I Wish I Could Be On Hajj Right Now

It is the blessed ten days of Dhul Hijjah and maybe some of us are feeling like we are missing out and would like to be on hajj, feeling our purpose, busy in worship, walking, striving with our wealth, our bodies, our soul and our hearts.

And maybe some of us even had Hajj booked but it got cancelled and we are feeling the sting.

 

AND YES, WE ARE NOT IN MAKKAH, WE ARE NOT ON HAJJ AND WE ALL WISH WE COULD BE...

 

BUT MAYBE...

 

EVEN IF....we can’t spend our wealth to go and fulfil the obligation of Hajj in ALLAH’s way,

 

WE CAN...spend our wealth on whatever will please ALLAH in HIS way.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t travel to Hajj and the house of ALLAH,

 

WE CAN... travel with our hearts to our Rabb and make our hearts a home for HIS remembrance.

 

EVEN IF... we can’t strive to travel to the places ALLAH has honoured and honour them,

 

WE CAN...strive to honour what ALLAH has honoured here (e.g. parents and teachers),

 

WE CAN...strive to honour the sanctions and commands of ALLAH here where we are.

 

EVEN IF... we can’t strive to honour the Kabah -the house of ALLAH,

 

WE CAN... strive to honour the houses of ALLAH near us,

 

AND WE CAN... make our homes a place of prayer.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t strive to walk in ALLAH’s way on hajj and make each step count,

 

WE CAN...move our bodies with intention and make each step and each movement count for our RABB.

 

EVEN IF... We can’t strive to exalt ALLAH in every way we can think of and not waste a moment of these precious moments we have in those sacred places,

 

WE CAN... strive to exalt ALLAH’s name in whatever place we find ourselves and not waste a moment of these days that are left in other than that.

 

EVEN IF... We can’t strive to make as much dua as possible and ask for everything on the mount of Arafah,

 

WE CAN...strive to make as much dua as possible during these days of Hajj and on the day of Arafah,

 

AND WE CAN... fast and make dua when we break our fast in these blessed days.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t  strive to stone the devil,

 

WE CAN...strive to repel him, fight his whispers within ourselves and fight his causing dissension among us.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t strive to sacrifice the best animal we have there in those sacred places,

 

WE CAN...sacrifice an animal wherever we are in ALLAH’s way,

 

AND WE CAN...sacrifice of ourselves for ALLAH’s sake.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t walk between the mounts of Saffa and Marwa to glorify ALLAH in the best way we know,

 

WE CAN...walk with our hearts towards good, have hope in our Rabb for fulfilling our need the way HE fulfilled Hajar (alaihis salam)’s need and strive in HIS way even if we can’t see the end the way she did.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t strive to honour the sanctity of those scared places,

 

WE CAN...sanctify what ALLAH has sanctified everyday (e.g. salah, wudu, parents, the rights of the believers).

 

EVEN IF... we don’t have that ease we find on Hajj in controlling our tongues and our hands from doing any evil or speaking any evil,

 

WE CAN...strive despite the difficulty to control our tongues and our hands from doing any evil.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t find the ease of controlling our hearts from anger against persons who push and shove and take your place in the queue like we do on Hajj,

 

WE CAN...strive against the difficulty to remove anger and forgive those that have wronged us and those that we hold long standing resentment against knowing that they are human like us and if we ourselves can wrong our RABB who is SO GREAT then so what if an imperfect creation of ALLAH wrongs our minuscule selves.

 

EVEN IF....we can’t strive to control our bodies and be in the sacred state of ihraam,

 

WE CAN...strive to not cut our nails or hair,

 

AND WE CAN...strive to stop our bodies from doing anything that is impermissible to us at all times;

 

WE CAN stop our eyes from gazing at haram,

 

WE CAN stop our ears from listening to haram,

 

WE CAN stop our tongues from talking idly,

 

Etc..

