is also timeless: bringing us into contact and continuity with one of the oldest of all religious devotions. In fact, some ulema say that fasting is the oldest religious commandment of all: for in the Garden, the grandfather and grandmother of humanity were under only one instruction: to refrain from eating from a particular tree.

By stepping inside the protecting circle of Islam, the human creature is thus reconnected to the ancient simplicity and dignity of the human condition. Islam allows us to reclaim our status as khalifas: Allah’s deputies on earth.

Reader Submission.

It is a Muslim’s sacred duty to live for a few days as a pilgrim, a reasonable requirement for a lifetime. The Pilgrimage or the Hajj is a composite of rites that are essentially reenactments of events of the distant past and, at one point, a grand dress rehearsal for what is to come. Adam, Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael, and Muhammad are the human names most closely associated with this rite, and what’s asked of the pilgrim is simply to emulate them, for the reason that their deeds, however ordinary they may appear, were connected to a higher realm. The response to this call remains a marvel, especially in an era in which there is enormous pressure to be devotees of the material world and to succumb to the spiritual sloth this engenders. Despite this, each year millions of people drop everything in order to make the Pilgrimage, which has difficulty and expenses. All are partners in a ritual that remarkably still matters. One of life’s principal struggles is to pierce the outer form of things and to imbibe the interior meanings. But the struggle is magnified when living in a context in which unexamined information is constantly available and when personal quiet and retreat are becoming odd things to pursue. What follows are brief personal reflections and vignettes loosely connected by the Hajj thread, especially as they pertain to the interior.

VACATION
To call the Hajj experience a “vacation” would put off a lot Muslims, who would consider the label a slight. But what I wanted out of Hajj was precisely a vacation, but in the original sense of vacating my mind of the assumptions we absorb as passive consumers of modernity, and vacating the ephemeral identities we attach importance to. One of the graces of the Pilgrimage to Makkah and its surroundings pertains to a kind of anonymity that strips us down to our indelible identity as creatures of a great Creator. For a number of days, millions of people of all races and status converge for a single purpose. The Pilgrim, by choice, is one face among millions of faces of all hues and textures. In the crowd, I can bump into a CEO, a leader, an academic, or a beggar; there’s no way to really tell the difference. Rank and pomp are divorced of status. Ego is dispossessed of platform. In this condition, the Hajj does its work.

THE “ART OF WAITING”
The movements of the Hajj rites are not very time consuming. Surprisingly, what takes up most of the time are the long stretches within and between the rites that can be easily mistaken as times to “wait”. It’s possible to miss the point of the Pilgrimage if we are not adept in the “art of waiting,” as a sage once said. In fact, what a Pilgrim does during the “wait” will largely inform the success of the journey. Pilgrims do what this place silently expects of them: supplicate to the unseen God, remember Him in the holy precincts. And so they ask for a good life, another chance, forgiveness and mercy for themselves and those they left behind (for the living and the dead), knowledge, success, succor, or for unaffected glimpses of Reality—sifting out the real from the fake. The movements of the Pilgrims are not as choreographed as one would think, even though everyone pretty much goes to the same stations and performs similar acts. What goes on in the mind and in the heart, the inner motions, range. The dress, the motion, the crowds, the “meanwhile,” and the heightened sense of purpose and of the imminence of our ultimate return draw out from the Pilgrim levels of resolve. For a precious few days one almost becomes a Seer. Suddenly, no sham paradigm is safe. We wish it can last. The rites are capped off with farewell circuits around the Ka’ba back in Makkah, where it began days before. The Pilgrims then get around to board the buses, and slowly the former identities begin to emerge as we prepare our papers and “ID’s” to board a plane. It’s the daunting challenge of the Pilgrim to give honest reflection to the questions provoked by the ritual, especially when he or she is back home driving a car, mowing the lawn, waving at a neighbor, or simply reading a newspaper.

THE EFFECTS OF REENACTMENTS
We make seven circular walks around the tall cube-shaped Ka‘ba, the first man-made building put into the service of reminding people of their servitude to God. Later we walk seven times between two hillocks, the course that Abraham’s wife, Hagar, took in her desperate search for water, only to be guided to the very spot of the great well of Zamzam, which to this day offers drink to thirsty travelers from all corners of the earth. The walk between the two hillocks is called sa‘î, which means striving, and it is an essential rite of the Hajj. But as we walk Hagar’s path, we ourselves are not desperate, nor are we out of water. If we tire, we can stop for rest, sip some water, and then resume without the peril that Hagar faced. It’s not like revealed religion to waste people’s time. There must be important value in reenacting Hagar’s walk, however symbolic it may be. We may fairly conclude that the materials and strict rationality of the dunya (the world) are poor ushers in the sacred climb. Instead, we are advised that the invisible realm of sincerity, intention, and symbolism are required accoutrements for the piercing of the materialistic veil. So we make circuits around the Ancient House, walk a path between two hills, and, in Mina (a few kilometers away), toss seven pebbles at three pillars that mark the spots where Satan tried to tempt Abraham away from God’s obedience. These are rites of worship filled with symbolism meant to quicken our spiritual selves.

MT. MERCY
The heart of the Hajj, its proving ground and day, is at Mt. Arafat. On its plains, slopes, and peak, millions of people (can’t help but repeat that number) gather from dawn to sunset for supplication and remembrance. The scene is almost supernatural. The importance of the Hereafter is stressed nearly on every page of the Quran and countless statements of the Prophet. Firm belief in the Hereafter is expected of us in the here and now. Yet nothing in our normal everyday lives compares to the spectacle of all of humanity standing before God for ultimate judgment. The Arafat experience offers something for our imaginations, a glimpse of the inevitable. It helps us to map additional meaning to the words we read in the Quran—helps us to tease out greater sense from the descriptions the Book reveals. There is a glow and ease associated with Arafat, which abruptly alters at sunset when the throngs of humanity board buses, SUV’s, and sandals and head for Muzdalifa, an extensive plain that looks like a large parking lot of gravel and stones. There we wait until dawn before we head to Mina, Tent City, where the population (comparable to Chicago) will cram together in an area the size of a large mall. As citizens of Mina for a few days, we are shown the full range of human character and fallibilities. Each day of our stay at Mina we take small stones and toss them at large pillars that represent Satan’s guile—small stones doing mighty work.

THE ROAD TO MADINA
It is an integral part of prophecy to migrate. Abraham’s moves are legendary: from Ur (in present day Iraq) to Palestine, and from Palestine’s sown fields to the uncultivable hollow of Makkah. We recall Moses’s flight from Egypt to Madyan after striking dead one of Pharaoh’s henchman molesting a Israelite; and then from Madyan to the Valley of Tuwa where he received his calling, then back to Egypt and out again. For the Prophet of Islam, it would be from his beloved city of Makkah to Yathrib, later named Madina. Before entering Yathrib, however, the Prophet stayed for some days in Quba, not far away. He did not rush his entrance into Yathrib whose complications, alliances, and general élan were still not fully clear to him. The Prophet was assiduous in his affairs, and to rush into something was not of his character. But there was more. The Prophet of Mercy would never discount the realities of the people around him nor find them trivial. What was important to people was something to acknowledge and regard. To forge a firm bond of brotherhood, the ligature that was not to break, had its demands—had parts to be studied and understood, parts to be honored—parts of a new whole. The Prophet met with delegations and learned what he needed to learn before making the short trip between Quba and Yathrib. What a Messenger of God must do in his mission goes between what he receives from God, but also what must be learned through more conventional means. This man who was taken on a Night Journey from his thin straw mattress in Makkah to the Holy House in Jerusalem, then to the magnificent realms of Heaven, to the outermost region itself, had to travel on the back of a camel some 175 miles to Yathrib; this man who learned through Divine Revelation of tidings of the past and secrets of lands far away and of events of things to come, needed to learn the vagaries of new life contexts through more ordinary methods. We’ve come across this interesting mix between the miraculous and the ordinary. Mary mother of Jesus, for example, conceived of her son through extraordinary means of God’s single command, “Be” and “So it was.” The matter was done: a boy, a human being of flesh and intelligence, of insight and mission, would grow in her, though no man had ever touched her. Though the conception of her son was miraculous, the normal trials and pains of delivery would not bypass her. In time, the contractions bore down on the young woman, driving her to take shelter beneath a date-palm. Right there, beneath the withered tree, did she give birth to Jesus. Grief-stricken and depleted, Mary heard a voice calling out to her, telling her not to sorrow or desire annihilation. A streamlet appeared before her with fresh and pure water. She was then told to shake the trunk of the date-palm. She managed to shake the tree with her trembling arms; she worked with ordinary forces of nature to have dropped upon her a miraculous bunch of ripened dates as if the date-palm had been the most fertile plant on earth.

