The Spirit of Hajj: The Jihad Against the Nafs

Jumu'ah Khutbah — The Spirit of Hajj: Jihad Against the Nafs

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, respected elders and youngsters, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Indeed, as we are passing through the days of Dhul-Hijjah, and the Hujjaj have now proceeded to the Baitul Haram in Mecca, and have begun the Tawaf and the Umrah before the Hajj, all of our thoughts are with them. We pray that Allah accept their Hajj, accept their Tawaf, accept their Ziyarah of Rasulullah ﷺ, and may Allah include us in their accepted Du'as.

The Significance of Hajj

Allah has revealed a surah in the Qur'an — the 22nd surah, Surah Al-Hajj — wherein He speaks about this major pillar of our Deen. As I frequently say, Allah has not given 500 pillars in our Deen, or 50 pillars. It's only 5 pillars. This is a reminder for us of how significant each pillar is.

Rasulullah ﷺ has said that Islam is based upon 5 pillars — the central pillar — and then, whoever has the ability to perform the Hajj. So Hajj is one of the fundamental pillars of our Deen, and Allah has made it fard. It is very clear in the Qur'an, wherein Allah has used the imperative verb, the fi'l amr, commanding us. All these ayat indicate that it is an obligation.

In fact, Rasulullah ﷺ said that whoever has the ability to perform the Hajj and he neglects it, then he may die as a Jew or a Christian. We seek refuge with Allah — may Allah protect us from that.

The Last Ayah of Surah Al-Hajj: The Spirit of Sacrifice

Moving forward from the ayat and the hadith, one of the key principles in Hajj is that we remember the sacrifices of Ibrahim عليه السلام, Hajar عليها السلام, and Ismail عليه السلام — this first family of Islam. I wanted to share with everyone some reflections on the last ayah of Surah Al-Hajj.

Surah number 22, ayah 78 — Allah mentions this as a call to all of us, to remind us of what is the purpose of Hajj. It is not just fulfilling the rituals, but beyond the rituals, what is the actual spirit of Hajj? It is about reviving the spirit of sacrifice of Ibrahim عليه السلام.

So Allah says, wa jahidu — strive — fillahi — in the path of Allah — not as far as possible or to your convenience. Rather Allah qualifies this command by saying haqqa jihadi — the way it is the right of Allah that you strive in His path.

So whenever this word haqq is used, it indicates that it is an obligation, a right that we have to fulfill. Just like when it comes to financial contributions — if there is a random person in the world who may be hungry, or may have some need, or may need a loan, and if you can go out of your way to help that individual, there will be a great reward. But we are not necessarily responsible for every single person who may be just needing additional money. This is a nafl sadaqah that we can give, and you will gain reward.

However, when it comes to our parents, when it comes to spouses, when it comes to our children — then these are huquq. They have a haqq upon us that we have to fulfill their minimum requirements. So there is a haqq, and then there is the taww'a, there is nawafil, there is additional, there is voluntary.

What we hear here is that Allah says, strive in the path of Allah, haqqa jihadi — the way it is the right of Allah that you strive in His path. This indicates that it is an obligation, that we have to struggle for the sake of Allah. Allah wants to see the mujahada against our nafs.

The Greatest Jihad: Against the Nafs

The biggest form of struggle that this jihad takes place in is the jihad against our own nafs — our nafs which is compelling us towards disobedience, towards sin. This is a continual struggle. In fact, one time when Rasulullah ﷺ was returning from an active campaign against physical enemies in the battlefield — when it was a situation of kill or be killed, do or die, fighting against enemies in the field, a live battlefield — Rasulullah ﷺ, upon returning, said:

"We are returning from the minor jihad to the major jihad."

And likewise Rasulullah ﷺ, in one longer hadith with multiple different terms, he indicated that there is a well-known meaning which is understood, and then he took the root word and showed that it has a deeper significance. So Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 17741; also reported by al-Tabarani in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir)

He took each word and gave it a different meaning, a deeper significance — and the meaning he gave includes the root letters of the term being defined.

الْمُسْلِمُ مَنْ سَلِمَ الْمُسْلِمُونَ مِنْ لِسَانِهِ وَيَدِهِ — A true Muslim is the one that other Muslims are salim, safe, from his tongue and from his hand. Meaning he will not be abusing anyone with his tongue and he will not be hurting anyone with his hands.

