From the Lessons of Hajj: The Reward of Effort - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

From the Lessons of Hajj: The Reward of Effort

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْحَدِيثِ كِتَابُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى وَخَيْرَ الْهَدْيِ هَدْيُ مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

On this auspicious day — which happens to be a Friday, but also the last of the days of Tashreeq, the last of the days of Eid — about which the Prophet said, أَيَّامُ مِنًى أَيَّامُ أَكْلٍ وَشُرْبٍ وَذِكْرٍ لِلَّهِ تَعَالَى — these days of the 11th, 12th, and 13th, what are known as the days of Tashreeq, are days of eating and drinking and days of the remembrance of Allah.

I want to bring our attention to an important lesson from the lessons of Hajj. A lesson that we learn which is not only applicable to the season and the act of worship of Hajj, but goes across the board — in every good deed that we want to do, every act of worship that the Muslim wants to perform.

The Effort of Ibrahim and the Story of Hajj

One of the greatest lessons that we learn from the Hajj, and from the story of Hajj, from the story of the Prophet Ibrahim alayhi salatu wa salam, is the effort and the reward that you get for the effort that you make in worship. If you look at the story of Ibrahim alayhi salam — whether it's him travelling from his homeland and being exiled by his father and his people, whether it's him leaving Ismail and his mother alayhi salam in what was a barren, dry valley of Mecca, whether it's later on when he comes back and travels from Jerusalem — a month's distance at least between Mecca and Jerusalem — having to travel back in order to see his son Ismail, and to take him and to slaughter him in the place that we today call Mina, or later on when he again travels to Mecca and alongside Ismail alayhi salam they raise the foundations of the Ka'bah by the command of Allah — those actions, those stories, those incidents, we know because of what they represent.

But one of the things that we don't think about from the story of Hajj is the effort that it must have taken from Ibrahim alayhi salam — the time, the hard work, the discipline, the motivation — all of that which is required in order for those acts of worship to be performed. And that is why even today the Hajj is not an easy act of worship; it is not an easy pillar of Islam. In fact, we know that our Prophet likened and compared the Hajj to Jihad. Because when you are making Tawaf in normal times, and you are making Sa'i, and you are trying to stone the Jamarat, and there are millions of people around you — trying to move from one place to another, from Arafah to Muzdalifah, back to Mina — with all of those throngs of people, it is difficult, it is hard.

The Reward Is in the Effort

But from the beauty of this religion is that the effort that you put into the acts of worship, you get rewarded for it as well. It's not just about the end result, it's not just about reaching the objective, it's not just about completing the Hajj or completing the month of Ramadan or finishing the Jumu'ah prayer. The difficulty that it takes — for all of us today, this being the first Jumu'ah that we have gathered like this in such a long time — is itself a source of reward.

And for many of us, one of the things that was probably going through our minds is that it's hot outside, and there's going to be traffic again, and parking is going to be chaotic once again. Those are issues that we think about because they are logistical aspects of our worship. But when you are patient and disciplined and you go anyway, the reward for bearing through that is something which makes your act of worship greater in the sight of Allah.

So long as that effort is intrinsic to the act of worship — so long as it does not detract from its value, from its benefit, from the objectives that Allah wants you to achieve.

If it detracts from it — if by doing something so hard in the run-up to the act of worship you cannot perform the act of worship — then that is not from the beauty, the ease, and the simplicity of this religion. Like in the hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari, when the Prophet, traveling for Hajj from Medina to Mecca, came across an old man who was being dragged along by his two sons. He was old, and they were walking with him. So the Prophet asked them: "Why is this man walking? Clearly he is too old, too frail, too infirm to walk. Why are you walking with him?" They said: "O Messenger of Allah, he took an oath by Allah that he would only make Hajj walking." The Prophet said: "Allah is free — He has no need of this man punishing himself in that way," because he did not have the ability to do so.

But if it is something which you can do, and something which is intrinsic to the act of worship — something which does not detract from it — there is an amazing amount of reward. And there are a number of ahadith that demonstrate this principle.

