Haj pilgrimage; the more you learn about it, the more you realise, this is not a holiday, its not a place we go for sight-seeing, its not a history tour, its not a place to be wow-ed or to enjoy. Its none of the above.
Why did God made Haj obligatory? Of all places why in a desert, in the middle of nowhere, why did God choose Mekkah, as the holy city, there are so many much more comfortable places in the world, why a hot desert?
To truly understand the answer, one needs to ask oneself,
"What is the meaning of Life?"
Most people don't actually know the answer to this, initially including me too. but the answer is really simple.
To worship and praise God , to seek God's mercy and grace.
What prevents us from doing the above? Worldly possession, this world. It is a nice place, has lots to offer, Most of us sacrifice alot to get it, including forgoing the remembrance of god. We constantly desire the comforts of this world, the luxury it has to offer.
If you had $12,000, well that money can buy you a really nice and comfortable tour package to (Europe, Australia, etc) You Would, (*pause*) Enjoy it.
But instead, if you used that money for Haj, you would end up in a desert. Hot, Crowded, alot of inconvenience, alot of restriction. No relaxation, no sightseeing, no enjoyment.
So, back to the question, Why did God choose a desert?
Before that, lets look at what other religion has.
Lets start with Christians, they have 'Vatican city'. In Italy, a nice looking place. When there is any Christian event, the focus is on Vatican city. Some people view it as a holy city. People do visit that place for Tours, Where they see nice things, enjoy good weather, no restriction, its comfortable, after tours done, they can continue with sightseeing in Italy.
So back to the desert, why desert? Why did God since the time of Adam, choose Mekkah?
Why? Its a reminder, this world does not last forever, To be reminded, do not desire too much of this world, When your doing Haj, it does not matter what your status is, you are the same as any other man, you abide by the same rules, you do the same things, for 6 days, you sleep under the same place, you endure your own filth and sweat, you wear the same cloths, which for men, there is no sewed clothing, but you wear 2 pieces of white cloth, that you will also wear when you die, You are reminded, this world IS the greatest Challenge, do not get lost in this world, Do not forget that YOU WILL DIE, and worldly possession will not follow you in your death, this world is like the desert, there is nothing significant there, its a temporary place, don't get comfortable with it, You will die and answer to god, DON'T get LOST in this world, Haj is the reminder, you will die and return back to God.
Through it we realize, during judgement day, it will come, and it will be in an even hotter desert. We all will be there. It will not be a comfortable and enjoyable place. If you have more bad deeds then good deeds, you will suffer, and be thrown to hell-fire. Hell-Fire is Real.
Remember God, remember judgement, remember hell-fire!
Why desert? God wants us to remember?
Why, God mercy on mankind, God wants all of us to be in heaven, but we MUST earn it, By making Haj obligatory, if you can afford it, with the experience that you will go through, you will remember, and (god willing) you will remember, and be a better person after Haj, hence helping you to avoid hell-fire, and with God mercy (as much as we don't ever deserve it) hopefully God will grant us Jannah (heaven).
I'm not much of a writer, but that something that been on my mind that i would like to share.
Before i end, if there was something good in this article, its is from Allah (the one God, self-sufficient, creator of all things, he who give his creation what they need, but he needs nothing from any of them, He begets not, nor was He begotten, there is nothing like him, God is one, God is ever-living, most kind most merciful).
If there any mistake, then all the bad are from me, may Allah forgive me.
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