وَالْمُؤْمِنُ مَنْ أَمِنَهُ النَّاسُ عَلَى دِمَائِهِمْ وَأَمْوَالِهِمْ — A true Mu'min is the one that all people feel safe and secure with respect to their blood and their money — meaning their lives and their property. They have no fear that the Mu'min will make khiyanah, because he has iman.

وَالْمُهَاجِرُ مَنْ هَجَرَ مَا نَهَى اللَّهُ عَنْهُ — The true Muhajir is the one who does hijrah, who migrates — but he migrates from all the acts of disobedience of Allah and migrates towards the obedience of Allah.

And then the reason I even began the whole hadith is because of the last one — وَالْمُجَاهِدُ. And who is the true Mujahid? مَنْ جَاهَدَ نَفْسَهُ فِي طَاعَةِ اللَّهِ — The one who engages in jihad against his nafs in the obedience of Allah.

Ibrahim عليه السلام as the Model of Jihad Against the Nafs

We see here that Allah is speaking about Ibrahim عليه السلام in Surah Al-Hajj. Ibrahim's main jihad in his life was against his nafs. When the test came upon his nafs, he fought against it.

With respect to his wife, his nafs did not want to leave her in the desert —

In the valley without a blade of grass. He made mujahada against his nafs and he left her there. When it came to his parents and his homeland, his watan, he left that. He actually made the literal hijrah. He uses the word:

"I make hijrah to where Allah has commanded me." So he left Bab al-Iraq and went west to where Bayt al-Maqdis is, and then later on he went south to Makkah al-Mukarramah.

Then, subhanAllah, there was his wife, his father, his watan, and his child of course — his baby Ismail عليه السلام. He put the knife to his throat. And then his own life, subhanAllah. When that came as a test from Allah, he threw himself into the fire. Chronologically this happened earlier when he was younger. But when you are listing the levels of sacrifice, throwing yourself into the fire is of course one of the greatest sacrifices of one's own life. And he fulfilled that. So he made the jihad against his nafs.

The Promise of Guidance for Those Who Strive

This ayah as well is revealed in Makkah al-Mukarramah, before the actual physical fighting occurred in Madinah, when the permission was granted. Allah says:

Verily those who strive in our path — the promise from Allah is that He will grant them hidayah, grant them guidance. لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا — All the different paths towards Allah, He will open up those paths and will provide His divine guidance. And verily Allah is with those who do good — وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ.

So this ayah is a Makki ayah. And in Makkah al-Mukarramah, the physical fighting was in fact prohibited. The command at that point was فَاصْبِرْ صَبْرًا جَمِيلًا — be patient. And to say:

We do not worship your false gods, you do not worship our Allah. You have your deen, we have our deen.

After Allah granted the Muslims an independent state in Madinatul Munawwara, then Allah revealed that ayah — which is incidentally in the same Surah Al-Hajj — wherein Allah says:

Now the permission has been granted — أُذِنَ. And the way the wording is, it indicates that they were seeking permission for a long time to take up arms, but they were prohibited. Now finally أُذِنَ — the permission is granted to repel with physical force, and to have qital.

And the reason is بِأَنَّهُمْ ظُلِمُوا — because they had been wronged for so long. Not some minor inconvenience — there was major torture occurring for years on end. They had been exiled for 3 years in the valley with no communication, no buying and selling, boycott. They were expelled from their homes.

وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ نَصْرِهِمْ لَقَدِيرٌ — Allah has full power to come to your aid; He will help you. الَّذِينَ أُخْرِجُوا مِن دِيَارِهِم بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ — Those who have been expelled from their homes without any right. إِلَّا أَن يَقُولُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ — Their only sin is that they say: our Rabb is Allah.

So before this permission was granted, Allah is speaking about another form of jihad — the jihad against the nafs. وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا — This is the jihad of Ibrahim عليه السلام. The nafs is pulling us towards disobedience, and we fight against that nafs to bring it onto the obedience of Allah.

Controlling the Nafs at the Time of Anger

Fighting the nafs is of course a whole science and a whole discussion with so many manifestations. One hadith that comes to mind is that there was a wrestling competition taking place and different Sahabah were wrestling to see who could overthrow his opponent. When Nabi ﷺ came and saw this going on, he gave beautiful advice according to the scene at the present condition.