The Hadith of Jabir and Banu Salimah

Amongst them is the hadith of Jabir radiyallahu anhu, in Sahih Muslim. Jabir radiyallahu anhu comes from the tribe of Banu Salimah, from the tribes of the Ansar. They lived far away from the Masjid of the Prophet. So every time they wanted to come to offer Salah — for the Jumu'ah prayer, for the Eid prayer — they had to walk a good distance. They then found land close by to the Masjid of the Prophet, and so all of them decided that they would sell up and move closer to the Masjid.

"O people of Banu Salimah, stay in your homes — your footsteps are being recorded." (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 665)

When the Prophet heard of their intention to move, he said: "O people of Banu Salimah, stay in your homes, for Allah rewards you for your footsteps." He told them to remain, not to come closer to the Masjid. Like some of us for this Jumu'ah prayer — we came from far and wide, it takes us more time and effort than the person who lives next door, or a few doors away, or just down the road. That extra effort that you put in is something which is rewarded. That is what the Prophet told us. And if you were to analyze and look throughout the Sunnah, you would find that some of the most rewarding acts of worship — after the obligatory deeds — are those acts that come in the run-up to, or after, the obligatory acts of worship that you perform.

What the Angels Dispute Over

Like in the famous hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal radiyallahu anhu, reported in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, where the Prophet saw in a dream that someone said to him: "What do the noble company of angels dispute over amongst themselves?" — what do the angels of Allah dispute over? And the Prophet was inspired with the answer, and he said: "The angels, when they dispute over something, dispute over which actions will expiate your sins most. Which actions can you perform that will forgive your sins for you?" Then the Prophet was asked to name them, and he said:

"Performing wudu properly in times of difficulty, walking with many steps to the masajid, and waiting for the next prayer after the prayer." (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3579)

It is to walk to the masjid, to take as many steps as you can until you come to the masjid, and to sit in the masjid after the salah — you don't just get up; you are making dhikr, you are praying your sunnah prayers, you are waiting until the next salah comes whilst everyone else has rushed off to go back to their lives. You are sitting in the masjid and making wudu in times of difficulty — meaning when it is extremely cold and you only have access to cold water, but you still go ahead and make a full and proper wudu. Those are the actions that forgive you your sins.

Each one of them is something which requires effort, and that effort is what Allah rewards us for.

Effort and the Human Nature

Because for many of us it has become the trend that it is difficult to put in effort. Even though as humans we are programmed such that when something is valuable, precious, or beneficial, we are willing to put in time and effort. You are going to buy a new house, a new car, you want to get married, you want to go to university, you want to go on holiday — you are going to take time and put in effort to make sure that you get what you desire. But when it comes to worship, we are sometimes too lazy; we don't think like that. It becomes difficult. Why do we have to fast on the day of Arafah when the day is long and hot? Why do we have to do this or that? The effort required becomes a burden upon us.

The Immense Reward of Jumu'ah

This Jumu'ah prayer that we are praying right now — some of the actions surrounding it have some of the greatest rewards on offer in this entire Shari'ah. Because the Prophet told us, in the hadith of Aws ibn Aws al-Thaqafi radiyallahu anhu, collected by Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i, and others:

"Whoever performs ghusl on Friday, comes out early to the Jumu'ah prayer and attends all of it, walks to the masjid and does not ride, comes close to the Imam as much as space allows, listens attentively, and is not distracted — for every footstep he takes he will have the reward of a full year: the reward of its fasting during the day and its praying during the night." (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 345; Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 1384)

Whosoever takes a bath and washes themselves on this day of Friday, and then comes out early to the Jumu'ah prayer and listens to all of it in its entirety, and walks to the Masjid and does not ride — does not come by car or by bus, but walks from their home to the Masjid — and comes as close as they can to the Imam as the space allows, and listens attentively and is not distracted by anything else — for every footstep that person takes they will have the reward of a full year: the reward of its fasting during the day and its praying during the night. For every single footstep.

