The moment a believer leaves behind their city, their wealth, their familiar people, even their ordinary clothes — and sets out for the House of Allah wrapped in two pieces of unstitched white cloth — they lay down at the threshold of the Sacred House every title the world has ever given them. Hajj is not a tour. It is a rehearsal for the journey of death. This sermon explores the obligation of Hajj, its wisdom, the legacy of Prophet Ibrahim, and the meaning of a journey of servitude in the light of the Farewell Pilgrimage.
What Is Hajj — and Why Is It Obligatory?
Hajj literally means to seek out a venerable place for the purpose of visiting it. In the religious sense, it is to enter the state of ihram, to stand on Arafat on the appointed day, and to visit the Kaaba according to the rites of the Prophet. Like prayer and fasting, Hajj is a binding personal obligation — fard al-ʿayn — laid down by Allah Himself:
فِيهِ ءَايَٰتُۢ بَيِّنَٰتࣱ مَّقَامُ إِبۡرَٰهِيمَۖ وَمَن دَخَلَهُۥ كَانَ ءَامِنࣰ اۗ وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ حِجُّ ٱلۡبَيۡتِ مَنِ ٱسۡتَطَاعَ إِلَيۡهِ سَبِيلࣰ اۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ عَنِ ٱلۡعَٰلَمِينَ
— Surah Al-Imran 3:97In it are clear signs — the Station of Ibrahim. Whoever enters it is safe. And pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to Allah by people, by those who can make the journey. Whoever denies — Allah is independent of all worlds.
Hajj was made obligatory in the ninth year after the Hijrah. That year the Prophet (peace be upon him) appointed Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) as the leader of the pilgrim caravan; the following year, in the tenth year after the Hijrah, the Prophet himself performed Hajj. That single performance became both his first and last pilgrimage, and is known to us as the Farewell Hajj.
Hajj is distinct from the other rites of Islam. Prayer is bodily; zakat is financial; Hajj is both at once. Prayer can be offered anywhere; Hajj can only be performed in Mecca. The Prophet never asked Allah to make any other act of worship easy for him, but as he set out for Hajj he prayed aloud: "O Allah, I wish to perform Hajj; make it easy for me, and accept it from me."
That it is one of the five pillars is explicit in the famous hadith:
— Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Iman, no. 8Islam is built on five: bearing witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing the prayer, paying the zakat, performing the Hajj, and fasting Ramadan.
The Wisdom and Benefits of Hajj
Allah does not impose on His servants anything devoid of benefit. Hajj is a meeting point of worldly and otherworldly goods. Surah Al-Hajj summarises them in two verses:
وَأَذِّن فِي ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلۡحَجِّ يَأۡتُوكَ رِجَالࣰ ا وَعَلَىٰ كُلِّ ضَامِرࣲ يَأۡتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقࣲ
— Surah Al-Hajj 22:27And proclaim the Hajj to mankind; they will come to you on foot and on every kind of lean camel, from every distant pass.
لِّيَشۡهَدُواْ مَنَٰفِعَ لَهُمۡ وَيَذۡكُرُواْ ٱسۡمَ ٱللَّهِ فِيٓ أَيَّامࣲ مَّعۡلُومَٰتٍ عَلَىٰ مَا رَزَقَهُم مِّنۢ بَهِيمَةِ ٱلۡأَنۡعَٰمِۖ فَكُلُواْ مِنۡهَا وَأَطۡعِمُواْ ٱلۡبَآئِسَ ٱلۡفَقِيرَ
— Surah Al-Hajj 22:28So they may witness benefits for themselves, and mention the name of Allah on appointed days over the livestock He has provided for them. Eat of it, and feed the destitute and the poor.
In the light of this verse the chief wisdoms of Hajj can be summarised as follows:
- Breaking the grip of greed for wealth. The Prophet said: "If the son of Adam had two valleys of gold, he would seek a third; nothing fills his belly except the dust of the grave." On Hajj, money is spent for the sake of Allah, and the heart is loosened from its grip.
- Strengthening religious feeling. To see the first house ever built for the worship of Allah, to walk the streets of the city in which the Prophet was born and to which revelation descended — this transports the believer to the era of his Companions.
