The Pilgrimage: Happiness Pure and Simple.

When the pilgrimage season approaches, people from all
corners of the world begin to arrive in their thousands.
They undertake this long and arduous trip for the sole
purpose of earning God’s forgiveness and His pleasure.

The pilgrimage journey includes certain rituals and actions
which may appear, if taken in isolation, to be devoid of a
logical purpose. Taken as a whole, and in the context of
the relationship between man and his Lord, the noble
purpose of this unique experience begins to unfold. Its
profound effect on the lives of those who undertake to do
it can then be fully appreciated.

The purpose is to make clear to man that his best course,
throughout his life journey, is to submit himself to God by
following his commandments and implementing His rules,
which have been made clear to us through His messenger.
During the pilgrimage the sense of submission is present in
everyone’s mind. The benefit is also very clear. All
pilgrims say that their pilgrimage days are undoubtedly the
happiest of their lives. When you ask for the reasons
behind this fact, the answers you receive are bound to be
‘sincerity’, ‘purity of action’, ‘honesty of purpose’,
‘feeling close to God’, ‘taking part in a grand act of
worship’, and so on.

All these answers point to one fact. That is, when people
are conscious of their submission to God, their happiness
is at its climax. Hence, if they sustain this consciousness
throughout their lives, their happiness is endless. This is
a truism which the advocates of Islam endeavor to put
across to all people. They try to show that a Muslim who is
aware of his relationship with God is always happy, no
matter what difficulties he or she encounters.

When we examine the actions a pilgrim does, we realize that
every step is taken in the name of God, every action is
done for His sake. No other cause would drive that
multitude of people to do so enthusiastically what pilgrims
do to fulfil this sacred duty.

This very fact imparts a different color to all our actions
during the pilgrimage. We begin to have a new sense; the
sense of a love relationship with God and of total harmony
with the world around us. This love relationship teaches us
how to conduct our lives so that everything we do should
first be considered from the point of view of whether it
will please God or displease Him. The harmony with the
world around us is the immediate prize we receive for our
submission to God.

All other creatures submit themselves to God. They do so by
their very nature. Of all God’s creation, man alone can
rebel and violate God’s laws. When he does that, he is out
of tune with the rest of creation. But when he is aware of
the fact that he should utilize his freedom of choice in
order to make a willing and conscious submission to God,
the result is that he lives in harmony with the world at
large. No conflict; no clash; no ‘conquest of nature’. All
join together in a sublime purpose: to build a happy human
life. When that is realized, man’s happiness is infinite.

In the pilgrimage we have a sample of such happiness. From
the moment we reach the point of meeqat on our journey to
Makkah to perform the pilgrimage, we feel that we are in a
world which is totally different from that we have known.
It is a world characterized by a perfect desire on our part
to do everything that God requires of us to demonstrate our
submission to Him. Nothing in the world takes priority over
our determination to earn God’s pleasure. Nothing is of
greater importance than earning the full reward of the
pilgrimage.

Some people, particularly those who are not familiar with
the philosophy of Islam, may raise questions about the
relation of action and reward which is central to Islam.
What we have to understand is that God does not benefit by
our actions so as to pay us a reward for them. It is we who
benefit by them. Our benefit does not come only in the form
of reward from God for our good actions, but also we are
better people for doing these good actions. This applies to
acts of worship, honest and straightforward dealings with
our fellow human beings, as well as acts of kindness and
compassion that we are willing to do without expectation of
any returns from other people.

This is indeed the purpose of all Islamic worship: to make
of us better people; to help us to attain a standard of
humanity which cannot be achieved through any other means.
Every Muslim reaps this reward in proportion to his
dedication to serve God and work for His cause. The more we
are dedicated, the more purity we show in our fulfilment of
the requirement of Islamic worship, the greater is our
awareness of the soundness of our approach to what we have
to contend with in our lives.

The pilgrimage requires total devotion and pure dedication
to God’s cause. The sense of complete submission to God’s
will is always in our minds. Considerations of class,
position, wealth, social status, family, and race are all
reduced to an infinitesimal value. They count for nothing.
Only our relation with God is alive, important and
paramount. It points out to us the road to happiness in
this life as well as in the life to come. At every juncture
in the pilgrimage, our sense of submission to God is alive
within us. Hence, we feel close to Him. In this closeness
to the Supreme Being lies man’s true happiness.





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