IN MADINA
People of all races, headdress, and determination converge in Madina to visit the Arabian Prophet, which is not a formal part of the Hajj. These folks are driven to Madina by their love of the Prophet, which they imbibed through the curious method of education. But you sense nothing rote in their visit nor in their emotions. And since when can an emotion be passed down and kept strong enough to drive people to make the journey to the Prophet’s tomb? Love cannot be taught, as they say. And this is true. But when one learns more of the life of the Messenger, love seems to be the crest of the education, where all facts and roads lead. This is the Prophet’s grace. Yes, Makkah is a majestic city. If you knew nothing and merely opened up your heart and stood on its hallowed ground, you’d sense that this is a sacred center, alive in more than one realm. It is kingly. You feel you’re in the presence of the August, the Wise. Madina, though, is a light. It is friendly. You come with your flaws and feel welcomed nonetheless. Your humanity is accepted. Just come with a willingness to climb. Greet the host of the house, convey your regards and prayers of peace, and he will respond. Walk up to him, and he will know. Sit anywhere and reflect or read or thumb your beads or raise your hand in sure supplication or simply relax — it’s all accepted. It’s all good. It’s a gracious place. The guests do not feel self-conscious. You are what you are.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
We each have a body, a fact we’re constantly reminded of, and a body does have needs, organic and sensual, which we cater to day and night. But to submit to the curriculum of fundamentalist secularists that “body” defines humanity is a dereliction that revealed religion has always warned of. We are created from the clay of the earth but are also infused with a soul that has no material correlate in this world. Religion has recognized this duality, not as a glitch in our creation, but as a trial. Somewhere in the teachings of all the great ones (including Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad), there’s an un-asterisked point: in negotiating the material and spiritual selves, one brushes up against salvation. The choice, they have stressed, comes down to the question: what aspect of our humanity do we devote ourselves to? For the Muslim, the nurturing of the soul is paramount and is guided by what we offhandedly call in pamphlets the “five pillars of Islam,” essential rites of worship that have been passed down through the sound line of prophecy. These pillars start to lose their meaning when we forget a baseline understanding of religion: Islam insists that each of us is born into this world with a pure condition, a state of grace, in fact. While humans may be feeble, sometimes foolish, belligerent, and forgetful, our center was made uncorrupt. This is equally true for men and women. The rites of worship and the way of life they engender are meant to bring us closer to our original state because it is not confused about God nor indifferent to our role in His world.

