{"id":112999,"date":"2018-07-23T04:32:03","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T03:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/?p=112999"},"modified":"2018-07-23T19:56:56","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T18:56:56","slug":"hajj-the-time-is-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/khutbahbank.org.uk\/v2\/2018\/07\/23\/hajj-the-time-is-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Hajj: the time is Now!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Shaykh Yasir Birjas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Shaikh Yasir Birjas<\/p>\n

Khutbah by Shaykh Yaser Birjas |\u00a0Transcribed by Sameera\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

[The following is the video and transcript of Shaykh Yaser Birjas\u2019s khutbah \u201cHajj: The Time is Now.\u201d\u00a0The transcript is slightly modified for the sake of readability and clarity.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

[youtube 7lMPPrEOtl0]<\/p>\n

My dear brothers and sisters, a few years back, I remember a brother in his 50s come to me.\u00a0 He came to me after Ramadan, similar to this time.\u00a0 He said, \u201cShaykh, could you please help me understand, \u00a0I would like to go to Hajj.\u00a0 Can you explain to me how it feels to be in Hajj?\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard so many people talk about it and watched so many documentaries, but how does it really feel to be in Hajj?\u00a0 Why is it so special that everyone who goes to Hajj has a wonderful experience?\u201d\u00a0 I said, \u201cThis is one of those experiences that you can never express or explain in words.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to Hajj, you can never explain it in words.\u00a0 I can tell you as much as you want about it, but it is not like being there and living Hajj yourself.<\/p>\n

I received the exact same question recently.\u00a0 This means it is always on people\u2019s minds, regardless of where they live or how old they are.\u00a0 They are always thinking about it because they know that when it comes to Hajj, Allah\u00a0\u00a0promises every person who goes to Hajj and his Hajj is considered mabroor (righteous, good, faultless), complete amnesty.\u00a0 Their sins are forgiven.<\/p>\n

The Prophet\u00a0said, \u201cWhoever goes to Hajj and did not engage in any acts to invalidate the Hajj (sexual acts, bad words, argumentation with people, etc.), this individual comes back home just like the day he was born.\u201d\u00a0 What does this mean?\u00a0 Completely innocent.\u00a0 A clear page.\u00a0 Your records are clean.\u00a0\u00a0 You come fresh.\u00a0 All of your past sins and faults have been canceled if your Hajj was accepted.<\/p>\n

Allah\u00a0\u00a0said, \u201cHajj is during well-known months.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Shawwal<\/em>\u00a0is one of the months and then\u00a0Dhu\u2019l-Qi\u2019dah<\/em>and then the ten days of\u00a0Dhu\u2019l-Hijjah<\/em>.\u00a0 This means that we have less than three months to fulfill your Hajj obligations.\u00a0 Why am I bringing up this issue today even though Hajj is far away?\u00a0 For too many people, Hajj is still too far.\u00a0 It is still too far because they believe they are young and think they have many years to come before going to Hajj.\u00a0 For others, they are still too far because they are too busy.\u00a0\u00a0Alhamdulillah<\/em>, Allah made Hajj once in your lifetime, so they will do it on their schedule\u00a0bi\u2019idhnillah<\/em>. But it is coming sometime in the future.\u00a0 It is too far for so many people because they never made Hajj a priority.\u00a0 When it comes to their lives, they have so many things they are engaging themselves in. They want to go to Hajj \u201cwhen it is time to go to Hajj.\u201d\u00a0 What is that moment when you call it \u201ctime for you to go to Hajj\u201d?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spoken with so many young men and middle-aged people.\u00a0 When you talk to them about Hajj, they say, \u201cWe want to go to Hajj so that when we come back, we come back as completely different people.\u201d\u00a0 Meaning:\u00a0 \u201cI want to enjoy my life now, and then when I go to Hajj and come back, I will have that transformation and not do the bad things in\u00a0dunya<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 They think that they are still young and it is permissible for them to engage in whatever they do that is considered bad and wrong so that when it is time, they go to Hajj and come back and mature.\u00a0 They put their Hajj at the age of maturity, whether they are 25, 30, 40, 50 or 60.\u00a0 Many push their Hajj to be late, thinking that it is better to be late so that when you do it, you come back again\u00a0insha\u2019Allah<\/em>\u00a0preparing yourself for nothing but departure of this world so that at least they have their sins erased.<\/p>\n

Do you have any contract with Allah\u00a0to give you life until the next season of Hajj?\u00a0 Does anyone have this guarantee that they are going to live until they fulfill the obligation of Hajj?\u00a0 How many people do you and I know who have died and were unable to go for Hajj for whatever reason?<\/p>\n

Others have been blessed with health, youth, time, age, heart, and spirit and they are still pushing the obligation of Hajj.\u00a0 Even though you know it is permissible for you to delay it, it is better for you to go to Hajj now before next time.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Hajj is addictive!\u00a0 Allah\u00a0\u00a0says, \u201cWe made this House [the Ka\u2019bah in Masjid\u2019l-Haram]\u00a0mathaabatalli\u2019l-nas<\/em>\u2026\u201d\u00a0 The word \u201cmathaabatalli\u2019l-nas<\/em>\u201d in the tafsir means hujjaj keep coming back year after year after year.\u00a0 In other interpretations of this ayah, it means the individual\u2019s heart always wants to go to Hajj and is always attached to the House of Allah\u00a0.\u00a0 They wish they were there every single year.<\/p>\n

Ask those people who have been for Hajj.\u00a0 Hopefully their experience was magnificent and amazing.\u00a0 If they have been to Hajj, they will wish they weren\u2019t praying salat\u2019l-Eid that day because they want to be at Hajj.\u00a0 When you are Hajj, you are doing the rites of Hajj.\u00a0 When many of them come to pray salat\u2019l-Eid, they have a flashback in their mind to the rites of Hajj and they wish they were there.<\/p>\n

Those who have been for Hajj know that it is a blessing from Allah\u00a0.\u00a0 Those who have been to Hajj know how much they have gained from that experience.\u00a0 Yes, we are human beings and tend to forget, but every time they remember that experience of Hajj,\u00a0subhanAllah<\/em>, they start shivering out of the awesomeness of the experience of going to the House of Allah.\u00a0 For those of you who haven\u2019t been for Hajj, I\u2019m giving this khutbah for you because I know you still have two months to make your plans.\u00a0 Yes, you plan to go for Hajj five years from now, but I\u2019m telling you, take the opportunity and advantage while you can.\u00a0 Sort your priorities correctly and go to Hajj this year.<\/p>\n

If you enjoyed Ramadan, then make it better.\u00a0 If your Ramadan experience this year was amazing, then make it magnificent and go to Hajj this year.\u00a0 Even if you plan to go five years down the road, go to Hajj now and I guarantee you that you won\u2019t change your plans five years later and will still go.\u00a0 Once you do it one time, you will see how much your heart is attached to the House of Allah\u00a0.\u00a0 It is a magnificent experience that cannot be explained by words.<\/p>\n

For those of you who are young, don\u2019t wait until you are old because the best Hajj experiences are when you are young.\u00a0 Your body can handle the effort and you can do things much more than when you are older.\u00a0 You can walk distances between Arafah and Mina and between Mina and Masjid\u2019l-Haram in Makkah.\u00a0 You can walk between the\u00a0manasik<\/em>\u00a0and you will be happy, even as you go through the pain of the distance and walking.\u00a0 You are still happy and rejoicing that you are doing it for the sake of Allah\u00a0\u00a0because you are doing what the companions and the Messenger of Allah\u00a0\u00a0did.\u00a0 You will enjoy the experience.\u00a0 As you become older, it becomes harder and harder and you cannot enjoy the experience and cannot handle the pressure.\u00a0 Go when you are young, and you will still enjoy when you go when you are older.<\/p>\n

EXPERIENCES OF HAJJ<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are the experiences of Hajj?\u00a0 To encourage those who would like to go to Hajj, here are some words on the magnificent experience of Hajj and what you can expect when you go to Hajj.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0You see the glory and greatness of Allah\u00a0<\/strong>.
    \n<\/strong>How is that?\u00a0 You see all of these people coming from all over the world.\u00a0 I was a student in Madinah for four years,\u00a0alhamdulillah<\/em>, and I remember these years.\u00a0 Every Ramadan brought so many people for Umrah.\u00a0 Then there is less than a month, a buffer time, when those who came for Umrah leave and the area becomes empty.\u00a0 Suddenly, out of nowhere you see people coming from all over the world.\u00a0 Hujjaj come in the hundreds of thousands and Madinah and Makkah become so full.\u00a0 People come from all over the place, and you even lose a sense of direction and sense of place.\u00a0 People speak different languages and come from different backgrounds and represent different cultures.\u00a0 There are different colors all around you \u2013 a magnificent sight!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Allah mentioned to us the beauty of the diversity.\u00a0 \u201cWe made you into tribes and people of different colors, backgrounds, languages, so that you may get to know one another.\u201d We see this in the Hajj.\u00a0 People sit down and don\u2019t have a common language and start talking a sign language, but they enjoy the experience, the food, and helping one another fulfill the obligation of Hajj.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u00a0You see no status among the people other than being servants of Allah\u00a0<\/strong>.
      \n<\/strong>Specifically, when you put on your\u00a0ihram<\/em>and start making your\u00a0tawaf<\/em>and\u00a0sa\u2019i<\/em>and go to Mina and Arafah, no one will recognize if you are a minister or teacher or director or this or that.\u00a0 No one can tell.\u00a0 Regardless of how fancy or expensive your\u00a0ihram<\/em>is, a few hours later, it is not as fancy as it used to be.\u00a0 You will all look alike.\u00a0 People will not call you by your title.\u00a0 Even if you try to zoom out of the beautiful scene of tawaf around the Ka\u2019bah, who are you in that crowd?\u00a0 You are like nothing in these waves of people who come from all over the world.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The beautiful thing about it is that they all come unified for one purpose:\u00a0 to dedicate their service to Allah\u00a0, and that is what they keep saying:\u00a0 \u201cLabbayk allahumma labbayk<\/em>(in Your service we are here)\u2026 \u00a0We are answering your call, O Lord! \u00a0We associate no partners with You.\u00a0 We answer Your call.\u201d<\/p>\n

