My Hajj Story
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The Pinnacle of Hajj | #MyHajjStory
Sh. Yasir Fahmy describes a powerful moment witnessed upon walking back from 'Arafah.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Bismillah walhamdulillah wa salatu wassalamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. I was asked to share my hajj story, and I don't actually have a huge pool to choose from because I've only made one hajj in my life. And may Allah grant us many more, Ya Rabb al-alameen. And that was in 2017. And I can say with certainty that that was the best experience of my life. I truly ask that Allah blesses us with the most sacred and beautiful pilgrimage. These are days of Dhul Hijjah. And may Allah place in our hearts a beautiful intentionality of fleeing and running towards His sacred house. And to be in the sacred sanctuaries of Mecca and Medina. Allahumma ameen, Ya Rabb al-alameen. I can share a lot about my hajj, and there's so much that I was really touched by. And that was really motivating to me. But there's one specific moment that I want to share with you, and that was a moment right after Arafah. As we are familiar, Al-Hajju Arafah. If the pinnacle of hajj is Arafah. And Arafah is this plain, is this open plain of land. From a topography perspective, it is the furthest point in your hajj. So if Mecca is closer to the Red Sea, if you're going out towards the east, and a little bit north, you pass by Mina, then Muzdalifah, then Arafah. So Arafah is the furthest point in your journey. And so you go out from Mina, you go to Arafah, and then you spend the day in Arafah. And you're supposed to be making dua and really connecting to Allah, because this is a most sacred day of itqa, forgiveness from hellfire, etc. And so Alhamdulillah, I had this very blessed day in Arafah, standing and supplicating and pleading and begging Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And I went with a small group from New Jersey. I really wanted to have my first hajj be something that I can do privately and something that could be very special, so I can spend that intimate time with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And Allah blessed me with a very small group of brothers that we were able to do hajj. I didn't actually know these brothers beforehand, but I came to know them in hajj. And I really didn't know what to expect or how to plan. I mean I've spoken to a lot of my friends who are masha'ikh and fellow family members who've made hajj and got all the anecdotes from them, but to experience it firsthand is a very different thing. So as soon as Arafah was done, so Adhan al-Maghrib came in, now it seemed to be that most people were waiting for the bus to go from Arafah down to Muzdalifah. And something came over me in that moment. I'm not sure what it was to be honest. And I told the four brothers who were with me, I said, you know, I don't want us to wait for the bus. I think we should just start walking. I didn't know what that meant. I honestly, sincerely did not know. But I did see some people from the particular area that we were walking. So I said, you know what, something came over me. I had a beautiful moment in Arafah and I just wanted to walk. And we started walking, not knowing exactly where we're going, but we're noticing that a lot of people are headed in a particular direction. We finally arrive to this massive pedestrian highway. And brothers and sisters, you know, I saw a sight that until today, I have not ever seen anything like it.
Walking alongside scores of Muslims, east, west, north, south, every shape, color, size, every type of being, all headed in the sacred garb, in one direction. People as far as the eye can see. And perhaps what I came to learn is that at least maybe 50 to 60% of the Hujjaj are actually walking. Because I saw at least a million and a half people just walking, walking towards Muzdalifah. And there's a verse in the Quran where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, ثُمَّ أَفِيدُوا مِنْ حَيْثُ أَفَاضَ النَّاسِ that when you're leaving Arafah and then thereafter Muzdalifah, Allah uses the word فَاضَ يَفِيدُ and the word فَاضَ يَفِيدُ means to overflow. And brothers and sisters, without a doubt, and even subhanAllah it's so beautiful because being that Arafah is like this more northern point in the topography and the firs is out, you're really overflowing and you're springing back down, you're flowing back down towards Mecca. And I truly saw a flow of people running and moving with urgency, with purpose, with keenness. I remember distinctly, brothers and sisters, an elderly man who must have been in his 80s from Africa, and he was pushing a wheelchair, and on the wheelchair there were three young children sitting on top of each other. And behind this gentleman, he had some cloth that was wrapped around his waist, was a woman, I'm assuming his wife, also elderly who was holding on.
