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Dear visitors,
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Islamonline Live Dialogue Editing Desk
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Lily
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What were your feelings when you returned from hajj? did your character change?
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Salam, Sister.
When you are back from Hajj, your feelings are overwhelming and multifaceted beyond description. Yet, the most prevailing two feelings is gratefulness to the Divine Who endowed you with such a blessed journey, along with the sensation that you are back from a world that you never wanted to desert!
The journey of Hajj is a journey that takes you to a heavenly world on earth. Physically hectic to wash a human body that has encountered sin. Along with the physical wash, the soul elevates and exalts up towards the Divine, to the extent that while you are there, your heart hardly wants you to come back to your worldly life. Yet, your mind orders you to come back to fulfill your obligations and duties of spreading love and peace in this life.
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Jumail
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What did you feel when you first knew that you are goinig to hajj? I mean when everything was ok and you got the visa and everything?
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Salam, Jumail.
The whole thing was a complete surprise to me. My first reaction when I knew that I was accepted was again the feeling of gratefulness to Allah. I couldn't but bow in a sajdah (prostration) to Allah, thanking Him for His generosity with me, the humble pleading servant, for I have asked Him to go for Hajj for years and here I was going in a glimpse.
Alhamdu li Allah, I only applied for Hajj around thirteen or fifteen days before I traveled and my visa was surprisingly accepted five days before I traveled. I read this to be a Divine gift and God's acceptance to my du`aa'. Thus, I think I should keep every promise I promised God during my Hajj and cherish my experience dearly.
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Ed.
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Are you willing to go there again and why?
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Salam, Ed.
Yes, definitely!
It is my dream to go there again and again… I wish I would go to Hajj a year after another and another.
Of course this is just a dream. To be practical, there is never the money for that, nor one can ever take the place of the millions others who need to go for their own pilgrimage. But, I can't help dreaming.
Hajj is a brilliant and a very spiritual experience where one go physically and spiritually seeking God. The days of Hajj are counted and they run out of your hands like water, but they are engraved in your memory forever.
The more your body strives in this journey, the more your soul encounters and gets closer. A simple example that I recall my daily journeys during the 3 days of throwing the pebbles, when I used to walk a long, long distance in the sun from my camp to the place where pilgrims throw their pebbles. This daily journey was physically hectic, sunny and highly emotionally.
The moment you throw the pebbles, you feel you are throwing your sinful self. You sense you are throwing away any dark moments in your past and that you are coming back as white as the pilgrim atmosphere.
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Rushi
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Did you drink from zamzam water? how did you feel?
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Salam, dear friend.
Yes, I did drink from Zamzam water. I drank till I was full alhamdu li Allah. I nearly drank no other water while I was in Makkah. What I felt amazing is how blessed this water well is for having been there all those years __countless years__ since the time of Prophet Isma`il (Ishmael), up till our days. Yet, the water is still there, splendid and abundant. It is plentiful after all those years that it is enough to cover the thirst of each pilgrim and each one would even take home bottles and jars for his or her beloved ones. An amazing fact for me, it was and is.
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Annyomous
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Did you worship the ka`bah in your pilgrimage?
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Salam, dear friend.
No, I did not worship the Ka`bah in my pilgrimage. Thank you for giving me the chance to clarify this matter. I only worship Allah, the One and Only Sovereign Creator of all that exists. I act and worship as any Muslim should do. I worship Him, for He is the Loving Divine Who has created us all and everything that exists out of nothingness and has provided us with all our abilities to love, think, laugh, move, contemplate and innovate, etc. He has made us what we are and who we are.
As for the Ka`bah, it is but a symbol, nothing else. It is never a symbol of the Divine. But, circumambulating it in our tawaf during our Hajj, is a symbol of so many things among which is our submission to our Lord Who has ordered us to do so. I simply submitted peacefully to my Merciful and Endowing Divine and followed His decree by circumambulating the Ka`bah seven times as Muslim should do. When I did, I found that my soul found more peace and tranquility in approaching Allah by applying His orders.
Also, when I prayed in the mosque where the Ka`bah is _in front of the Ka`bah_ it emphasized in my heart the feeling of unity between all Muslims. During their prayers, they are all set with one heart, worshipping the same God, directing their bodies and faces towards the same direction. This gave me the sense of equality and emphasized the symbol of Oneness that is the core of my creed.
To sum up, I do not worship any but God, nor should any Muslim.
Please read the following links for more explanation:
The Black Stone… an Idol?
Preparing Your Heart for Pilgrimage
Honor the House, Kiss the Stone?
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Kameela
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How much have you changed after pilrimage?
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Salam, Kameela.
Thank you for your lovely question.
I am much happier. This what I can tell you.
I am much happier soul. I have learnt how to enjoy my acts of worship and rituals much more. My belief in du`aa' has become profound, for this is how I have achieved my journey in the first place. I have sincerely asked Allah to help me go to Hajj, while all worldly reasons indicated that I was not going on that year. Yet, somehow, God accepted my prayers and helped me go.
Also, it is miraculous how you would stand on the Mount of Arafat and supplicate your precious secrets to Allah, or during your circumambulation of the Ka`bah, or even at drinking Zamazam, or at any other ritual and then, when you are back, gradually you find that God fulfills your du`aa and accepts your supplications. These blessings of Hajj reflect on your life a day after the other. These are the reflections of a couple of my pilgrim friends, not only me.
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Muhammad Ali
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Engineering Student
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Assalaam-o-Alaikum,
Why one sheds tears suddenly when he/she first see Ka'ba?
Pray for me that Allah give me chance to be there,Allah bless all.Ameen
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Salam, brother Muhammad.
We do shed sudden tears when we first see the Ka`bah for millions of unexplainable reasons! No matter how many times you go, each time you see it, you stand in awe in front of a humble squared room of bricks and stones, wondering what is so spiritual about the cubed chamber! You can't help but remembering the Prophetic wordings, dropping tears by the Black stone: "Here are the drops of tears to be shed…".
Scholars might have written encyclopedias about the matter my dear friend. But, I am no scholar. I am a worshipper who happens to call for God's path. I have visited the Ka`bah numerous times and each time I can't help my tears. My heart is over there, somehow taken as if there is a magnet that collects hearts.
I do pray for you brother and for all my beloved ones to visit the sacred lands and go for their Hajj. I pray you all enjoy what I have enjoyed and taste what I have tasted and even beyond.
Salam.
Please check the following link:
Honor the House, Kiss the Stone?
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