In the Shade of the Ka'aba | Reminder During Umrah Visit by Mufit Abdul Rahman Waheed

In the Shade of the Ka'bah — A Reminder During Umrah

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

One of the things that we love doing here — whenever I come here — is I sit in the Mataaf area and I enjoy reading the books of the people of the past speaking about Mecca. They're sitting here, as we're sitting here right now, and they would just write about Mecca. They would write about the Ka'bah, their feelings.

Like there's a difference — I'm looking at the Ka'bah with my sinful eyes. Our eyes are so used to seeing so many different things, and then we come and look at the Ka'bah, correct? But then imagine the Sahaba looking at the Ka'bah. Imagine Abdullah ibn Fattah al-Rumi coming, after all those years from Medina, coming here and seeing the Ka'bah.

And the prophets were seeing the Ka'bah. That's why Abu Sufyan's wife — when she came the night of Fath Makkah and she saw the people worshipping Allah in front of the Ka'bah — they saw the Ka'bah and they just fell. They couldn't believe they were here again, seeing the Ka'bah for the first time without any idols around it.

They were seeing it in its purest form, the way Ibrahim, alayhi salam, built it. So what do they do? You know those parades — championship parades, celebrations where the people go crazy? Well, the Sahaba had a celebration, a rally, a parade — and they were just doing sajdah, crying to Allah. That's how they looked at the Ka'bah.

The Letter of Hasan al-Basri

One of those great saints of the past was Hasan al-Basri, rahmatullahi alayhi. He found out that one of his friends was trying to leave Makkah. And I try to read this letter whenever it's the day I'm leaving Makkah.

Even though it's not relevant to me directly — because we don't live here — it still puts you in that zone. Like, we're leaving Makkah. And he's trying to tell the guy: why are you leaving Makkah? Why are you moving? Don't you know Allah has given you such an honor of being the neighbor of the House of Allah? So in this letter he highlights different virtues. I'll just read a paragraph that I was reading to you earlier.

The Angels and the Ka'bah

He says, in one portion of the letter:

(From the letter of Hasan al-Basri, rahmatullahi alayhi, recorded in classical works on the virtues of Makkah)

He said: any time there is an angel sent down from the skies to fulfill the need of a human being — like you make du'a, you need an angel, and the angel comes to this earth to help someone — he's going to come first to this place. Like, Ya Allah, I've got to go see the Ka'bah. Because they have their own Ka'bah, which is Bayt al-Ma'mur. But they don't have this Ka'bah right here.

So the angel comes down, and as it says: إِلَّا اغْتَسَلَ مِنْ تَحْتِ الْعَرْشِ — it bathes itself with water under the Arsh of Allah. And then it comes in the state of Ihram. And then it does tawaf of the Ka'bah. You know how long it does tawaf? One entire week. And after the tawaf of the Ka'bah for one entire week, it prays two rak'ats behind Maqam Ibrahim. And then it goes to fulfill the need that Allah sent it for.

The Prophets Who Came to Makkah

And then the next paragraph — and we'll conclude with this:

(From the letter of Hasan al-Basri, rahmatullahi alayhi)

Every time a prophet was denied and rejected by his people, the prophet would come to Makkah. No prophet ran away from his people — once Allah told him to leave — except that they came to Makkah. And then they would just sit in front of the Ka'bah and worship Allah. You know how we come — we come for a week or ten days, we worship Allah for a few hours, but the rest of the time we're walking around, praying salah in our rooms. These prophets said: no, I'm here, I'm not going anywhere. They would just sit right here and worship Allah, until they would just die sitting here, worshipping Allah.

Why? Because there were no human beings in those days. There was nothing happening — no civilization, nothing where they could eat or cook.

The Graves of the Prophets Around the Ka'bah

(From the letter of Hasan al-Basri, rahmatullahi alayhi)

He says: around the Ka'bah, there is the grave of 300 prophets. And between Rukn al-Yamani and Hajr al-Aswad, there is the grave of 70 prophets. Every single one of them — hunger is what killed them. They died of hunger, but they weren't ready to leave the Ka'bah. They just wanted to sit right here.

And he says:

That golden Mizab — the waterspout — that you see over there is in the middle of the Hatim. It's called Hijr Ismail, which is the portion of the Ka'bah that was not built at the time before the Prophet ﷺ because they ran out of money. That portion is where the grave — the qabr — of Ismail and his mother Hajar is. This is the most beautiful place on the planet.

The Virtues and Multiplied Rewards of Makkah

And he says — one more last thing:

There's no place on this earth where every good deed is multiplied to one thousand, except for Makkah.

(From the letter of Hasan al-Basri, rahmatullahi alayhi)

There is not a single place on this earth that Allah sends 120 mercies to. 120 mercies are directed towards Makkah daily:

• 60 for those who are doing tawaf
• 40 for those who are praying salah
• 20 for those who are just looking at the Ka'bah

So imagine: one tawaf — that's 60. Then you pray two rak'ats behind Maqam Ibrahim — that's 40. And then you look at the Ka'bah — that's another 20.

The Angels Shaking Hands

There comes another hadith that I remember — the Prophet ﷺ said: if the angels were to shake someone's hand — if the angels would be so proud of a person that they would come down to shake someone's hand — it would be for three people. They'll come from the heavens to shake your hand:

• One is a person who is in the path of Allah
• The second is the one who is obedient to his or her parents
• The third is the one who is doing tawaf

Bro, we're so lucky we're here. And we have to go back, that's true. But we better beg Allah to accept us and to bring us back over and over and over again. And not to deprive us because of our shortcomings. We come here, we make mistakes. But Allah — You brought us here. You love us. That's why You brought us here. And we beg You to bring us here over and over again.

A Special Du'a

And one specific du'a I'm making this trip — Oh Allah, all of those people who are here around the Ka'bah, all over Makkah today, who have come here — that have non-Muslim relatives — Oh Allah, give those non-Muslim relatives hidayah.

You know how difficult it is for a person to bury a non-Muslim relative? No ghusl, no janazah. And he is Muslim? Or she is Muslim? Let us sit here right now and make du'a for them. That every single Muslim — anyone who is here today in our groups, all over the world, who have come here and have non-Muslim relatives — Oh Allah, it is nothing for You. It is easy for You. Give them hidayah, so that they don't have to go through the process of burying them without ghusl and janazah.

آمِين