      Allah\u00a0\u00a0looks at the crowd in Arafah and He sees the hands and the people as they are making du\u2019a.\u00a0 Allah asks the angels \u2013 and He\u00a0knows, but He is showing this beautiful scene to the angels \u2013 \u201cTell Me what these people want from Me.\u201d\u00a0 Allah knows the answer.\u00a0 They say, \u201cYa Rabb, they are coming here asking for Your Mercy and Your Forgiveness.\u00a0 They are coming here admitting their faults and wanting Your Mercy.\u201d\u00a0 Allah\u00a0answered them saying, \u201cBe my witnesses that I have forgiven them their sins.\u201d<\/p>\n

      When people put their hands down and the sun goes down on Arafah, they realize that the most important day of Hajj is almost done.\u00a0 That is an amazing feeling.\u00a0 I can\u2019t describe this!\u00a0 Specifically, the last hour of the day of Arafah.\u00a0 Some people may relax during the day, but in the last hour those who really came for the Hajj, this perhaps will be their most important hour of their lifetime as they stand there waiting for the sun to go down and wishing that it won\u2019t go down.\u00a0 They keep asking Allah\u00a0\u00a0over and over again.\u00a0 Allah gives them an energy that they themselves are surprised to know that they have.\u00a0 You see yourself in a completely different way.\u00a0 You see something in yourself that you never saw before if you really dedicate your time and dedicate your life on that day to the worship of Allah.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. \u00a0You see people coming from different parts of the world.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        When you go there and look around, although unfortunately these days the new developments around the Haram have taken away the traditional beauty and you cannot see the mountains or the old sites that surrounded Makkah to remind you of the original Makkah as it perhaps looked when the Prophet\u00a0\u00a0was there.\u00a0 When Ibrahim\u00a0\u00a0was there, it was a barren place, completely empty.\u00a0 Ibrahim\u00a0\u00a0fulfilled the command Allah gave him to build the House literally in the middle of nowhere.\u00a0 He fulfilled the command of Allah because Allah knows best.\u00a0 When he built the Ka\u2019bah, Allah commanded Ibrahim\u00a0\u00a0to call the people.\u00a0 Ibrahim\u00a0\u00a0said, \u201cHow will I be able to do that, ya Rabb, when I am just one individual?\u201d\u00a0 Allah\u00a0answered him, \u201cYou do the call, and We will deliver them.\u201d\u00a0 Allah\u00a0\u00a0says, \u201cProclaim to the people the Hajj.\u00a0 They will come to you on foot and on camel from every distant pass.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Wallahi<\/em>, I have seen this!\u00a0 You have seen cars coming from far away, and if you ask them how long they have been on the road, they will tell you from even before Ramadan.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 They want to make sure they arrive on time.\u00a0 I have seen people coming from places near Makkah but they decided to walk to fulfill this ayah.\u00a0 They walk from distances away from Makkah just to fulfill that obligation and to fulfill the promise that Allah gave Ibrahim\u00a0.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. \u00a0The unity of the Muslim ummah.
          \n<\/strong>You see everyone unified there.\u00a0 In our communities, even in one masjid, there are differences of opinions and disagreements even though the cause is one.\u00a0 The cause is to have a wonderful experience and wonderful services to bring people together for the deen and the masjid, but still in some communities there are some issues.\u00a0 When it comes to Hajj, regardless of the issues we have with each other, when it comes to making\u00a0tawaf<\/em>, no one will make\u00a0tawaf<\/em>against the flow.\u00a0 No one is going to do\u00a0sa\u2019i<\/em>from the opposite side just to make a statement.\u00a0 No one can do that.\u00a0 Regardless of how you put your\u00a0ihram<\/em>on, it will look the same.\u00a0 Hajj unifies the people and brings them all together.\u00a0 They make same rituals, make the same call, make the same number of\u00a0tawaf<\/em>andsa\u2019i<\/em>.\u00a0 They do exactly the same thing.\u00a0 The best time to see this unity and how they all get together in one flow and one path is when you walk from Arafah to Muzdalifah.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how many of you have seen this because most people ride the buses to go to Muzdalifah.\u00a0 If you get the chance, then walk from Arafah.\u00a0 There are streams of hujjaj walking from Arafah heading towards Muzdalifah.\u00a0 These streams start coming together, making small highways and streets.\u00a0 Then they become two major highways.\u00a0 Imagine the darkness of the night and the lights on the highway.\u00a0 People are all following the same course and chanting the same call with different accents.\u00a0 These are millions of people walking.\u00a0 There are two main highways like two rivers flowing.\u00a0\u00a0 They merge in one huge path.\u00a0 They are walking peacefully \u2013 no pushing and no shoving.\u00a0 They keep merging together towards Muzdalifah.\u00a0 This is perhaps one of the most beautiful sites I have seen.\u00a0 Every time I go there, I stop at that bridge which connects the two highways and start looking at this site and crying.\u00a0 It is an amazing sight!\u00a0 You don\u2019t see yourself alone.\u00a0 You realize how great this\u00a0ummah<\/em>\u00a0is and how big and how huge a blessing it is to be from this\u00a0ummah<\/em>\u00a0of Muhammad\u00a0.\u00a0 Unfortunately, not so many people realize that.\u00a0 Many are still not making this their priority.<\/li>\n
        2. \u00a0This is a reminder for the Day of Judgment when you are all standing in front of your Lord\u00a0<\/strong>carrying nothing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Regardless of how much you try to carry with you, what else can you carry except the belt around your waist?\u00a0 Nothing much.\u00a0 What will you be carrying in there anyway?\u00a0 You won\u2019t be carrying whatever you fancy from this\u00a0dunya<\/em>.\u00a0 You will carry the essentials.\u00a0 That is exactly the essence of this\u00a0dunya<\/em>.\u00a0 When you stand before your Lord\u00a0, you should carry nothing but the essentials, the things that will help you go through the journey.\u00a0 This is what you care about.\u00a0 Even if you become so blessed in this\u00a0dunya<\/em>, when you go to Hajj, you will still only carry with you the essentials.\u00a0 This means that it is okay to go and pursue the blessings of this world, but use it for the pleasure of the\u00a0aakhirah<\/em>\u00a0to please your Lord\u00a0.<\/p>\n