He saw that everyone was wrestling and they were seeing who is the true champion — who can overthrow his opponent. So Nabi ﷺ said: the shadid, the strong person, is not al-musara' — the one who can overthrow his physical human being opponent. The actual shadid, the strong person:

The true champion is the one who can control his nafs at the time of ghadab — anger. So the nafs is always pushing a person towards sin. But even more so when a person is angry. When a person is angry, an otherwise generally polite person who is calm and has good manners may end up crossing the limits. So the one who can control his nafs at the time of anger is the true mujahid, the true brave, the true champion.

Allah Has Selected Us — The Divine Choice

Moving forward, Allah says: وَجَاهِدُوا فِي اللَّهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ ۚ هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ — He is the one who has selected all of you. So you have within yourself this ability. Are you going to challenge the divine selection? Are you going to say, "I cannot do this, I'm not cut out for this, I'm not built for this, I don't have the ability"? Then you are not being humble by saying that. You are literally challenging the selection of Allah. Na'udhu billahi min dhalik — how grave a crime that would be.

We have to understand that Allah has not made us mukallaf, responsible, for anything that is beyond our ability. This is a general principle of Allah. As Allah says:

Allah will not make us responsible for that which is beyond our ability. So whenever we say, "we cannot do this, this is impossible" — yes, it may be difficult for the nafs. It will be difficult for the nafs in the beginning. And then eventually it will become easier. And then it will become a means of enjoyment and halawa and sweetness of the halawatul iman. But definitely it is an acquired taste. Initially, it will be very, very difficult. But it can never be termed or classified as impossible. This is contrary to the clear ayah of Allah in the Qur'an — لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا. It is within our wus'a, within our ability.

The Deen Does Not Intend Hardship

And He says here, هُوَ اجْتَبَاكُمْ — He is the one who has selected you. And He says: وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ — the purpose of the Deen is not to put you into difficulty. There will be an initial stage of hardship and sacrifice. But if you continue with it, then you get over the hump. After that, Allah will open the door of His fuyud, His blessings, the barakat and the enjoyment — such that the actual true enjoyment in life is for those who please Allah. They elevate their nafs from nafs ammara bis-su' to nafs mutma'inna — going through nafs lawwama and finally nafs mutma'inna and radhiya mardhiyya.

Nafs mutma'inna, even by definition, is the one who is in a state of itminan — contentment, happiness. Nafs mutma'inna is not a nafs in continual pain. Yes, the pain is there because we're talking about fighting against the nafs — no pain, no gain. So there is definitely a stage of pain, a stage of difficulty, hardship against the nafs, fighting against it. But the final goal is nafs mutma'inna — the nafs that is pleased with the decree of Allah, that sees the manifestation of Allah's attributes and the tajalliyat, and sees everything happening around it as a sign of Allah. That nafs is actually truly enjoying worldly life, as well as the Akhirah. The enjoyment begins right here.

Allah says:

The hayatan tayyiba — the beautiful, bountiful life of happiness and contentment — this is not referring to Jannat al-Firdaws or Jannat al-'Adn or any of the gardens. This is referring to this dunya. The hayatan tayyiba is in this dunya.

So this is what Allah says — وَمَا جَعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ مِنْ حَرَجٍ — yes, there is sacrifice, but this is in the beginning. Eventually, the final outcome, if you go through it, will be insha'Allah that level of happiness and satisfaction in this world that no one else has — unrivaled and no one else can compare to it.

In fact, everything of this dunya is the reverse — where it seems enjoyable and alluring, but the nihaya, the end of it, is a complete sense of loss. A person will have that emptiness inside, that hollowness that cannot be filled with anything. The more he tries to fulfill happiness through worldly things, he will finish one and go to the next and the third and the fourth — from one means of lahw and shahwat to the next — but he will never be satisfied. That is the nature of these worldly things that involve the disobedience of Allah.

The Legacy of Ibrahim عليه السلام and the Name "Muslim"

Then Allah reminds us: this is the way of your forefather Ibrahim عليه السلام, which is the essence of Hajj that we started the discussion with. Ibrahim عليه السلام is the one who made du'a to Allah: "O Allah, from my progeny, O Allah, create a Muslim ummah that will be submitting to You."