- Training in endurance. Hajj is not a sightseeing trip. The Qur'an itself rules out coarse speech, sin, and quarrelling during it (Al-Baqarah 2:197). The pilgrim is trained to govern their tongue and their temper.
- The remembrance of the Day of Gathering. Stripped of their ordinary clothes, men of every rank stand alike in two white sheets — a wearable image of the shroud. Hajj rehearses the Day when wealth and rank will have no weight.
- Brotherhood between believers. Hajj is the largest annual gathering in human history. People of every language and skin colour circle the Kaaba shoulder to shoulder. The notion that any tribe is intrinsically nobler than another is dissolved on Hajj.
Hajj as Expiation for Sins
When performed sincerely and properly, Hajj cleanses the believer of past wrongs. The Prophet said:
— Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Hajj, no. 1521Whoever performs Hajj for the sake of Allah, and does not utter any obscenity, nor commit any act of disobedience, returns from his Hajj as on the day his mother gave birth to him.
In another tradition the Prophet told Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with him): "Did you not know that Islam wipes out what came before it, that the Hijrah wipes out what came before it, and that Hajj wipes out what came before it?"
Scholars of hadith have clarified that this forgiveness applies to sins related to the rights of Allah, not to the rights of fellow human beings. A right owed to another person cannot be erased except by returning that right or seeking the person's pardon. As Qadi Iyad notes, the scholars of Islam are in agreement that grave sins are removed only by sincere repentance and, where applicable, by restitution.
The Prophet also described the special dignity of the Day of Arafah: "The devil is not seen smaller, more wretched, more contemptible, and more enraged on any day than on the Day of Arafah — because of the descent of mercy and the forgiveness of grave sins that he sees on that day."
Hajj Has Fixed Months and Fixed Conditions
The Qur'an names the timing of Hajj:
ٱلۡحَجُّ أَشۡهُرࣱ مَّعۡلُومَٰتࣱۚ فَمَن فَرَضَ فِيهِنَّ ٱلۡحَجَّ فَلَا رَفَثَ وَلَا فُسُوقَ وَلَا جِدَالَ فِي ٱلۡحَجِّۗ وَمَا تَفۡعَلُواْ مِنۡ خَيۡرࣲ يَعۡلَمۡهُ ٱللَّهُۗ وَتَزَوَّدُواْ فَإِنَّ خَيۡرَ ٱلزَّادِ ٱلتَّقۡوَىٰۖ وَٱتَّقُونِ يَٰٓأُوْلِي ٱلۡأَلۡبَٰبِ
— Surah Al-Baqarah 2:197Hajj is in well-known months. Whoever undertakes the Hajj in those months — there should be no obscenity, no sinful conduct, and no quarrelling. Whatever good you do, Allah knows it. Take provisions; but the best provision is godliness. So be mindful of Me, O people of understanding.
Hajj is obligatory only once in a lifetime. Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that al-Aqra ibn Habis asked the Prophet: "Is it every year, O Messenger of Allah?" The Prophet remained silent until the question was repeated three times, then said: "Had I said yes, it would have been incumbent every year, and you would not have been able to bear it. Those before you perished because of their many questions and their disagreements with their prophets."
The conditions for Hajj to be obligatory on an individual are seven: being Muslim, of sound mind, having reached the age of responsibility, being free, possessing the financial means to travel and return, having reached the time of Hajj, and knowing of its obligation. To these are added the conditions for actual performance: physical health, safety of the road, freedom from imprisonment, and — in the Hanafi school — the presence of a husband or mahram for a woman travelling beyond the recognised travelling distance.
Stories
Prophet Ibrahim's Call and the Building of the House
Allah commanded Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) to raise the foundations of His House together with his son Isma'il. The Qur'an records their prayer at that moment: "And when Ibrahim was raising the foundations of the House, together with Isma'il, saying: Our Lord, accept this from us; truly You are the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing" (Al-Baqarah 2:127).
When the building was complete, Allah instructed Ibrahim: "And proclaim the Hajj to mankind" (Al-Hajj 22:27). Ibrahim said: "My Lord, how shall my voice reach them?" Allah answered: "You proclaim — and reaching them is upon Me." That call still reaches millions every year, drawing them to the same valley.
Before the House was raised, the valley of Mecca was a barren place. After the House was raised, it became the orientation of every prayer on earth. Hajj is not a circumambulation of stones — it is a circumambulation of the loyalty to monotheism that Ibrahim left there.
