The call for Hajj

Auto-generated transcript:Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen. Wassalatu wassalamu ala al-sharafi al-anbiya wal-mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbuhu sallam. Tasliman kaseeran kaseera. Wa min baadu. My brothers and sisters, I am here in Mecca. We completed our Umrah yesterday, alhamdulillah. And we have not been able to come for, I think, for the last eight years almost. So, it was very nice, very lovely to be here and to be able to complete the Umrah. Allah made it very easy, alhamdulillah. We completed the Umrah in a very short time, alhamdulillah. Although the crowds, a lot of people, alhamdulillah, to the house of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And among the reminders that I always get, anytime I am feeling tired or something, alhamdulillah. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala shows me somebody who is probably, I won't say twice my age because I am now at an age where nobody can live twice my age. But certainly much older than I am. Maybe 10, 20 years older maybe, Allah knows. But doing Hajj, doing Umrah, making Tawaf, as well as little children. So, alhamdulillah, there is no excuse for feeling tired or anything like that. It's the house of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that attracts people from all over the world. The greatest, most cosmopolitan, most multicultural, multiracial gathering in the world is the Hajj. There are many gatherings where people gather in their thousands and in the hundreds of thousands. But if you look at the plurality of the gatherings, there are hundreds of thousands. People from practically every single country, every single nation in the world. And people of all levels of society, from the wealthy, wealthy and the wealthiest to the poorest. They all come to the house of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said in Surah Al-Hajj, إِنَّ أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِي بِبَكَّةَ مُبَارَكًا وَقُدًا لِلْعَالَمِينَ Surely the first house of worship established for humanity is the one at Bakkah, a blessed sanctuary and a guide for all people. The first house of worship, meaning, somebody might argue and say, well, chronologically we know that there have been temples in Egypt, and temples in India and other places, which, Angkor Wat, for example, in Indonesia, in Bali, and different places which are probably much older. The house that Ibrahim alayhi salam built, the Kaaba, is approximately about 4,000 years old. And somebody might argue and say, well, you know, there are temples which are older than that. The house of worship here means, the house of worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Creator Jalla Jalaluhu wa Manawaluhu, who has no partners. So the house of worship of, in the sense of Tauhid, the house of worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone, without partners, without associates, without anyone to share His kingdom, share His power, share His authority, because there is no one who shares His kingdom, who shares His power, who shares His authority. And that is the house that Ibrahim alayhi salam built. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him the hukm. And he said, And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him the hukm. Allah said, And call all the people to the pilgrimage. Call all the people to Hajj. They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel from every distant path. And today they come in. Plane loads upon plane loads. I was here once, many, many years ago. And we went to Majid al-Aisha for the mirkhat, to put down the ihram. And I saw there a truck, a container truck in the container. They had made a platform midway. They had made a platform in height. So there were people sleeping on top and people sleeping below. And this had come all the way from Uzbekistan. They had driven this truck all the way from Uzbekistan. And this truck, you looked at it, it looked like it was something manufactured by Adam alayhi salam, who was a young boy, who was a youth. Allah knows. Adam alayhi salam was never a youth. But the point being that this is an ancient truck. And the drivers and the mechanics who keep these things running, they are geniuses in engineering, believe it. People come. And then these people, these are all actually whole families and related families traveling together. So they camp, and they cook their food, and they wash their clothes. The whole thing, it looked so incredible. I really wished that I was... At that time, I was... I wished I was a man. was about 20 years old or something and I would ask to go back with them to Uzbekistan just for the trip just to see how it all happens so people who love Allah people who love the house of Allah people who love to come to the house of Allah and then I said about this house Allah said in in it meaning in this house in Masjid al-Haram are clear signs understanding place of Ibrahim the maqam of Ibrahim whoever enters it should be safe whoever enters the masjid is safe pilgrimage to this house is an obligation is of is made fard by Allah upon whoever is able among the people and whoever disbelieves meaning whoever does not make the pilgrimage even after being able then surely Allah is not in need of any of his creation I remind myself when you there are may Allah have mercy on us there are many people who in the best of the best of intentions I'm not casting aspersions on anybody but best of intentions they say please make dua that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala should call us for hajj we should get the call for hajj and I say to them I said I remind myself the only call that you and I will get is the call of deaths of malakul maut everything else that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made for the call has already been given as I mentioned to you the audience from surah tul hajj very clear very clearly Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has said he asked Ibrahim alaihissalam to give the call so the call for hajj was already sent four thousand years ago and that call is for every Muslim who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has made capable every Muslim has Muslim who Allah has given the capacity to make Hajj. So first and foremost, we need to be grateful to Allah that Allah has given us the capacity to make Hajj. Because there are so many people in the world who would like to go for Hajj, but who cannot go for Hajj because of health issues, because of monetary issues. And maybe neither of these, but because they have some other critical things that nobody else can take care of. For example, they might have some person who is very ill in the family or has some conditions in the family and they have nowhere to keep them or something. So there are people with all kinds of difficulties and they would love to go for Hajj. And on the other hand, we have other people who have Allah has blessed them with health and wealth and so on. And who do not make the intention to go for Hajj. Who do not make the effort. And they say, I'm waiting for the call. Believe me, there's no call that's going to come. No call for Hajj is going to come to anybody. You want to go for Hajj because you should go for Hajj. And you know that this is fardh on you. And if you want to do that, then make the effort, right? Make the niyah, make the plan, get yourself a passport, get yourself a visa, buy a ticket, do all this. And believe me, you do all that, you will find yourself here. As simple as that. There's no magic formula. You make the effort, you will come. If you buy the ticket, what will happen? At the time of the flight, you've got to get on the plane. Another very important thing to understand and remember is that Allah is Al-Aadil. Allah is the Just. Allah is SubhanAllah Huwa Al-Haqq. So if Allah makes something fardh on every person who can afford to do it, who is capable of doing it. Then Allah will not call some and not call some, and then punish the ones He didn't call. So this whole idea that you can only go for Hajj, or you can only go for Umrah, when the bulawa comes, when the call comes. This is complete rubbish. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, if Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala were to call somebody, and only such people, if they could do Hajj or Umrah, then if Allah punishes the ones that He did not call, then this would be an unjust act on the part of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. To accuse Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala of injustice is kufr. You get out of Islam, period. So to say that I didn't go because I wasn't called is a sign of complete and gross ignorance. So please understand this. As I mentioned before, the call was sent out to all humankind, 4000 years ago by Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam. That's it period It is for us to respond to the call Right The call will not come in your name When the Mawzeen calls He does not say No He says Who is it for For every human being On the face of the earth Muslim or non-Muslim The one who responds to that Is the Muslim who loves Allah And who understands his responsibilities And his duties The one who does not respond to it Whether it's a Muslim or a non-Muslim The call is for him or her also Please understand that It's not only for Muslims It's for all of humankind And all of humankind Those who respond are the blessed Those who respond are those who bless themselves By their actions By responding to the call of Allah Same thing As far as Hajj is concerned We have all been called It is for us to respond So please never say I will go when I am called As I told you The only thing that you will actually be called by Called for by your name Is your death Nothing else Second big confusion That happens especially in the subcontinental people Is the issue of Hajj al-Akbar And they say Hajj al-Akbar is the Hajj Which is on Friday And therefore This has superior value It has more reward Again If that were the case This would be accusing Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala