Revolt against the Worship of Matter
It was also necessary for a Muslim to rebel, once in a
while, against the cold and cheerless intellect. A life which
is not occasionally shaken by tumult and revolt is not worth
living. A man should, at times, liberate himself by breaking
the fictitious bonds of habit and custom, of pedantic law,
artificial taboos and stereotyped conventions, and handing
over the control of his affairs to the heart. He should, at
least once in a lifetime, go into wilderness in the manner of
a dejected lover and give a proof of the sweet madness of love
as the want is of the people of faith and sensitiveness for
only then can he have a taste of real freedom. Who will call
him free who is permanently a slave to convention and society?
How can a person be a true 'Monotheist when he is a prisoner
of his own habits, desires and inclinations? How can he be
considered loyal and faithful if he is always obeying the
dictates of the mind and unless he weighs everything in the
scales of his created intellect and its material advantages
become apparent to him he cannot arouse himself to a deed of
devotion and fidelity?
The Hajj, in its particular form, is entirely opposed to
the selfimposed laws and the mechanical routine of life the
worshippers of matter and intellect and the prisoners of
discipline and orderly conduct are addicted to. What it aims
at is that faith in the Unseen and the urge and ability to
carry out an order, blindly and unhesitatingly - simply
because it is an order - may take root in one's inner self and
the cold and calculating intellect may be dispossessed, for a
time, of its authority which weighs and balances everything
and lays stress only on its logical and perceptible aspect.
Imam Ghazali has delved deep into the spirit and purpose of
the Hajj and drawn an excellent portrait of it with his
inimitable pen. He says:
"In its nature and design the House of Allah is like a
regal court to which adorers and admirers, and those stricken
with the torment of separation, come from far and near,
way-worn, haggard and dishevelled, with their heads bowed in
submission and the conviction of their wretchedness embedded
in their hearts, forgetting themselves before His Glory and
Magnificence and knowing fully well and affirming
wholeheartedly that He is too Sublime, too Exalted to be
encompassed by a boundary-wall or contained in a city or town,
so that their devotion and servitude and crying and
lamentation may reach their limit and nothing is left waiting
by way of obeisance and self-surrender.
"That is why they are required to carry out certain acts
and perform certain rites that lie beyond the domain of the
intellect, such as, Rami Jemar and Sa'ee. All these acts
signify the highest form of slavery and bondage. Zakat is an
exercise in compassion the purpose of which is easily
understood. Sawm is a spiritual discipline for
self-purification and suppression of the evil. propensities
the Devil exploits in order to gain his end, and in it the
aspect of devoting oneself to prayer by cutting down other
engagements is manifest. In Salaat, the Greatness and Glory of
the Lord and the bondman's own humbleness is revealed through
Ruku, Sujud and other acts which are also conducive to
meekness and self-abasement. But Rami Jemar and Sa’ee and the
other similar rituals of the Hajj impart no joy or
satisfaction to the heart. They do not appeal to human nature
and the intellect also does not discover any sense or purpose
in them. These acts are performed solely in a spirit of
obedience, knowing that it is the command of God which has to
be carried out in any event. The idea is to divest the mind of
its authority and dominance and to keep the self away from
things for which it may develop an inclination because when
the mind fully accepts a thing the heart automatically gets
inclined to it and the inner bent or liking itself becomes the
mainspring of action. The spirit of complete surrender and
submission is, thus, lost in its observance. It was said by
the Prophet pointedly at the time of the Hajj, 'Here I am for
the Hajj with a true heart and in a spirit of obeisance and
servility.' The Prophet did not use these words for any other
mode of worship including Salaat.
"Since God, in His Wisdom, has made salvation dependent
upon the carrying out of duties with loyalty, devotion and
humbleness the devotional acts and observances (whose inner
significance is beyond the understanding of man) are more
efficacious in diverting the attention from self-purification
and virtuous to complete self-surrender.")
Of the ritual of Rami Jemar, Ghazzali tells that its very
essence lies in absolute submission to a Divine Command. “Its
aim", writes he, "is abstract obedience and compliance with
commands, irrespective of their nature, so that complete
servitude became evident. Reason or volition have nothing to
do with it. It, further, signifies a resemblance with Hadhrat
Ibrahim for it was at this place that the accursed Devil had
tried to tempt him and to create a doubt in his mind about the
Hajj pilgrimage and Hadhrat Ibrahim was inspired by God to
throw pebbles at him so that he left him alone. Now, if
someone were to imagine that Hadhrat Ibrahim had thrown
pebbles at the Devil because he had appeared before him in
reality but since, in his own case the Devil wan not to be
seen, it was senseless to carry out the formality he should
know that this notion, too, had been planted in his mind by
the Devil in order to weaken his resolve to humble him."
"Know that," he goes on to stress, "Apparently you threw
the Pebbles at Jemaratul Uqbah (the last Pillar) but, in fact,
they hit the Devil in the face and break his back for nothing
humiliates him more than the carrying out of a Divine Command
solely out of reverence for Him and in a spirit of loyalty and
obedience, without choice or intellect having a share in it."
Similarly, about, Qurbani (sacrificial offering of animals)
Imaam Ghazali observes:
"Know that compliance with
the command of Qurbaani is a means to the propitiation of
Allah. It should be carried out readily and in the hope and
expectation that God, in His mercy, will protect each and
every limb of yours from the fire in return for each and every
limb of the animal sacrificed by you. That is how it occurs in
the Traditions. The bigger the sacrificed animal is, the
greater will the reward be on it.”