That is not the Jumu'ah prayer itself. That is not its reward. That is not its position in Islam. It is the effort that you make in order to come closer to Allah. That is something I wanted to bring our attention to, because it is from the greatest lessons of Hajj. As we come closer to Allah, we must not let Shaytan distract us or tempt us into thinking that all we have to do in the run-up to these ibadat is wasted time, effort, and energy. For every moment and every second that you spend coming closer to Allah — in the very process of coming closer to Him — you have an amazing amount of reward that only Allah knows best.

Teaching Our Children the Value of Effort

This Eid that we just performed — from the greatest acts of worship that any of us could have performed during these days was the act of the slaughter, the sacrifice. And it is very common in our time now to send that money abroad or to get some company or charity to do it for you. And I am not speaking about the halal or the haram of the issue, but I am speaking about what is the Sunnah, and the effort required in performing acts of worship. For you to take on that responsibility yourself — yes, it means you have to take out some time during Eid; yes, it means you have to go and pick up that meat from somewhere; yes, it means you have to portion it and distribute it and search and find people to give it to. But it is that effort that is rewarding.

The person who sits at home and transfers some money abroad or clicks on a website does not get the same reward as the person who strives and struggles. They do not get the same benefit for their children and their families. They do not understand the meaning of what it means to make the udhiyah and the sacrifice on this day.

And that is why the Salaf — rahimahumullah — would bring their children to the masajid from a young age, and would make them fast in the days of Ramadan even though it was hot, and even though they were too young to complete the days of fasting. But they wanted them to understand what it means to work hard in the act of worship and for the sake of Allah. The way we push our children in their studies, in their schools, in their universities, and in other parts of their lives — that is the same level of diligence we should show when pushing them to worship Allah and to seek knowledge. They would push their children from a young age — from the age of 5, 6, 7 — making them go and sit with scholars. That child may not be learning as much as others; they may not be benefiting much; they are tired and they are fidgeting. But they would make them do so, because it was training them to understand how knowledge is acquired.

The Story of Abd al-Awwal ibn Isa al-Sijzi

I want to leave you with the story of one of the great scholars of the past, from the scholars of Hadith — a scholar by the name of Abd al-Awwal ibn Isa al-Sijzi rahimahullah, from the great scholars of Hadith. He says as a child that his father would take him to the next village, a few miles away, and would make him walk during the day under the heat of the sun — and he was no older than 6 or 7 years old. And not only that, but his father would make him carry stones in his hands. So he would have two rocks, one in each hand. If he became tired, his father would say: "Let one rock go." So now it is one rock between two hands. And after a while, when he became too tired again, his father would tell him to drop the other rock as well. Then he would walk for a while, and when he became too tired his father would pick him up and put him on his shoulders.

The people of the village would see this every single day — this poor young child being made to pick up stones and rocks and walk from village to village. And they would say: "Why don't you just put him on a camel? We are riding that way. Put him on with us." He would say: "No. Because I want him to understand the weight of books, as he will carry them when he goes and seeks knowledge. That is what the rocks are for. And I want him to understand the effort it takes to travel from one place to another in order to learn the religion of Allah."

That effort that his father put in — and no doubt it was not easy for the father either, to walk with him that way each and every single day, to see his son making that effort — Allah rewarded him for his sincerity. Until his son became from the great scholars of hadith of his generation.

Allah does not just want from you the action or the result of the action. Allah also wants to see the effort, the time, and the due diligence that you put in in order to achieve those acts of worship.

Closing Du'a

May Allah make us from amongst those people who show determination and patience and discipline upon their ibadah. May Allah give us the ability to worship Him in ways that please Him. May Allah bless us and our families. May Allah keep us safe and healthy. May Allah protect us from all illness and all disease. May Allah cure from amongst us those who are ill. May He have mercy upon those who have passed away. May Allah keep us firm upon this religion. May Allah reunite us all in the highest levels of Jannah.