And this name that you have — Muslim — is the name given to you by your forefather. Just like when a child is born, the father and grandfather give the name to the new baby. Allah says that you, ummah muslimah, you are given this name — He gave you this name when Ibrahim made du'a for ummah muslimah amongst his progeny. So this is right in your name. You can do it — it's right in your name — that you are a Muslim ummah that will submit to the will of Allah.

The fact that he made this du'a min qablu is mentioned in the previous scriptures — wa fi hadha — and also in this Qur'an. So in the Torah, Zabur, and Injil, you'll find the description of Ibrahim عليه السلام making du'a for ummah muslimah, and likewise in this Qur'an.

This Ummah as Witnesses on the Day of Judgment

On the Day of Judgment, this ummah muslimah — your honor will be manifested over everyone, and your fadila and virtue will be established for all of humanity from the time of Adam عليه السلام to the final. When Allah will accept you as a shaheed, as a witness, in favor of the Anbiya against their respective nations.

The witness in the Islamic system has a great honor, because the entire judicial system — the court, the judge, the executioner, whatever punishment is given or person is exonerated — that entire system is based upon the testimony of the witness. That is how powerful the witness is who testifies, and based on whose testimony the judgment is given.

So Allah will give the honor to this ummah to be shuhadaa 'ala an-naas — to testify against the disbelievers. On the Day of Judgment, the disbelievers, the different nations of the past, when they see the punishment, they will be clutching at any straw to get out of their predicament. They will say: مَا جَاءَنَا مِن بَشِيرٍ وَلَا نَذِيرٍ — No bringer of glad tidings, no warner came to us. We had no idea about this Day of Judgment — how are we supposed to prepare for it? No one ever told us.

So then Allah will call the Anbiya, and He will ask: Did you fulfill the duty? Did you convey the message? هَلْ بَلَّغْتُمُ الرِّسَالَةَ وَأَدَّيْتُمُ الْأَمَانَةَ — Did you convey the message and fulfill and discharge the amanah? They will say: "Ya Allah, we fulfilled our duty." Then Allah will ask them: "Do you have any witness?" Then the ummah muslimah — ourselves, this ummah — will testify in favor of the Anbiya against the nations, that the prophets did their duty.

Obviously there is one major objection — how are you testifying when you came last? You weren't even around. So you're not even present on the scene, and you're testifying. The nations of the past, when they are outright denying the Anbiya did their job, why would they not make this objection? They will say: "How in the world are these people testifying?"

Then, subhanAllah, this ummah will be asked: "How are you testifying?" They will say: "We can testify when we see something as an eyewitness. And there is a level of conviction and yaqeen which is even greater than what you see with your eye." And that is — our beloved master Rasulullah ﷺ conveyed to us a revelation from You, O Allah. Our Prophet ﷺ, he is a mukhbirun sadiq — the truthful reporter, the amin, the trustworthy, the truthful messenger. He shared with us Your revelation that these Anbiya fulfilled their responsibility. Then Rasulullah ﷺ will be testifying in our favor.

So this is what is mentioned here:

The Rasulullah ﷺ will be testifying to prove your testimony — you will be testifying for the prophets against the people.

The Concluding Command: Salah, Zakah, and Holding Firmly to Allah

And then Allah concludes by saying:

Establish your salah and discharge your zakah — meaning all the ibadah badaniyya, including salah, physical forms of worship, and ibadah maliyya, financial forms of worship. وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِاللَّهِ — Hold on firmly to the rope of Allah, the entirety of the Deen. هُوَ مَوْلَاكُمْ — Allah is the one who will take care of your affairs. فَنِعْمَ الْمَوْلَىٰ وَنِعْمَ النَّصِيرُ — He is the best one to take care of our affairs and the best one to come to our aid.

Closing Du'a

May Allah allow us to implement this ayah in our lives, to strive against our nafs, and to fulfill the du'a of Ibrahim عليه السلام when he asked: "O Allah, create in my progeny an ummah which will be submitting to You — ummah muslimah." As we go through these days of Dhul-Hijjah and Hajj, may Allah allow us to remember their sacrifices and to follow their footsteps.

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