My Hajj Story
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A Tug of the Shoulder | #MyHajjStory
Sh. Abdullah Oduro discusses the importance of showing respect and reverence towards our elders after an experience in Hajj during tawaf.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon you all. 1999, the first year I made hajj. A new Muslim. I embraced Islam roughly about two years before that and Allah blessed me to be able to go and visit his beautiful house in Mecca. But it was something that was new for me because you know I'm going across the world, the Middle East, a place I've never been before. You know in my mind I'm thinking it's the desert. In any case, there was a time within these ceremonial practices that was you know looking back at that time the first time it was like a dream. It was like an illusion. But there were a couple of key things that I remember that taught me lifelong lessons. It reminded me of my place in this world. When I was making at that time what I didn't know but it was Tawaf al-Ifadah. All I knew at that time when I was told you have to make this Tawaf. It's going to be difficult but you have to make it or your hajj may not be valid. So obviously I'm going to make sure that I make it. Now this is Tawaf al-Ifadah as we know it's the Tawaf that's on the 10th day of Dhul Hijjah which is basically the day of Eid. You're performing numerous ceremonial practices which is one of the wisdoms behind it being such a beautiful glorious day and a day of glorification of God. I'm leaving from making Tawaf. I'm done from circumambulating around the Kaaba seven times. As I'm walking outside of the Haram you know it's beautiful white marble floors. You're seeing Muslims from all over the world. It's crowded. I'm walking up the stairs and I am exhausted. Surprisingly exhausted. As I'm walking up the stairs I feel someone grab my shoulder. Mind you at this time I'm exhausted not only from making Tawaf but within the circumambulation
I'm bumping getting bumped people holding on to me because I was slightly bigger than people around me so they're using me for support. You know so I'm you know I'm exhausted from all of this trying to stay focused. When I take a step up the stairs somebody grabs my shoulder and I'm like at this time at this point man okay I'm you know I'm used to lines I'm used to organization so I want to turn around and tell this person you know take your hand off of my shoulder. When I turn around I see that it's an elderly couple. I felt so small and so minute. I felt so bad. Being that I was going to turn around and reprimand this person in the house of Allah just finishing an act of worship and the influence of you know who came to me to go to turn around and reprimand this person in a way that may have been a little uh you know would turn heads. But I saw that it was an elderly couple and this person needed support to take that step. What support are we giving our elders? Right now some of you may be watching this video in the midst of the pandemic. We know the general rules for going out in public places in general and going to the mosques in particular if they're open is that number one the elderly are not allowed. It's preferable for them to stay home because of their immune system their age and the you know the elements of weakness that could make them susceptible to the coronavirus. So just think of that the people that attend the mosques are who? The most the elders. The ones that are there day in and day out the elders. Then all of a sudden the ones that cannot and recommended not to attend the mosques out of children women you know middle-aged and the elders most importantly make sure that the elders don't come or to you know to politely ask them not to come because
of their exposure possible exposure to this coronavirus. But from their perception I can't go to the mosque and I've been going every day of the week or the majority of the days of the week. I cannot make Juma and these past couple of months no Tarawih no Ramadan in the mosque and they've done it for so many years and now Hajj is coming. They usually make Hajj every year or this is their first plan to make Hajj or they planned it for years and they can't go. They can't even go to the mosque to have some form of serenity and closure and I do use that word closure because they're emotionally distraught from not being able to visit the house of Allah. Our elders brothers and sisters we can look at ourselves but look at their particular situation as well. The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith in Tirmidhi and it is authentic by Ahmed Shaker and it is on the authority of Ibn Abbas where he said لَيْسَ مِنَّ مَنْ لَمْ يَرْحَمْ صَغِيرَنَا وَيُوَقِّرْ كَبِيرَنَا وَيَقْمُرْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَى عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ The Prophet ﷺ said he or she is not from us those that do not show mercy to our young nor show reverence and respect to our elderly nor call to the good or forbid the evil. And there was another hadith on the authority of Amr Ibn Shu'ayb عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ جَدِّهِ that the Prophet ﷺ said لَيْسَ مِنَّ مَنْ لَمْ يَرْحَمْ صَغِيرَنَا وَيَعْرِفْ شَرَفَ كَبِيرِنَا that he said that he or she is not from us those who do not show mercy to our young our youth nor acknowledge the greatness and nobility of our elders. And this is in Abu Dawud and the Timuridian and Sahih. So seeing the importance of showing respect and reverence to our elders not only those in your family but anyone that is older than you showing respect and reverence to them.
This is the Islamic attitude and etiquette in regards to our elders not to disregard them regardless of their treatment towards us to show respect to them as a scholar say because of their longevity their long life in worshipping Allah or their long life in this earth just in general of having experience which inshallah should generically entail wisdom. To respect the fact that Allah has allowed them to live this long and that they are in our presence. So let's not forget the elders that are around us and to remember that what they're facing now generically and generally we may safely say maybe a little more difficult because we're at least able to go out to public places and they're advised on a general scale not to. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala bless us and make us aware of our blessings. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala make us with those blessings to spread them wherever we may be and recognize the ones that may not be as fortunate as us and may Allah subhana wa ta'ala bless us and remind ourselves to remind others to spend the rest of their days and nights and years in that which is showing gratitude. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Thank you.
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