We have entered the Islamic Holy Month of Hajj, in which the first 10 days Muslims around the world seek the Reward and Mercy of Allah (God) through heightened acts of service and devotion.
Whether performing the pilgrimage or observing the sacred Hajj season in our communities, Muslims are encouraged by the significance of these days in the words of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), “There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than in these (ten) days.”
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes of this important principle action of faith in Islam on page 82 of “Message to the Blackman in America:” “The main principles of action in Islam: [are] keeping up prayer, spending in the cause of truth, fasting especially during the month of Ramadan, [and] pilgrimage to Mecca …”
Allah (God) has Revealed this “House” of worship in Mecca is a “Guidance” to the nations, “Certainly the first house appointed for men is the one at Bakkah (Mecca), blessed and a guidance for the nations. In it are clear signs: (It is) the Place of Abraham; and whoever enters it is safe; and pilgrimage to the House is a duty which men owe to Allah — whoever can find a way to it…”— Holy Qur’an, 3:96-97.
This Hajj 2024, there are nearly 3 million pilgrims projected to visit the Holy Precincts of Mecca to offer the rites of the Great Hajj. Hajj is an Arabic word that means to intend to a target, aim at, to undertake, contend with something, and to make a pilgrimage.
What are these “clear signs” in Mecca, Arabia? What is the “guidance” that Allah (God) has given the nations in the pilgrimage that He would make the Hajj, “a duty,” which we “owe to Allah—whoever can find a way to it”?
What “guidance” do the trials Abraham and his family faced, more than 4,000 years later, are wrapped within the rituals of Hajj that are reenacted by pilgrims today that are such a profound and relevant significance to the nations of the world today?
Pilgrims (Hujjaj) from the nations of the planet descend upon the Sacred Precincts of Mecca to visit the Holy Mosque and answer the call of this once in a lifetime duty repeating in rhythmic unison the declaration, ‘Labayk Allahumma labayk’ — ‘Here I am, Oh Allah, here I am!’ The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches in Study Guide 19, Self-Improvement:
The Basis for Community Development, “I have been blessed to make that wonderful pilgrimage. But, when I made that pilgrimage, it was clear to me that the pilgrimage was nothing more than a sign of another journey;
The journey of the sperm to its goal, which is to meet in Mecca, but to meet with that which Mecca represents, that which the Ka’bah represents … When you are in the Presence of God, when you have met with God, you have performed the real pilgrimage. And that, each one of us is to perform in our lifetime. Our whole life is a struggle to meet with the Source of our life.”
The reenactment of ancient rites that guide the pilgrim through aspects of the life trials of a family: Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael, on them be peace, was to establish The One God as the exclusive object of worship and a “House” of worship that signifies this purity of monotheistic faith. As Allah (God), “tried Abraham with certain commands he fulfilled them,” (Holy Qur’an 2:124).
The word Hajj also carries a central relationship to the name of the matriarch, Lady Hagar, the mother of Prophet Ishmael, son of Abraham, peace be upon them all. In Hagar’s mother language, her name means “the city.”
Why does the name of this Black Ethiopian bondswoman in Egypt point to civilization? Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “the ideal pilgrim is the one who behaved like Hagar.” The word hijrah means migration and has its root in her name, as does the word muhajir (immigrant or migrant).
Hijrah is what Lady Hagar did with her son Ishmael, directed by Prophet Abraham through “certain commands” from Allah (God) that he fulfilled in settling a part of his family in the barren wilderness, known as Paran as it is referred to in the Bible. This displayed a tremendous act of faith that would unfold down the wheel of time to bear the fruit of a New Civilization.
Allah’s (God’s) Covenant Promise to Abraham and the purified of his righteous lineage revealed in the Holy Qur’an speaks of a future Nation that would be raised from this barren place to become the spiritual center of the whole world in these words, “Surely I will make thee a leader of men …”
“… When Abraham and Ishmael raised the foundations of the House”, they prayed, “Our Lord, accept (this) from us; and make us both (Muslims) submissive to Thee.. and raise up from our offspring, a nation submissive to Thee.. and raise up in them a Messenger from among them who shall recite to them Thy messages and teach them the Book and the Wisdom, and purify them.”—Holy Qur’an, 2:128-129
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad unlocks the prophecy of Allah’s (God’s) Promise in the prophetic sayings of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and affirms the Muslim scholars on an aspect of their understanding but illuminates the ultimate fulfillment of Allah’s (God’s) Promise of His Kingdom of Righteousness.
On page 70 of “Our Saviour Has Arrived,” the Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes: “Some of the Arab scholars say that the Holy One mentioned by Habakkuk (3:3) coming from Mount Paran refers to Muhammad—and they are right.
But it does not refer to the Muhammad of the past but to the One Muhammad prophesied of in the Sunnah who came from His family in His name under the title, ‘Mahdi’ (meaning the Guide, the Restorer of the Kingdom of Righteousness).”