And he was pushing the wheelchair and he was hunched forward. But brothers and sisters, the look on his face, the urgency with which he was pushing that stroller, and the words that he was uttering, لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ لَبَّيْكَ لَا شَرِيْكَ لَكَ لَبَّيْكَ إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ وَالنِّعْمَةَ لَكَ وَالْمُلْكَ لَا شَرِيْكَ لَكَ Those words that we are so familiar with, but to hear that not just from that one individual, but all of those people, a million plus people, saying, Ya Allah, we are at your beck and call. Ya Allah, we are running towards You. I looked at these people around me, and as far as the eye can see in every direction, and all I could think of was, فَفِرُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ رَنْتُوا اللَّهِ سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ When I saw that elderly gentleman, all the people around us, as they were all going in one direction, flowing forth with urgency and purpose, running to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, seeking Allah's pleasure, seeking Allah's aid, seeking Allah's acceptance. Everyone is just wearing the simplest of garb. There is nothing around us. There is no cameras, no homes, nothing. No wealth, no power, no institutions, no shopping, nothing. There is nothing there but running all of us in unison, collectively towards Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And I remember being in that moment, and I'm thinking to myself, this is Islam. This is Islam. This is the Ummah of Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, holding on to the rope of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, وَعَتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًۭا Hold on to the rope of Allah, in close company with our brothers and sisters. All of us beckoning to the call of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, running to say, Ya Allah, we are at your service.
The urgency with which people were trying to rush to fulfill the sacred rites and rituals of this pilgrimage. That brothers and sisters, that moment, the walk from Arafa down to Muzdalifah, from Muzdalifah to Mina, from Mina to Makkah. That walk was the most beautiful thing I've ever done. It was so inspiring, so wondrous. And I truly encourage all of my brothers and sisters, insha'Allah, that if you are able-bodied, I'll tell you, we had a young, one of the brothers with us, he was this really funny young guy, he's a Palestinian brother, and he has this, in his very beautiful colloquial fashion, he kept on telling me, Ya Shaykh, I can't do it, Ya Shaykh, I can't do it, I can't do it, my body won't let me, I can't do it. I told him, listen, if I can do it, you can do it. And I can tell you, I had a fitbit on, I clocked that we walked 17 plus miles on that day. And brothers and sisters, what I tell you now, it is not our feet or our physical bodies that carried us, but there was something very beautiful, something very sacred, there was a spirit, there was an energy, there was a ruh that was compelling us forward, pushing us forward, carrying us forward. And brothers and sisters, that is precisely what I believe we need to bring into our daily lives. We need to be in the company of righteous people, people who Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, وَلَا تَعْدُ عَيْنَاكَ عَنْهُمْ Don't even look away from those righteous people. وَصْبِرْ نَفْسَكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ Be patient with those who call to the way of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala بالغَدَاةِ وَالْعَشِي in the day and in the night. وَلَا تَعْدُ عَيْنَاكَ عَنْهُمْ Don't even look away from them. We need, brothers and sisters, to have righteous companionship in our lives. And we need one singular Qibla,
the Qibla of La ilaha illallah Muhammadun Rasulullah that we're always running towards. And I sincerely believe that when we bring that spirit into our lives, the spirit of that post-Arafah walk, that insha'Allah ta'ala, so much of the distractions and the things that come into our lives that take us away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, when we surround ourselves with righteous people, and we have a singular focus that we are running towards urgently, and that is the pleasure of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, all of the stuff in our life that is consuming us, whether it's our internal realities, our emotional states, our economic, our financial condition, our health, etc. All of these things, our aspirations, our desires, they will diminish in their value because the most beautiful thing that we can ever fathom and that is running towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala awaits us. So may the urgency and the beauty and the sense of purpose and the commitment that I saw on that day of all of these millions of Muslims, may it be the reality of each and every single one of us, and may it be the reality of the Ummah of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. May Allah grant us righteous companionship in this life, and may He grant us the company of our beloved messenger Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in the afterlife. BarakAllahu feekum, wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah
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