          Hajj is an amazing spiritual experience.\u00a0 It is not about just going for five days to perform particular rituals and rites and coming back again, shaving your head.\u00a0 This is not the experience of Hajj.\u00a0 Hajj is profound and deeper.\u00a0 It penetrates the heart and the soul.\u00a0 Those who go to Hajj and experience Hajj\u00a0 the way it is supposed to be come back completely transformed into completely different personalities.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t done your Hajj this year and you have the time and the luxury of wealth, then do it!\u00a0 Don\u2019t wait and don\u2019t delay.\u00a0 Even if you plan to go two or three years from now, just go this year if you can.\u00a0 If you go once, then you will love to go again and again and again.\u00a0 This is the promise of Allah\u00a0.\u00a0 If Allah blessed you with one time, then\u00a0bi\u2019idhnillah,<\/em>\u00a0He will bless you again and again to go to Hajj.<\/p>\n

          When people come to ask me about Hajj, the most common question they ask is:\u00a0 \u201cShaykh, which travel agency or Hajj agency do you recommend for me?\u201d\u00a0 I say, \u201cWhy?\u201d\u00a0 They are looking for the preparation.\u00a0 If you want the travel agency, the best one is the most righteous.\u00a0 Which one is that?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 You need to carry it in your heart.\u00a0 Regardless of with whom you go, make sure you carry with you the best provision.\u00a0 With whom should you go?\u00a0 Who are the best people to go with?\u00a0 There are different degrees of these companies, but\u00a0wallahi<\/em>, it doesn\u2019t matter as long as you carry in your heart the best provision, which is\u00a0taqwa<\/em>, righteousness and piety.\u00a0 Of course they may assist you in making it better for you, but whichever group you go with, make sure you work on your spiritual provision in preparation for Hajj, more than the material sustenance.\u00a0 The material sustenance is easy to find.\u00a0 What you really need over there is righteousness and piety.\u00a0 Hajj will test your patience to limits you have never seen before.\u00a0 It pushes you far beyond your limits.\u00a0 This is the purpose of it.\u00a0 How much can you handle on the Day of Judgment?\u00a0 If you prepare yourself financially and make everything well for you to go to Hajj, you better think about the other side of your sustenance.\u00a0 What are you carrying in your heart?\u00a0 Why are you going for Hajj?\u00a0 What are you trying to achieve when you go to Hajj?\u00a0 That is what matters the most!\u00a0 Righteousness and piety are the provisions that you carry with you when you go for Hajj.<\/p>\n

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