Hajj is not a holiday and it is not a reward for a long working life. It is an act of worship that Allah made obligatory, once in a lifetime, on every Muslim who is able to make the journey.
فِيهِ ءَايَٰتٌۢ بَيِّنَٰتٌۭ مَّقَامُ إِبْرَٰهِيمَ ۖ وَمَن دَخَلَهُۥ كَانَ ءَامِنًۭا ۗ وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ حِجُّ ٱلْبَيْتِ مَنِ ٱسْتَطَاعَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلًۭا ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَنِىٌّ عَنِ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ ﴿٩٧﴾
In it are clear signs [such as] the standing place of Abraham. And whoever enters it shall be safe. And [due] to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House - for whoever is able to find thereto a way. But whoever disbelieves - then indeed, Allah is free from need of the worlds.
So the first step of hajj does not happen at the airport. It happens in the heart, in the weeks before you leave, when you sit with yourself and ask why you are going.
For Allah, and no one else
The Prophet ﷺ described the hajj that wipes away a person’s sins. Notice the first words.
مَنْ حَجَّ لِلَّهِ فَلَمْ يَرْفُثْ وَلَمْ يَفْسُقْ رَجَعَ كَيَوْمِ وَلَدَتْهُ أُمُّهُ
Whoever performs hajj for Allah, and does not fall into intimacy or into sin, returns [free of sin] like the day his mother gave birth to him.
“For Allah” comes first. Not for the title of hajji, not for the photographs, not because the family expects it, not because a friend is going this year. Those things are not forbidden, and it is natural that they are mixed into our reasons. But the work of this week is to bring the real reason to the front, and to keep it there.
What an accepted hajj means
The Prophet ﷺ promised that an accepted hajj, a hajj mabrur, has no reward except Paradise.3 Scholars explain mabrur in a few ways that point in the same direction: a hajj paid for with clean money, done sincerely, kept free of sin and argument, and followed by a better life afterwards.
That last part matters. The sign of an accepted hajj is not how you felt in Makkah. It is who you are a year after you come home.
You are answering a call
When Ibrahim, peace be upon him, finished building the House, Allah told him to call people to it.
وَأَذِّن فِى ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلْحَجِّ يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالًۭا وَعَلَىٰ كُلِّ ضَامِرٍۢ يَأْتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍۢ ﴿٢٧﴾
And proclaim to the people the Hajj [pilgrimage]; they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel; they will come from every distant pass -
The talbiyah you will say, Labbayk Allahumma labbayk, “Here I am, O Allah, here I am”, is your answer to that call. You are answering something that was said thousands of years ago, and Allah has written your name among those who will come.
This week
- Write one paragraph. Begin it with “I am going to hajj because…” Write honestly, then read it back. Cross out anything that is about other people’s eyes.
- Look at the money. Is the money for your hajj clean? Does any of it belong to someone else, or carry an unpaid right? If you are not sure, ask a scholar now, not later.
- Tell one person and ask for their du’a. Choose someone you respect. Tell them you are going and ask them to pray that your hajj is accepted.
- Begin saying the talbiyah once a day, slowly, thinking about each phrase. You will say it thousands of times. Let it start to mean something now.