22.

Sura Hajj (or The Pilgrimage)

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

O mankind! Fear your Lord. Lo! The earthquake of the Hour of

Judgement will be a tremendous thing! On the Day every nursing mother will
forget her sukling-babe, and every pregnant female shall drop her load
(unformed). You will see mankind as in a drunken riot, yet not drunk: But
dreadful will be the wrath of God! Yet there are people who dispute about god
without any knowledge and follow stubborn rebellion evil one! Even after the
warnings there are men who are such fools as to turn away from God Who
created them and cherishes them with His love and care; they become outlaws
in His Kingdom, making friends with Evil, which is a rebel in God’s
Kingdom. O mankind! If you have any doubt about the Resurrection, just
consider your own creation! God created you out of dust, then out of sperm, a
clot, then it turned a morsel of flesh – partly formed and partly unformed –
then this rests in the wombs for an appointed time period for its further
development and then God brings out the humans as babes. He then causes
you to grow to an age of full strength. In between some of them are called to
die and others reach to their feeblest old age – forgetful of their past acquired
knowledge. Further, look at the barren life-less earth. It is stirred up when God
pours rain on it and gives out every kind of growth (in pairs). All these
beautiful and well-articulated pageants of life and nature point to one Truth –
the Reality behind them – i.e. God, Almighty. They will all perish, but He is
Eternal with His ineffable glory. Hour has to come when He will raise up all
His humans for their accountability and their Final Lodging place, either –
Gardens of Bliss or Fire of Hell: for God is not unjust to His servants.

There are some men whose mind is not firm in faith: They serve God
when all goes well; but when they are faced with some trial, they just turn
their faces away from Him, call such deities besides God, who could not profit
them in any way. These are the people who lose both, this world and the
Hereafter. Verily those who believe and do righteous deeds will be admitted in
Garden of bliss, under which rivers flow: for God carries out all that He plans,
guides those whom He likes. Your Lord is witness to all things. On the Day of
Judgement, He will judge between those who believe in the Qur-an, follow the
Jewish scriptures, and the Sabians, Christians, Magians, and Polytheists. To
God bow in worship all the things that are in the heavens and earth – the sun,
moon, stars, hills, trees, animals; and a great number of people among the
mankind. But a great number of people are such, fit for punishment and
disgrace. None can raise to honour: for God carries out what He wills. The two
parties of antagonists, viz., Men of Faith and the Men who reject Faith, dispute
among themselves. For the second party, there are garments of Fire and
Boiling Water in the Hereafter. There will be no escape for them from that as,
no argument shall be entertained and will be told to taste the Penalty of
Burning!
 Those who believe and do righteous deeds, they will be admitted in the
Gardens under which the rivers flow. They will be adorned therein with
bracelets of gold and pearls and shall be wearing the garments of silk. These
people are those who were guided to the purest of speeches and to the Path of
God, Who is Worthy of all Praise. But who reject God and keep back men
from the Way of God; and from the sacred Mosque (Haram), which your Lord
has permitted the entry to all men – the locals as well as the visitors. Anyone
whose purpose is blasphemy or wrong doing, they will be subjected to
grievous Penalty.

The site of Mecca was granted to Abraham (and his son Ismail) for a
place of worship that was to be pure (without idols, to be paid to One True
God) and universal. Pilgrimage was proclaimed, people came to it from every
quarter, near and far, on foot and mounted. That they may witness the benefits
(spiritual uplift and social contact of faithful) provided for them. Further, to
share in sacrifice, and prayer and praise. The sacrifices, too, are symbols of
Piety of Heart, a longing to share with fellow-men in the bounties of God.
Such is the Pilgrimage which is good in the sight of the Lord (The three
special deays of Hajj are the 8th, 9th, 10th of the month of Zul-hajj; and then two
or three days subsequently. The day of commemorative sacrifice – Id-ul-
Adhha – is the 10th of Zul-hajj: the meat then killed is meant to be eaten for
food and distribution. The sacrifice is performed at Mina – 5 or 6 miles from
Ka’ba – finally at the end; i.e. all the rites have been performed, Tawaf, Safa
and Marwa, and Arafat). And shun the word that is false, – turning in faith to
God, and never assign partners to Him: if anyone assigns partners to God, he
is as if he had fallen from the sky and the birds had snatched him or the wind
had blown him to a far-off place: such is his state.

To every people, God assigned rites of sacrifice, that they might

celebrate the name of God over the animals and submit your wills to Islam.
God’s devotees fear Him; maintain patient over their distress and grief; keep
up regular prayer; and spend in charity out of what God has bestowed upon
them. The sacrificial camels have been made for you as among the Symbols
from God and in them is much good for the people. Pronounce the name of
God over them before the sacrifice. Feed yourselves and give others as gifts
and to the poor ones. It is not their meat nor the blood. That reaches God: it is
your piety that reaches Him: He has given power over the brute creation and
permitted us to eat meat, but only if we pronounce His name at the solemn act
of taking life, for without this solemn invocation, we are apt to forget the
sacredness of life. Glorify God for His guidance in this matter; and should
proclaim the true doctrine, so that virtue and charity may increase among men.
Verily, God loves not any that is a traitor to faith, or shows ingatude.

