Here are a few ways Muslims throw their Pilgrimage rewards into the mud:
HAJJ TOOTH (EYÍN MẸ́KÀ)
Of what significance is the so-called Hajj tooth if not to show off? You want people to know you’ve gone for Hajj, right? Did you just say no? If no, why fix it as part of your teeth? From who did you learn that?
Hajj as a pillar of Islām is like Salāh (the second pillar) that should be observed for Allāh alone. Fixing the Hajj tooth is like fasting with a raised placard with the content, “I am fasting.” Surely, you will not want to do that. Why then do so in the case of Hajj? Why waste away a tremendous reward that should ordinarily turn you into a newborn considered clean as snow and sinless as an Angel. Allāh says:
“So woe unto those performers of prayers. Those who delay their prayer. Those who do good deeds only to be seen…” (Sūratul Mā’ūn – Q107 V4-6)
THE ALHAJI/ALHAJA APPELATIVE
It was narrated to me, sometime ago, that the chairman of a marketers’ association somewhere in Lagos said he went on pilgrimage so his elderly-subordinates – some of whom are old enough to father him – would no more address him except by the title, Alhaji. What a hapless intention!
Some Muslims get unprecedentedly angry when they are addressed without touting, trumpeting, dittoing or echoing the title, Alhaji or Alhaja, as if in it lied licence to Allāh’s pleasure. Acting as such is a glaring display of showoff. You should rather be worried about your reward if you are addressed as such. When you are called Alhaji or Alhaja, you should always renew your intention. It is customary in this part of the world to address anyone who has gone on pilgrimage as Alhaji or Alhaja. So whether you like it or not, you will bear the title. And as common, your original name may even become faded in the mouths of the people.
SPECIAL PRAYER
What about pre and post-hajj prayers where wining and dining take place after a supposedly intensive recitation of selected Qur’ānic chapters (or even full) by a crowd of alfas who will eventually go home with their pockets fattened? What for? Isn’t Hajj special enough? Isn’t pilgrimage prayer-inclined? What is the pre-hajj prayer about? Where did we get that? Can there be any prayer that is as powerful as the ones said at the Ka’bah? So what is the post-hajj prayer about? Is someone underrating the potency of Allah’s House? You had better think, dear pilgrim.
SABAKAH NIGHT
This is the height of the mess, and of course, the peak of the trash. People who freshly returned from Hajj will gather in their numbers, usually in a hotel hall, at the wee hours of the night. They will wine indiscriminately, dine wastfully and dance shamelessly with each participant having on his head the so-called sabakah cap.
The supposed Alhajas and Alhajis, some of whom are wives and husbands, may end up humping and shagging each other somewhere in that home of shaytān. Innā liLLāhi wa innā ileiHi rāji’ūn! The most painful is the involvement of the musicians who parade themselves as Islāmic singers. This gets a lot of people confused, and as such see it as a normal phenomenon. Sabakah night is not only showoff, it is evil.
PORTRAIT ON THE WALL
Aside those who pristinely understand Islām and who have not been defeated by shāytan’s trick of showoff, you hardly enter the house of a one-time pilgrim on this part of the planet-earth without seeing a portrait of him hung on the wall. Some even have it outside so that it will be visible to visitors on entry into the compound. What for? Nothing but showoff.
PHOTOGRAPHS (SUCH AS SELFIES) ON SOCIAL MEDIA
“We are now on Tawāf.” “That is me throwing stones at shaytān.” “I was opportune to pray in the prophet’s mosque. That is me seated very close to Sudais — the imām of Haram.” Statements such as these are common with people on pilgrimage. What for? Showoff. Hajj isn’t an excursion, neither is it a picnic one exploits for fun. It is not a wordly fiesta; it is strictly a spiritual exercise which must be directed to no other than Allāh.
Showoff is a destroyer of good deeds irrespective of the financial and/or physical energy exerted into it.
It baffles how Muslims take the fifth pillar of Islām with a pinch of salt. Rather than go on Hajj to grow in spirituality (the purpose for which it’s ordained), their intent, unfortunately, is to show; hence a sacred exercise turned into a mere tour. The prophet said:
“Whoever does an act to be seen, Allāh will show him (to people). And whoever acts to be heard, Allah will make him heard.” (Agreed upon). Therefore, whoever performs Hajj to be seen will have no reward than to be seen.
Additionally, while the prophet was addressing his companions one day, he said:
“What I fear for you the most is the lesser shirk.” The companions asked: “What is lesser shirk, o messenger of Allāh?” He answered, “Showoff! When rewarding people their deeds on the Day of Judgement, Allāh – the Exalted and Glorious – will say to the hypocrites: ‘Go to those for the sake of whom you performed your good deeds (on earth) and see if you will get any reward from them.’” (Ahmad, At-Tabarāni and Al-Bayhaqi).
Showoff suckles good deeds dry. Don’t ruin your hereafter with your own voluntary effort. Stop shooting yourself in the leg.
HAJJ is to grow up in taqwā, closeness to Allāh etc., not to show off. Kindly renew your intention before you breathe your last. It is never too late.
©️ IMAAM SANNI KAY YUSUF