###

Older stuff, some of it repeated above:
We make seven circular walks around the tall cube-shaped Ka‘ba, the first man-made building put into the service of reminding people of their servitude to God. Later we walk seven times between two hillocks, the course that Abraham’s wife, Hagar, took in her desperate search for water, only to be guided to the very spot of the great well of Zamzam, which to this day offers drink to thirsty travelers from all corners of the earth. The walk between the two hillocks is called sa‘î, which means striving, and it is an essential rite of the Hajj. But as we walk Hagar’s path, we ourselves are not desperate, nor are we out of water. If we tire, we can stop for rest, sip some water, and then resume without the peril that Hagar faced. It’s not like revealed religion to waste people’s time. There must be important value in reenacting Hagar’s walk, however symbolic it may be. We may fairly conclude that the materials and strict rationality of the dunya (the world) are poor ushers in the sacred climb. Instead, we are advised that the invisible realm of sincerity, intention, and symbolism are required accoutrements for the piercing of the materialistic veil. So we make circuits around the Ancient House, walk a path between two hills, and, in Mina (a few kilometers away), toss seven pebbles at three pillars that mark the spots where Satan tried to tempt Abraham away from God’s obedience. These are rites of worship filled with symbolism meant to quicken our spiritual selves.

Walking the Walk
PILGRIM’S PROGRESS
(as published in Seasons)

By Ibrahim N. Abusharif

Below are links to a few articles from our archives related to Hajj & Umrah

If you have any Hajj pictures and articles that you would like to see published, you can submit them here

Hajj means in the Arabic language ‘to set out for a place’. However, from the shar’i meaning it is ‘Setting out to Al-Bait Al-Haraam in order to perform certain specific prescribed acts of worship in a particular prescribed period of time – for whoever is able to find a means to do it.’

The Magnitude of Hajj
http://myummah.co.za/site/2008/12/02/the-magnitude-of-hajj/

Some pictures from Hajj 2008
http://myummah.co.za/site/2008/12/14/hajj-2008-eid-al-adha-photogallery/

The Road from Makkah
http://myummah.co.za/site/2008/12/07/the-road-from-makkah/

Hajj will endure till the end of time:
http://myummah.co.za/site/2008/12/04/haj-will-endure-till-the-end-of-time/

Lessons from Hajj
http://myummah.co.za/site/2008/12/03/lessons-from-hajj/

A True Hajj
http://myummah.co.za/site/2009/11/26/a-true-hajj-amazing-explanation-of-imam-junaid-al-baghdadi/

A poem about Hajj (by ibn Qayyim)
http://myummah.co.za/site/2009/11/02/ibn-qayyims-poem-on-hajj/

2 Easy to understand diagrams illustrating the rituals of Hajj and Umrah
http://myummah.co.za/site/2010/10/12/beautiful-simple-umrahhajj-posters/

The subject of Ihraam with men always ends up with the footwear.  Traditionally slops (aka beachthongs) have been used and still very popular.  However in recent times various sandals with straps in obscure places have come out to add some comfort to the men doing lots of walking.

The subject of Ihraam with men always ends up with the footwear.  Traditionally slops (aka beachthongs) have been used and still very popular.  However in recent times various sandals with straps in obscure places have come out to add some comfort to the men doing lots of walking.

I purchased this a few days ago (R150/pair) – a leather moccasin type shoe which is approved by Ulema in South Africa.  Locally manufactured, genuine leather with a rugged rubber sole. This looks like it’ll serve my walking Hajj perfectly!   Only drawback is it looks a bit feminine,  still a small price to pay for comfortable footwear, especially for the long walk from Mina to Arafat to Muzdalifa and back to Mina

Click the image below to find out contact info from the distributors.

View them, download them and make sure you send this link to all your friends and family that are leaving for Hajj in the coming weeks.   The brothers & sisters from IslamicPosters.co.uk have outdone themselves with these beautiful and easy to follow Umrah/Hajj posters.

All the important rituals, locations and steps are covered which I’m sure will help the first timer and the experience pilgrim tremendously!

(click to enlarge)

Umrah Guide:
(download a hi res 300dpi copy here, 5meg)

click to enlarge

Hajj Guide:
(download a hi res 300dpi copy here, 5meg)

click to enlarge

MAKKAH: The first phase of the Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro (Makkah Metro) project is expected to be completed before this year’s Haj, the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO) said on Thursday.

SRO President Abdul Aziz Al-Hoqail said this will enable Haj pilgrims to use 35 percent of train service. The first phase will connect the holy sites of Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina. This will reduce the traffic congestion, specially on the day of Arafat, to a large extent.

“While the entire project will be completed before the Haj season next year, the finishing of the first phase would mean that 35 percent of our services will be offered to the pilgrims this year itself,” Hoqail said.

This would mean that more than 50,000 cars and buses that carry pilgrims between Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina would no longer be required.

Work on the project began two years ago in the southern parts of the holy sites where majority of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia as well as Gulf countries are traditionally accommodated.

Hoqail said that with the metro system in place, pilgrims will have to walk no more than 300 meters to reach any one of the three boarding stations in Arafat. Muzdalifah will also have three stations. The first station in Mina is close to Muzdalifah, the second in the center and the third close to the fourth floor of the Jamrat Bridge.

The rail is constructed parallel to the pedestrian road so that pilgrim tents in Mina are not disturbed.

Also called the Makkah Metro, the project was originally planned to be a monorail, but was changed to a conventional steel-wheel, steel-rail design running on a viaduct. The entire train system, including stations, will be elevated and pilgrims will have access to escalators and staircases to reach it.

A Chinese company has undertaken the construction of the railway lines and stations employing 5,000 workers who work round clock.

The rail network will initially link the holy sites to the Haramain Railway and other railway networks, and eventually to the Gulf Railway.

Each of the five lines of the project will have an hourly capacity to carry 60,000 to 80,000 passengers between Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, and later between Mina and Makkah. All trains will have 12 large compartments, each of which will be 23 meters long and three meters wide.

An informed source said the railroad cars and trains’ engines would shortly be shipped from China to the Jeddah Islamic Port

By  GALAL FAKKAR | ARAB NEWS |

Published: Jun 4, 2010 03:08 Updated: Jun 4, 2010 23:47

MAKKAH: The first phase of the Makkah Monorail project is expected to be completed before this year’s Haj. This will enable Haj pilgrims to use 35 percent of train service, said President of the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO) Abdul Aziz Al-Hoqail on Thursday.

This phase will connect the holy sites of Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina. This will reduce the traffic congestion, specially on the day of Arafat, to a large extent.

“While the entire project will be completed before the Haj season next year, the finishing of the first phase would mean that 35 percent of our services will be offered to the pilgrims this year itself,” Hoqail said.

This would mean that more than 50,000 cars and buses that carry pilgrims between Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina would no longer be required.

Work on the project began two years ago in the southern parts of the holy sites where majority of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia as well as Gulf countries are traditionally accommodated.

This would also mean that pilgrims will have to walk no more than 300 meters to reach any one of the three boarding stations in Arafat. Muzdalifah will also have three stations. The first station in Mina is close to Muzdalifah, the second in the center and the third close to the fourth floor of the Jamrat Bridge.

The rail is constructed parallel to the pedestrian road so that pilgrim tents in Mina are not disturbed.

The entire train system, including stations, will be elevated and pilgrims will have access to escalators and staircases to reach it.

The rail network will initially link the holy sites to the Haramain Railway and other railway networks, and eventually to the Gulf Railway.

Each of the five lines of the monorail project will have an hourly capacity to carry 60,000 to 80,000 passengers between Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, and later between Mina and Makkah. All trains will have 12 large compartments, each of which will be 23 meters long and three meters wide.

A Chinese company has undertaken the construction of the railway lines and stations employing 5,000 workers who work round clock.

An informed source said the railroad cars and trains’ engines would shortly be shipped from China to the Jeddah Islamic Port.

