Imam Khomeini Defined True Philosophy of Hajj Pilgrimage

According to Imam Khomeini, one of the major duties of Muslims is to find out what the reality of Hajj Pilgrimage is and why they must expend a part of their material and spiritual capacities to uphold it.

What the uninformed individuals or biased analysts have so far sketched as the philosophy of the Hajj pilgrimage is that it is a collective act of worship and a pilgrimage-cum-sightseeing journey.

What has the Hajj pilgrimage got to do with how one must live and in what manner one must engage in sacred struggle and in what manner one must stand up to the world of capitalism and communism! What has the Hajj pilgrimage got to do with securing the rights of Muslims and the downtrodden from the oppressors! What has the Hajj pilgrimage got to do with finding solutions to the mental and physical pressures exerted on Muslims! What has the Hajj pilgrimage got to do with Muslims having to assert themselves as a great force and a third global power! Rather, the Hajj pilgrimage should remain solely a sightseeing trip for viewing the ‘Kiblah’ and the city of Medina!

One of the afflictions and dangers that have always threatened Islamic societies throughout history is the perceptions and interpretations that do not conform to the reality of the Hajj pilgrimage and its promotion and propagation among the mass of people.

These same erroneous interpretations cause the realities, teachings and Gnostic knowledge of this act of worship to become mingled with ignorance, inertia and superstition and to lag behind in terms of fructification and ability to create change.

It causes this act of worship that should gather all Muslims in the form of a massive Islamic congregation at a single location and realize worthy social and political outcomes to be regarded as a sightseeing trip.

It is as if Islam requires that a huge number of people should make the Hajj pilgrimage every year in order to enjoy, entertain and amuse themselves, return to their respective countries with a hoard of sightings of buildings and people, and make purchases of desired goods!

In Imam Khomeini’s view, these erroneous and incorrect interpretations have been put forward by two groups and continue to persist.

The First Group, the uninformed: These are uninformed Muslims in Islamic communities who because of lack of necessary understanding and knowledge, define and confine the hajj pilgrimage to affairs of sightseeing and pilgrimage.

Lack of knowledge and ignorance of these individuals prevents them from understanding the Hajj pilgrimage’s philosophy and its societal and political impact alongside its ideological and spiritual objectives.

The Second Group are biased analysts who attempt to practice the Hajj pilgrimage philosophy for reasons of economic, factional and political interests. Considering the fact that the righteous Hajj pilgrimage causes this group either to forsake its interests and aspirations or not to realize it in a desired and prolific manner, they interpret this great act of worship according to their own factional whims and fancies.

Today these analysts are trying to confuse public opinion in the name of religion and in the garb of Muslims.

They are the same people who after the victory of the Islamic Revolution engaged in intellectual activities with the intent to oppose the societal and political effects of the Hajj pilgrimage.

Today also, they are inimical to the sensitive subject and critical need of Muslim unity and proximity of Islamic sects and believe in the same individualistic and recreational aspect of the Hajj pilgrimage.

By offering inadvisable inferences and interpretations, these two groups aim to prove the claim that there is no relationship at all between the Hajj pilgrimage and engaging in social and political affairs.

It is not necessary to engage in sacred struggle against the arrogant powers or attempt to revive the rights of the downtrodden in order to attain global power for Muslims.

In their view, opposition and fighting with the handpicked stooges of colonialism in Islamic countries is an incorrect idea and – in one word – all the duties and responsibilities of the Hajj pilgrimage is confined to individualist, spiritual and moral affairs!