THE STATE OF IHRAM

The �Book of Pilgrimage� deals with the pilgrim�s attire and with the place where he puts on the garments of a pilgrim, entering into the state of ihrAm (�prohibiting�), in which he is forbidden to do certain things till he has completed his worship at Mecca.

For his dress, he is forbidden to �put on a shirt or a turban, or trouser or cap� (2647).  The use of perfume is disallowed during the state of ihrAm, but not before and after.  �I applied perfume to the Messenger of Allah as he became free from IhrAm and as he entered upon it,� says �Aisha (2683).  �The best of perfume,� she adds in another hadIs (2685).

author : ram swarup

AN IDOLATROUS IDEA

Considered from the viewpoint of Muslim theology, the whole idea of pilgrimage to Mecca and the Ka�ba is close to being idolatrous.  But it has great social and political importance for Islam.  Even the very first Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca under the leadership of Muhammad was perhaps more of a political demonstration and a military expedition than a religious congregation.

In the sixth year of the Hijra, Muhammad started out for Mecca to perform the �umrah ceremony (the lesser pilgrimage), the very first after coming to Medina.  He headed a pilgrim force of fifteen hundred men, partially armed.  In order to swell the number, he had appealed to the desert Arabs to join him, but their response was lukewarm, for no booty was promised and they thought, as the QurAn puts it, that �the Apostle and the believers would never return to their families� (48:12).

Even so, fifteen hundred was an impressive number, and anyone could see that this was hardly a band of pilgrims.  The Meccans had to enter into a treaty with Muhammad, called the Treaty of Hodeibia.  Muhammad regarded this as a victory for himself, and a victory it turned out to be.  Two years later, by a kind of delayed action, Mecca succumbed.  In this year of victory, pilgrimage, or hajj, was declared one of the five fundamentals of Islam.

Two years later, in March A.D. 632, Muhammad undertook another pilgrimage; it turned out to be his last and is celebrated in the Muslim annals as the �Farewell Pilgrimage of the Apostle.� Great preparations were made for the occasion.  It was meant to be more than an assembly of believers.  It was to be a demonstration of the power of Muhammad.  �Messengers were sent to all parts of Arabia inviting people to join him in this great Pilgrimage.�

After the fall of Mecca, Muhammad�s power was unrivaled, and the Bedouin tribes understood that this summons was more than an invitation to a pilgrimage of the type they had formerly performed on their own, at their own convenience and for their own gods.  It was also, they knew, a call to submission.  Thus, unlike the last time, their response on this occasion was great.  �As the caravan moved on, the number of participants swelled,� until, according to some of the narrators, it reached more than 130,000 (SahIh Muslim, p. 612). Everyone was in a hurry to jump on the bandwagon.

author : ram swarup

The book on hajj (�setting out�) is full of ceremonial details which have little interest for non-Muslims.  Its ninety-two chapters contain minute instructions on the rites and rituals of the pilgrimage, providing useful guidance to a hajji (pilgrim) but of dubious value to a traveler of the Spirit.

author : ram swarup

OTHER FASTS

Several other fasts are mentioned.  One is the Ashura fast, observed on the tenth day of Muharram.  The Ashur day �was one which the Jews respected and they treated it as �Id� (2522), and in the pre-Islamic days, �Quraish used to fast on this day� (2499); but after Muhammad migrated to Medina he made it optional for his followers.  Other voluntary fasts are mentioned, but we need not go into them here.

One interesting thing about these fasts is that one could declare one�s intention of observing them in the morning but break them without reason in the evening.  One day, Muhammad asked �Aisha for some food, but nothing was available.  Thereupon Muhammad said: �I am observing fast.� After some time, some food came as gift, and �Aisha offered it to Muhammad.  He asked: �What is it?� �Aisha said: �It is hais [a compound of dates and clarified butter].� He said: �Bring that.� �Aisha further narrates: �So I brought it to him and he ate it�; and then he said: �This observing of voluntary fasts is like a person who sets apart Sadaqa out of his wealth.  He may spend it if he likes, or he may retain it if he so likes� (2573).

author : ram swarup

THE MERITS OF FASTING

There are many merits in observing the fasts.  �The breath of the observer of fast is sweeter to Allah than the fragrance of musk,� Muhammad tells us.  On the Day of Resurrection, there will be a gate called RayyAn in Paradise, through which only those who have fasted will be allowed to enter-and when the last of them has entered, �it would be closed and no one would enter it� (2569).

The recompense of one who combines fasting with jihad will be immense.  �Every servant of Allah who observes fast for a day in the way of Allah, Allah would remove, because of this day, his face from the Fire of Hell to the extent of seventy years� distance� (2570).

author : ram swarup