 

EVEN IF...we can’t strive to help any other worshipper we see striving and having difficulty during the rites of HAJJ,

 

WE CAN...strive to help our fellow Muslims and worshippers in their everyday difficulties in life and appreciate that everyone is facing their own test that is hard for them.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t strive to keep patient upon the tiredness and fatigue of HAJJ, keep patient on ALLAH’s decree and the waiting in the queues HE writes for us, striving to keep patient upon our fellow Muslim’s pushing and shoving that might usually anger us,

 

WE CAN...keep patient on the tiredness and fatigue we face in worshipping our Rabb,

 

AND WE CAN...keep patient upon the withholding or the delays of our RABB in giving us what we seek,

 

AND WE CAN...keep patient upon the hurt and upset that those close to us cause us intentionally or inadvertently.

 

EVEN IF..we can’t strive to be patient upon minimal clothing, tiredness, minimal food, minimal housing and difficult physical situations,

 

WE CAN...strive to control our nafs to not hoard too much, to not eat too much, to not sleep too much,

 

AND WE CAN...strive to fight our nafs’s inclination to make a home in this dunya but rather build a home in the next life.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t  to join the rivers of flowing people on the paths of hajj in the glorification of their Rabb,

 

WE CAN...join the millions of slaves around the globe that glorify HIM and feel that unity in our glorification of HIM.

 

AND WE CAN tune our hearts into hearing the constant glorification of the angels around the Arsh and feel that unity with them when we glorify HIM too,

 

AND WE CAN...tune our hearts to hear all the creation - the sun, the moon, the stars, the trees, the blades of grass, the birds, the galaxies and what is beyond what we can know - glorifying HIM and we can feel that unity in our glorification of HIM.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t to answer the call of ALLAH, be at HIS service near HIS house and proclaim the talbiya out loud with our tongues;

 

Labbayka ALLAHumma labbayk(a),

 

At Your service, Allah, at Your service. At Your service,

 

WE CAN...proclaim our service to HIM with our hearts, our tongues and our pens wherever we are and then BE AT HIS SERVICE through every action that we do.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t strive to proclaim the divinity and oneness of ALLAH and being at total service and submission to HIM through the talbiya in those sacred places:

 

labbayka lā sharīka laka labbayk(a),

 

You have no partner, at Your service.

 

WE CAN...proclaim that divinity and oneness within our homes, within our families, within our circle of friends and most of all we can proclaim it and feel it within our hearts. WE can rely fully on HIM alone, want of HIM alone, expect of HIM alone.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t proclaim HIS praise, HIS power and HIS sovereignty through the talbiya in those holy places of Hajj;

inna l-ḥamda wa n-ni’mata, laka wa l-mulk(a),

 

Truly all praise, favour and sovereignty is Yours.

 

WE CAN...proclaim HIS praise, acknowledge HIS favours and bow to HIS sovereignty wherever we are right now and in every moment of the day and maybe we can even dedicate a fixed amount of time to think of HIS blessings and thank HIM for them consciously with our hearts and minds present.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t strive to proclaim HIS lack of partners through the talbiya in those sacred places:

 

lā sharīka lak.

 

You have no partner.

 

WE CAN...remove anything other than ALLAH that is competing for importance in our hearts over HIM. (Maybe we are out of balance, and our unbalanced love of parts of the dunya - our homes, our children, our possessions, our studies, our jobs, our spouses) is making us neglect other things that ALLAH has given a right over us. Maybe if we replaced the love of these things with the love of ALLAH then we would give everything it’s due right without excess in any area.

 

EVEN IF...we can’t strive to stand at Muzdalifah and make dua before fajr,

 

WE CAN...strive to stand in the last part of the night and pray to our Rabb Wherever we are.

 

 

EVEN IF...we can’t be on hajj,

 

WE CAN...be in service of our RABB with our wealth, our bodies, our thoughts, our time and our hearts.

 

WE HAVE FOUR DAYS LEFT and the most powerful and blessed of the ten days - the day of Arafah - yet to come. So let’s not give up. Let’s strive hard and let’s make it count. Let’s make it like a hajj outside of hajj.

 

Ya ALLAH give us success in both dunya and aakhirah and after our striving here, call us to strive near your house on Hajj aswell. Ameen.

 

Your sister and coach on this journey to your Rabb,

 

Maryam

Xxx