By GALAL FAKKAR | ARAB NEWS |

Recently, Saudi Arabia’s interior minister warned the pilgrims that they should not involve politics in Hajj. The current rulers in the Muslim lands are attempting to prevent Muslims from gathering and discussing issues and ideas which are pertinent to the future of the Ummah. Politics which is the act of "taking care of the affairs of the Ummah according to Shar’a rulings" is an integral part of Islam. We must take it upon ourselves to reclaim Islam and discuss the issues affecting the Muslim Ummah in all gatherings.

Prior to the commencement of Hajj, Saudi authorities were warning pilgrims not to stage any protests during the ritual. Saudi Arabia’s interior minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said, "It is not permitted to undertake any actions which are not part of the ritual… and we will not permit anyone to damage the hajj or the pilgrims."
Hajj is an amazing journey where Muslims have an opportunity to strengthen their relationship with Allah سبحانه وتعالى. It is also an event where Muslims from every corner of the earth gather together as one Ummah to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood. Today, the pilgrims are grouped according to the nation states they belong to. Furthermore, Muslims are not given an opportunity to bond with each other, by getting to know one another and discuss our condition as Allah سبحانه وتعالى has revealed:

إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا
"We have created you of a male and a female, and made you tribes and families that you may know each other." [Al-Hujraat, 49:13]

Obstructing the Ummah: Hajj and Beyond
The discouragement of Muslims gathering and discussing the affairs of the Ummah is not only seen at the time of Hajj. Rather, this is a recurring theme throughout the Muslim world. Rulers regularly prevent Muslims from gathering and discussing issues and ideas which are pertinent to the future of the Ummah. Such preventions are usually enforced with great hostility and aggression:
• Palestine – In November 2007, 36-year-old Hisham Baradi died in a hospital after Palestinian police shot him in cold blood. According to reports, riot police and other security forces moved in on members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir as soon as they left masjids in the cities of Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron aiming to march in non-violent demonstrations planned against the treacherous Annapolis Conference attended by Abbas and other Arab rulers.
• Turkey – In July of this year, KöklüDeÄŸiÅŸim Magazine organized a Khilafah conference in Istanbul. Two weeks prior to the conference, the organizers received permission from the Governor of Istanbul and notified him of the speakers along with a summary of their speeches. On the day of the conference – in the early morning – the Turkish police arrested (without any resistance) 200 speakers and attendees which led to the cancellation of the conference.
• Bangladesh – In September of this year, Muslims in Bangladesh organized a peaceful rally outside the national masjid after Jummah prayers calling for the re-establishment of the Khilafah and a unified Muslim Army. The rally, which was attended by several thousand Muslims was prevented by the police. Furthermore, they arrested 30 Muslim activists.
• Pakistan – In October of this year, 30 members of Hizb-ut-Tahrir were arrested in Islamabad while they were having a seminar in a residential home.

Islam: A Complete Way of Life
Islam is more than a mere set of rituals; rather it is a complete way of life. Islam does not confine the relationship between man and his Creator to his personal sphere. Instead, Islam properly recognizes that man needs guidance from Allah سبحانه وتعالى in all affairs, especially in the matters of siyasah (politics), which is "taking care of the affairs of the Ummah according to Shar’a rulings". As such, it is part of our Deen to be concerned with the affairs of our brothers and sisters across the world. Allah سبحانه وتعالى revealed:
إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

"The believers are nothing else than brothers. So make reconciliation between your brothers, and fear Allah, that you may receive mercy." [Al-Hujraat, 49:10]
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: "You will see the believers in their mutual kindness, love and sympathy just like one body. When a limb complains, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever." [Muslim & Bukhari]
The ayah and hadith make it clear that it is part of our Deen to be concerned about the Ummah. Just as our hearts fill with joy when we see our brothers and sisters in their success, we are also overwhelmed with sadness and pain when we see their hardship and suffering. As a result, it is only natural that when we meet our fellow Muslims – be it at Hajj or after prayer at the masjid – that we discuss our problems and the solutions on how to resolve them.

