Muslims should steer clear of hatred: Haj sermon

MAKKAH: Sheikh Muhammad Bin Abdul Karim on Friday delivered the Haj sermon with the status of khateeb [speaker] of Haj at Masjid-e-Nimrah, as Muslims from across the world gathered in Makkah to offer the pilgrimage, which is one of the key obligations of Islam.

Huge crowds of Muslim pilgrims scaled Mount Arafat in Makkah early this morning (Friday), the high point of the biggest Haj pilgrimage since the pandemic forced drastic cuts in numbers for two years in a row.

In his sermon, Sheikh Karim urged the Muslims to steer clear of everything that is a cause of spreading hatred as per Islamic values. "Islamic values require that one should avoid everything that causes hatred," he said. The khateeb also said that Allah has repeatedly ordered to maintain piety and only the pious get the closeness to Allah.

"Allah says there is a good omen of getting to Jannah [paradise] for the pious," Shiekh Karim said. He urged the Muslims to worship only Allah who made the sky and earth for them to live, saying that toheed [belief in the oneness of Allah] is the biggest blessing for Muslims.

"Fear only Allah, for that is the way to success. No one can relieve your hardships," he said, adding that success in the hereafter will also be achieved by following the orders of Allah.

Sheikh Karim further saidthat all humans are the children of Prophet Adam (AS), who was created with soil. He said that Muslims are obliged to value and respect humanity. He advised the Muslims to perform Haj the way Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did. "Our Haj will be accepted if we avoided things that have been advised to avoid [during the pilgrimage]," he said.

As many as 1 million pilgrims are performing Haj this year. Of these, 83,433 pilgrims are from Pakistan. The pilgrims after the Waqoof-e-Arafah are ready to move towards their next destiny, Muzdalifah, where they would combine Maghrib and Isha prayers as they had combined Zuhr and Asr prayers at Arafat.They would also stay in the open till Fajr prayers and depart for Rami Al Jamarat, another religious ritual of Haj in which the pilgrims would throw seven pebbles at each Shaitan as practised by Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) for three consecutive days.

Groups of worshippers, many holding umbrellas against the fierce sun, recited verses from the Quran on the rocky rise, where the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) is believed to have given his final sermon. Prayers on Mount Arafat are the highlight of the pilgrimage, capped this year at one million people including 850,000 from abroad.

Pilgrims, many in white robes, chanted "Oh God, here I am" as they reached Mount Arafat on foot or in buses from their nearby tents. The pilgrims lauded the services and said they could not express their feelings in words. "I am so happy to be here. This is the biggest Haj in the coronavirus era, but it isn’t big enough yet," Egyptian pilgrim Saad Farhat Khalil, 49, told AFP.

"There are one million here today, but if the Saudis allowed more, 10 million would have come," he added. A pilgrim from Pakistan said the Saudi government had carried out the whole Haj process on scientific lines by introducing online applications, developed for smooth sailing of Haj operations. He said all the departments of Saudi government were performing their duties in more professional way to facilitate the pilgrims.

Entry roads were packed with worshippers as helicopters buzzed overhead and volunteers handed out bottles of water and collected rubbish in green plastic bags.

The Haj, usually one of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings, is among the five pillars of Islam and must be undertaken by all Muslims with the means at least once in their lives. In 2019, as in previous years, some 2.5 million Muslims from around the world took part, a figure that dropped to a few thousand in 2020 and 60,000 in 2021. A number of world leaders have participated this year, including Mauritania’s president and Indonesia’s vice president. State media on Friday reported that Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov had arrived in the kingdom to perform the Haj.