The Honorable Minister Farrakhan Teaches that Allah’s (God’s) “guidance” that we are being directed to is the “Sign” of the Great Hajj and is not only the journey of the individual life to Allah (God) but the journey of all humanity in the establishment of the Kingdom of Allah (God). Minister Farrakhan, in his introductory letter to Study Guide 19A, “Who Is God,” writes,
“The very ritual of Hajj is a sign of what the world will be like in totality when The Mahdi establishes the Kingdom of Islam. In that day, there will be no racism to corrupt the Spirit of Islam. There will be no sexism, there will be no materialism and there will be no nationalism. All of the corrupters of the True Spirit of Islam will be completely destroyed.”
The world has become victim to the Satanic call of these spiritual corrupters of sexism, materialism, nationalism and racism, which have corrupted the hearts of humanity with its spiritual disease from which we are suffering.
These root causes that devalue life through misogyny, poverty caused by economic injustice, war and murder are based in the Satanic thought, “I am better than he…” (Holy Qur’an, 7:12)
Pilgrims begin the journey seeking a state of mental, physical, and spiritual purity, through a series of preparations, which include prayer, bathing, cutting our hair, and wrapping ourselves in two simple seamless white garments called Ihram, an Arabic word that means to assume a state of sacredness that represent the social and political leveling of a New Order in the heavens (a new government) and the earth (a new people).
The acts of Hajj represent the abandonment of the corruptors of racism, sexism, materialism and nationalism. Through prayer, contemplation and physical exertion, we are immersed in a state of mind that prepares the pilgrim not to return from the journey the same as they came but to return renewed with purified hearts. Do we need this kind of purification? Yes, we do!
It is the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) who prophesied of a day like this—a day when he said, “My community will be destroyed because of evil scholars and ignorant worshipers.” In this Hour of the Presence of The Mahdi, Master Fard Muhammad, religious scholars are, particularly His opposers.
And He opposes the members of the corrupted ‘ulema or the religious scholars that have led Muslim nations (Ummah) to this state in which we see the weakness of these nations and their divisions exploited by the enemies of Islam bend to the will of Satan through the corruption of judgments they have adopted that are skewed by hearts that have answered the call of the Satanic impediments of sexism, racism, nationalism, and materialism.
We are in a moment in time in which the scholars, those charged with teaching the people, have deviated. Those who are charged with guiding the leaders have deviated from the Path of Allah (God), His prophets, and have placed the Book of God behind their backs!
Minister Farrakhan makes a clarion call to the world of Islam to overcome weakness rooted in fear of the loss of material wealth and the perceived might of the enemies of peace. “Do you know that our Palestinian family doesn’t have strong friendships in the Muslim world? Why is that? Are we Muslims?
See, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, ‘You are not a Muslim if you don’t want for your brother what you want for yourself.’ Now I know that the Muslim world feels the pain of the Palestinians, but they’re afraid. Afraid to stand,” Minister Farrakhan explained in his Saviours’ Day 2024 message. “I’m asking the Muslim world to stop fearing the consequence of standing.
You have taken oil money and you have bought the service of some of the finest engineers, architects, people of extreme vision and you brought them into the Middle East.”
Minister Farrakhan recalled his recent journey with a delegation to Mecca during the message. “I was in Mecca about five years ago and when I was in Mecca they showed me around to what they’re planning in 2030.
A mosque in Mecca that will hold 30 million people. And they were telling me about it, telling us about it. Showing us. I want to see you do that. But you’ll never do it if you want to see it to keep Israel from bombing you and you’re afraid to stand up for the Palestinians …”
“It is the Houthis that don’t have anything that are the brave soldiers in the Middle East. That’s not right … Don’t be afraid of those that control these little temporary things that make you feel good if you’ve got something. Don’t do that. See, because these little temporary things that’s not the real joy of God. That’s not the real promise of God. You’ll have all of that,” implored Minister Farrakhan.
It is the Thinking of the Great Mahdi and the Great Messiah that is now to be established. His Thinking is now removing from the world of Islam, religion, and humanity as a whole, the Satanic thought of arrogance.
It is He, Allah (God), Who has established among us, in The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, One that is the Representation of all kinds of good qualities, One who is a fusion, combining within himself all of the sublime virtues that are necessary to Represent Allah (God) in this time of Resurrection, as one willing to endure the Price of Redemption for the Promise of Allah (God).
“[T]he new world of Islam is coming in not the old world of Islam but a new world of Islam. We are living in the change of worlds, the old world is going out, and the new world is coming in. This is something to be happy and thankful to Allah for—to bear witness to the change of worlds,” the Honorable Elijah Muhammad proclaims in his book, “Our Saviour Has Arrived,” on page 144.
“Surely, I have turned myself to Thee, O Allah, trying to be upright to Him Who originated the heavens and the earth and I am not of the polytheists. Surely my prayer and my sacrifices, my life and my death are all for Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. No associate has He, and this am I commanded and I am of those who submit.”
This universal vow offered by Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, sums up the relationship of the devoted servant of Allah (God) in our journey of life, as we seek His Promised Kingdom.
Imam Sultan Rahman Muhammad is a great-grandson of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and serves as the Student National Imam of the Nation of Islam at Mosque Maryam, The National Center. Contact via social media @ImamSultanM or email at [email protected].