Siyasah in the Gatherings of Muslims
When we look to the example of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the Sahabah (ra), we see that the Muslims gathered and engaged in siyasah (politics) be they in Hajj, or outside of Hajj.
In the Hujat-al-Wada sermon which occurred during the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم Hajj, RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم discussed many issues that concern the affairs of Muslims including the property of a Muslim, riba, the obligations of men towards women and the equality of all Muslims with the exception of their Taqwa.
The masjid itself (which today is known only as a place of Juma, Jamat, Qiyamul-Layl and maybe some Islamic education) used to be the center of all activities. During the time of RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم it was a place to congregate and discuss the affairs of the Ummah. For example, the news of Zayd (ra), Jafar (ra) and Abdullah ibn Rawaha (ra) being martyred at the Battle of Mua’ta was relayed to the Muslims by the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in the masjid while he was on the minbar.
After the death of RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم and prior to burying his body – an action which Shar’a requires urgency – the Sahabah (ra) gathered, discussed and debated as to who should be the leader of all Muslims. It was after heated discussions that Abu Bakr (ra) was nominated as the Khaleefah. Only after the appointment of Abu Bakr (ra) was the body of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم buried.
During the Khilafat of Abu Bakr (ra) the tribes in the Arabian Peninsula apostatized and rebelled against the Islamic State. He then gathered the Sahabah (ra) in the masjid to discuss whether the Muslims should declare war on the apostates and rebels. When Umar (ra) was the Khaleefah, he used to meet the Wulaa (governors) during Hajj to discuss their activities and any issues of the Muslims in the region.
We can also see throughout the Islamic history stories of how the Ummah would not let any wrong pass by their eyes without correcting it even if it was the doing of a governor or the Khaleefah himself. Those in authority did not respond by imprisoning, suppressing or torturing these people rather they were quick to correct themselves as they understood the great responsibility and accountability they had before Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
When Umar (ra) was the Khaleefah, he received some cloth and distributed it equally amongst the Muslims by giving them one piece each. When he was on the minbar it was apparent that he was wearing 2 pieces of cloth. Immediately, Salman al-Farsi (ra) said, "By Allah, we will not hear you, because you prefer yourself to your people." At this point Abdullah ibn Umar (ra) explained that he gave his father his cloth. Salman al-Farsi (ra) responded by saying: "Now we shall hear you."
In another incident, Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan who was a governor ordered a person to sell a silver utensil received from the spoils of war for payment to the soldiers who went out in battle. The news of (this state of affairs) reached Ubada bin Samit (ra) and he stood up and said, "I heard Allah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم forbidding the sale of gold by gold, and silver by silver, and wheat by wheat, and barley by barley, and dates by dates, and salt by salt, except like for like and equal for equal. So he who made an addition or who accepted an addition (committed the sin of taking) interest." So the people returned what they had received. This reached Mu’awiya and he stood up to deliver an address. He said, "What is the matter with people that they narrate from the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم such tradition which we did not hear though we saw him and lived in his company?" Thereupon, Ubada bin Samit (ra) stood up and repeated that narration, and then said, "We will definitely narrate what we heard from Allah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم though it may be unpleasant to Mu’awiya. I do not mind if I do not remain in his troop in the dark night."