The Farewell Hajj and the Last Testament to the Believers
In the tenth year after the Hijrah, on the 25th of Dhul-Qa'dah, the Prophet set out from Medina on what would become the Farewell Hajj. More than a hundred thousand Companions travelled with him. At Arafat, near Jabal al-Rahmah, he stood on his camel Qaswa and delivered his Farewell Sermon. In it he declared the blood, wealth, and honour of believers inviolable; he abolished pre-Islamic usury and the cycle of blood vengeance; he laid down the rights of women on their husbands; he commanded the people to take their Hajj rites from him; and he assured them that they would never go astray if they held fast to the Book of Allah and his Sunnah.
At the end of the sermon he asked three times: "Have I conveyed?" The Companions answered: "Yes, O Messenger of Allah, you have conveyed." The Prophet raised his finger toward the sky and said: "O Allah, bear witness." On this Hajj the verse was revealed: "Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and chosen Islam as your religion" (Al-Ma'idah 5:3). It was the Prophet's last Hajj and his last great public address.
Bishr ibn al-Harith and the Man on His Way
Imam al-Ghazali records in Ihya' Ulum al-Din the following episode. A man preparing for a voluntary Hajj came to Bishr ibn al-Harith, a scholar and ascetic of his time, and said: "I am going on Hajj — do you have any instruction for me?" Bishr asked how much money he had; the man answered: "Two thousand dirhams." Bishr asked: "Do you go on Hajj for the love of the Kaaba, for asceticism, or for the pleasure of Allah?" The man answered: "For the pleasure of Allah."
Bishr then said: "If I show you a way to earn Allah's pleasure while staying at home — will you take it?" The man said: "Yes." Bishr continued: "Give those two thousand dirhams to a debtor who cannot pay, to a hungry family, to the guardian of an orphan. To gladden a Muslim, to relieve the burden of a distressed soul, is more rewarding than a hundred voluntary Hajjs. But if your heart still leans toward the journey, tell me honestly." The man said: "In truth, my heart leans toward the journey." Bishr smiled and said: "When wealth comes from doubtful earnings, the soul wishes to display its good deeds. But Allah accepts only from those who fear Him."
This account concerns voluntary Hajj — not the obligatory pilgrimage. For one who has the means, the obligatory Hajj cannot be replaced by charity; the obligation stands.
Putting Hajj Preparation Into Practice With VAAZ
The dua archive in the VAAZ app gathers the talbiyah, the intention, the supplications of tawaf and sa'y, and the travelling prayers in one place. To prepare the soul for Hajj, the 99 Beautiful Names of Allah collection gives access to Al-Quddus, As-Salam, and Al-Wahhab — names that explain how the journey of Hajj is also a journey of taqwa.
For the close companion practice of Qurban, see Sermon on Qurban; for the larger historical setting of the pilgrim journey, see Sermon on Hijrah. Hajj is the journey on which the believer most fully steps out of the "I" and into the "we" of the Muslim community; its repentance of ihram, supplication of Arafat, and dhikr of tawaf lay the foundation of a worship that continues for years.
In his blessed sermon the Prophet said: "The reward for an accepted Hajj is nothing less than Paradise." The best provision for the believer is godliness — and the highest dignity is to return from the House of Allah as pure as on the day one's mother gave birth to one.
References
- The Noble Qur'an, Surah Al-Imran 3:97.
- The Noble Qur'an, Surah Al-Baqarah 2:196-198.
- The Noble Qur'an, Surah Al-Hajj 22:27-28.
- The Noble Qur'an, Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:3.
- The Noble Qur'an, Surah Al-Baqarah 2:127.
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Iman, hadith no. 8 (the Five Pillars).
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Hajj, hadith no. 1521 (Hajj wipes out sin).
- Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Hajj (narrations of the Farewell Hajj).
- Abu Dawud, Sunan, Book of Hajj Rites (al-Aqra ibn Habis narration).
- Imam al-Ghazali, Ihya' Ulum al-Din, Book of the Secrets of Hajj.
- Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa bi-Ta'rif Huquq al-Mustafa.
- Presidency of Religious Affairs, Islamic Catechism, Hajj Section.