Those believers against whom war is initiated, permission is granted to

them to fight back in their own defence as they are wronged by the other part:
God is Most Powerful to aid them in their fight. Those who have been unjustly
driven from their houses, only because they say: “Our Lord is God”. Had not
God repelled such unjust people by means of others, monasteries, churches,
synagogues and mosques; in which God is commemorated in abundance, had
been pulled down: God certainly aids His cause as He is Full of Strength and
Exalted in Might. Those to whom God helps are the people who if established
on the land, establish regular prayer, give regular charity, enjoin the right and
forbid the wrong: With God rests the end and decision of all affairs. If they
treat your (O Muhammad) mission as false, same was the case with the
prophets before you. The people of Noah, ‘Ad, Thamud, Abraham, Lut,
Companions of Madyan, Moses, rejected the apostles. But God granted respite
to the Unbelievers. But after the appointed time they were greviously
punished. Number of other populations were destroyed for their wrong-doing,
leaving behind their destroyed lofty castles and idle wells. Do they (the
Meccan infidels) not travel through the land to see the ruins and gain the
wisdom? It is not only their eyes are blind but hearts too! They even then ask
to hasten on them the Punishment! Verily, His existence is absolute, and not
conditioned by Time or Place. What we call a thousand years may be nothing
than a day or a minute to Him. To Him is the destination of all.

Say to them (O Muhammad) that it is the Apostle’s duty to convey the

warning in the clearest terms to the wicked. It is no part of his duty to coerce
them or judge them, or bring on the Punishment for them. That only rests with
God. But the warning is itself full of Mercy: for it gives the highest hope to the
repentant sinner who turns and comes to God. But those who try to frustrate
His Signs will find themselves in inferno of Hell. When ever an Apostle
(rasul) or a prophet (nabi) sent to the people and recited the message, Satan
proposed opposition to the message. But God abolished His revelation. To an
evil mind Satan’s proposal is a trial and a temptation from Evil One. But to a
mind well instructed in Faith, it stands self-condemned at once, and becomes a
means of strengthening the Faith and to conform to the Will of God. The
people who have knowledge believe that Qur-an is the Truth from the Lord
and believe in it and their hearts are open to receive it. Indeed, God guides
those, who believe, to the Straight Way. For those who reject the Revelation,
the channels of Mercy that flow from God, closes. Suddenly, all earthly scales
fall from his spiritual eyes. But then there will be no time for repentance. The
Penalty of the Day of Disaster will be their final goal. The judgement will
come from your Lord. Those who believed and did righteous deeds shall be in
the Gardens of Delight while the unbelievers who denied God’s Signs, will be
subjected to a most humiliating punishment.

Those of the believers, who leave there homes in the cause God, and
then were slain or die, – God will bestow on them goodly Provision (i.e. all the
provision necessary to quip the person for a full and happy Future Life – may
be a provision for his dependence and near and dear ones in this life).
Martyrdom is the sacrifice of life in the service of God. Its reward is therefore
even greater than that of an ordinary good life. A martyr’s sins are forgiven by
the very act of martyrdom, which implies service and self-surrender in the
highest sense of the word. God knows all his past life but will forbear from
calling him to account for things that should strictly come into his account.
Muslims are enjoyoined to bear injuries with patience and return good for evil.
But in cases retaliation is permissible, provided the injury inflicted is not
greater than that received. But if the other side acts aggressively and goes
beyond all bounds, a believer is entitled to protection from God in spite of all
his facults: for God is One that blots out sins, and forgives again and again. It
is He Who merges Night into Day and Day into Night; and hears and sees all
things. That is because God is the only Reality, and those, besides Him whom
the unbelievers invoke, are just vain Falsehood: For God is He, Most High,
Most Great. Do you not see how God sends down rain from the sky and makes
the earth green? He is Who understands the finest of the misteries and is well
acquainted with them. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth;
– He is free of all wants and Worthy of all Praise.

Do you not see that God has subjected to man all that is on the earth; –
the ships that sail on the seas, withholds or pours the rain from the sky, gives
life and takes it away and will again cause the entire mankind to rise up from
the dust. Truly man is an ungrateful creature; – God is Most Kind and Most
Merciful to man. To every People God assigned rites and ceremonies to
perform (those in Islam rest on the highest social and religious needs of man):
So let them not dispute with you (O Muhammad) on the matter; invite them to
your Lord as you are on the right Path. God knows what you are doing; and
He alone will judge between you and them on the Day of Judgement. God
knows all that is the heavens and on earth. Indeed all is in the record, and that
is easy for your Lord. Inspite of this knowledge and reality of life and death,
they worship, besides God, things for which they have no authority from the
heavens. For those that do wrong there is no helper. The Unbelievers deny
God’s Clear Signs and become aggressive to those who rehearse the Signs: For
them is the inferno of Hell as their eternal abode.

O People! Here is a parable for you! Listen to it! Those whom, besides
God, you – the Unbelievers – call upon, cannot create even a fly, if they all
meet together for the purpose! And if the fly should snatch anything from
them, they would not even try to release it from the fly; – both idols and their
worshippers are poor, foolish, feeble creatures! Men are chosen as Messengers
out of their own brethren: for ordinary men will not be able to understand most
refined beings as angels. But angels are sent as Messengers to God’s chosen
apostles, to convey the Message from time to time. In either case, they are
chosen by God, are subject to God’s Will, and should not be worshipped as
God. As God regards the humblest of His creatures and hears their
supplication. So, you who believe! Bow down, prostrate yourselves; adore
your Lord; do good; so that you may prosper (in this life and in Hereafter).
Further, strive (unselfish striving for spiritual case, in sincerity and under
discipline) in His cause. He has chosen you (O Muslims!) and has not imposed
any difficulties on your system of religious worships. It is universal; and was
the system of worship of your father Abraham. It is He Who has named you
“Muslims”, both before (Jews, Christians, and Arab Quraish) and in this
Revelation. That the Apostle may be a witness for you, and you be witness for
mankind! So establish regular prayer, give regular charity and hold fast to
God! He is your Protector – the Best to protect and the Best to help.