Seeking Solutions
The Ummah is seeking solutions to the problems that are currently plaguing it. The Muslims are growing tired of insincere rulers who would rather host a concert with scantily clad women than permit our Muslim sisters to wear the niqab at universities, as has happened in Egypt. It is fear that drives these despotic rulers to try their utmost to clamp down on any sincere gathering of Muslims working to free the Ummah of the problems that ail it. They are aware that they are sitting on borrowed thrones which do not rightfully belong to them, but rather belong to a sincere leader who will rule only by what Allah سبحانه وتعالى has revealed and fear no one but Him. It is only then that we can see this great Ummah return to the state that it was. Insha-Allah we will again see rulers who follow the method of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and fulfil their covenant towards Allah سبحانه وتعالى and the Ummah.
With ample evidence that all of Islam was discussed and that there was no separation between the rituals and other aspects of Islam we must take it upon ourselves to reclaim Islam from the treacherous rulers. By obeying only the commands and prohibitions of Allah سبحانه وتعالى we must return Islam back to the norm by making Muslim gatherings such as Hajj, the masjid and even family gatherings an arena to discuss the current affairs of the Muslim Ummah.
May Allah سبحانه وتعالى replace the current rulers with one who will work with the Ummah to resolve our issues in a manner that is pleasing to Allah سبحانه وتعالى.
وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتُ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلِيَاء بَعْضٍ يَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلاَةَ وَيُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَيُطِيعُونَ اللّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ أُوْلَـئِكَ سَيَرْحَمُهُمُ اللّهُ إِنَّ اللّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
"The believers, men and women, are Auliya’ of one another; they enjoin (on the people) Al-Ma‘ruf, and forbid (people) from Al-Munkar; they perform As-Salat, and give the Zakat, and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah will have His Mercy on them. Surely Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise." [At-Tawba, 9:71]

A man came to visit Junaid Baghdadi, whose life reflected no change, even after having performed Hajj. Junaid asked him: “Where are you coming from?”

“Sir, I have returned after performing Hajj of the House of Allah”, was the reply.

“So, have you actually performed Hajj?”
“Yes, Sir, I have performed Hajj “, said the man.
“Did you pledge that you would give up sins when you left your home for Hajj?” asked Junaid.
“No, Sir, I never thought of that”, said the man.
“Then, in fact, you did not even step out for Hajj. While you were on the sacred journey and making halts at places during the nights, did you ever think of attaining nearness to Allah?”
“Sir, I had no such idea.”

“Then you did not at all travel to the Ka’bah, nor did ever visit it. When you put on the Ihram garments, and discarded your ordinary dress, did you make up your mind to abandon your evil ways and attitudes in life as well ?”
“No, Sir, I had no idea of that.”
“Then, you did not even don the Ihram garments!” said Junaid ruefully. Then he asked; “When you stood in the Plain of Arafat and were imploring Allah Almighty, did you have the feeling that you were standing in Divine Presence and having a vision of Him?”
“No, Sir, I had no such experience.

Junaid then became a liltle upset and asked: “Well, when you came to Muzdalifah, did you promise that you would give up vain desires of the flesh?”
“Sir, I paid no heed to this.”
“You did not then come to Muzdalifah at all.” Then he asked: 0″Tell me, did you happen to catch glimpses of Divine Beauty when you moved round the House of Allah?”
“No, Sir, I caught no such glimpses.” “Then, you did not move around the Ka’bah at all.” Then he said: “When you made Sa’i (running) between the Safa and the Marwa, did you realize the wisdom, significance and objective of your effort?”
“Sir, I was not at all conscious of this.”

“Then you did not make any Sa’i!” Then he asked: “When you slaughtered an animal at the place of sacrifice, did you sacrifice your selfish desires as well in the way of Allah?”
“Sir, I failed to give any attention to that!”
“Then, in fact you offered no sacrifice whatever.”
“Then when you cast stones at the Jamarahs, did you make a resolve to get rid of your evil companions and friends and desires?”
“No, Sir, I didn’t do that.”

“Then, you did not cast stones at all”, remarked Junaid regretfully, and said:

“Go back and perform Hajj once again, giving due thought and attention to all the requirements, so that your Hajj may bear some resemblance with Prophet Ibrahim’s Hajj, whose faith and sincerity has been confirmed by the Qur’an :

“Ibrahim who carried out most faithfully the Commands (of his Lord).”
(53:37)

Source:
http://www.israonweb.com/hajj.htm