Lessons from Hajj and Steadfastness After the Journey

Lessons from Hajj and Steadfastness After the Journey

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. May Allah enable us all and facilitate hajj for us soon, Ya Rabb al-alameen.

The Question Every Hajji Is Asked

Brothers and sisters, many people when they come from hajj, they're always faced with that same question: How was it? They're always asked this question. What was the experience? How was it this year? Did you enjoy it? How did you feel about it? It's a very common question the hajjaj are asked. And usually you get almost a similar answer from everybody.

Their answer usually is just telling you that, look, this cannot be described with words. It's an experience. You cannot express that with words. You have to be there yourself. You have to experience it so you know and understand how they feel about it and how it was. Because that hajj experience is something we call a super-rational experience — one that cannot be described with words.

So if you haven't been to hajj before, you cannot relate easily to it. But if you've been once, then you will understand the meaning of Allah's words in the Quran — that we made this house, the Sacred House in Mecca, a place for frequent visitation.

What does that mean? Once you go there, one time you go there, your heart gets attached. You leave that place physically, but you leave something so special and so valuable over there. You leave your heart, your soul stays there. And you keep wanting to go back again and again. And every time Eid al-Adha comes, you just kind of wonder — what am I doing here? Why am I praying in the masjid? Why can't I just be wearing my ihram and doing tawaf and so on?

Hajj Is Not Just a Journey — It Is a Way of Life

Brothers and sisters, just like success is not just an event but a process, I just want you to understand that hajj is not just a journey — it's a way of life. It's truly a way of life.

Even if you haven't been to hajj before, you can understand at least what these hujjaj go through. And for those who've been to hajj, I want you to understand right now — when people ask you, how was it? What did you learn about it? — that is a very serious question that you need to reflect on for your own personal good. You need to reflect on this question: What did I really learn from this experience? What can I get out of this?

You see, the Prophet ﷺ mentioned as the ultimate reward in dunya — the ultimate reward for a person who does a flawless hajj — the Prophet ﷺ said:

If you go to hajj and you do it right — فَلَمْ يَرْفُثْ وَلَمْ يَفْسُقْ — you're not involved in any obscenity, no cursing or anything bad or sinful — رَجَعَ كَيَوْمِ وَلَدَتْهُ أُمُّهُ — this person will come back from hajj just like the day his mother gave birth to him or her. A clean slate. You're fresh. Allah has given you an absolutely new opportunity to start fresh. Who doesn't want to have this with Allah? I know myself, I know my records — they're not clean. And every opportunity I can get to clean them and restart with Allah, I would love to do that. And hajj is that opportunity.

So hajj, my dear brothers and sisters, is again not just a journey — it is a way of life. So therefore, what is it that we learn from hajj that is a way of life for me, whether you went to hajj or otherwise? I want to share with you a few things insha'Allah that you need to focus on.

One of the things about hajj is that the instruction given to the hujjaj was that you should not be arguing, no fighting, no quarreling with anybody, no cursing, no doing anything wrong — just keep it absolutely sincere to Allah. Brothers and sisters, when the hujjaj go there for days — and some stay for weeks, even a few months — they need to uphold that level of character consistently. So what happens there? Practice, after practice, after practice. You keep restraining yourself, you keep controlling yourself. And suddenly you see your potential: I can change. I can truly change.

Those who keep saying, "Well, I have a short temper, I'm always angry" — well, go to hajj and try it out. See if hajj can help you train yourself to release yourself from that. Because in hajj you're going to see things that will definitely drive you crazy. Are you going to be able to hold yourself and say, "Look, I'm doing hajj, I should abstain from doing any of that"? Hajj is an opportunity for people to remould themselves to the best character possible.

And subhanAllah, the whole deen is about this. All of our deen is about this. Look at siyam — fasting. The Prophet ﷺ says if someone comes and argues with you, what do you say? إِنِّي صَائِمٌ — I am fasting. You train yourself to be a better person. As for salah, the Prophet ﷺ says if you pray and your salah is not teaching you to leave obscenity and sin, it doesn't count for much. I mean, you get the reward for salah, but is it really benefiting you in terms of its purpose — which is to refine your character? It's all about this.

So brothers and sisters, hajj — as part of our deen — is all about improving character. Because the whole message was about what? Tazkiyah. That you purify yourself and improve yourself. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Musnad al-Bazzar; al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman, authenticated by al-Albani)

I was only sent to help people perfect their character. That's the whole purpose of the deen. All the aspects of our deen are to perfect the subject of character.

Lesson One: Sincerity to Allah Alone

What exactly can we learn from hajj? I have a few things for you.

Number one — what we learn from hajj is that hajj is all about being sincere to Allah, only to Allah. Because when you go there and you leave behind your comfort, you leave your titles, you leave your prestige, you leave everything behind — and you go there to meet people you're seeing for the first time in your life, with different mindsets, different appetites — you're going to see things that will make you wonder: Why am I here for? And if you've gone there for anything else besides pleasing Allah and being sincere to Allah, you will question yourself again and again.

You go to Mecca — Mecca is not a resort. It's as Allah described in the Quran: a barren valley, a dead valley, nothing else grows over there. The only purpose for this is the house of Allah — to ensure that when people take that journey, they're not going there for recreational purposes. Although unfortunately right now Mecca has a lot of recreational opportunities, which defeats the purpose sometimes. But subhanAllah, still though, you go there and you teach yourself: I'm going to visit Mecca for the house of Allah, for the sake of Allah.

This is something important for us — especially in a time like ours, ya jama'at, as we see the world going crazy right now. You've heard the news about what's happening in the Middle East right now. When the Zionist state decided to expand that war elsewhere in the Middle East, and they want to force the whole world to go along with their agenda — they're willing to break the entire society, the entire world, for their own selfish goals in that area, subhanAllah. And unfortunately, a lot of people fall for it.

And in a moment like this, ya jama'at, we need to be strong and stand for that which is right. Fear absolutely nobody and nothing, even if the world is becoming so barren and completely dead. You trek into that world for the sake of Allah, only for the sake of Allah. You stay strong in the face of all these things.

And the only way you can stay strong is if you are attached to one and only Allah. If your heart is attached to the comfort of your life, the comfort of your job, the comfort of your social activities and so on, it makes you weak. Because your attention and your heart is divided among all these things. You have so many gods to please in this dunya. As Allah mentioned in the Quran:

Have you seen the one who made his hawa — his desire — to be his own god?

So my dear brothers and sisters, hajj is teaching us this. And sometimes it teaches us in the most physical way. When you drop your garments completely — everything — and you put on those simple two pieces of cloth for men, and just walk around for a few days, and all you do is chant the exact same words over and over again:

My Lord, here I am in Thy service. Here I am. No partner do You have. Here I am. Truly, the praise and the grace are Yours, and the sovereignty. No partner do You have.

You keep saying that over and over again. That is an ultimate lesson to all of us — whether you've gone to hajj before or not. Whether you've been ten times or one time, whether you just came back from hajj or are still thinking about going — that principle is a way of life. Hajj is not just a journey. It's a way of life. You live on that journey, that hajj to Allah, throughout your entire life.

Lesson Two: Obedience Despite Hardship

The second thing, my dear brothers and sisters, that we learn from hajj — and that is very important for us to uphold in this life — is understanding that when we worship Allah, we practice obedience despite hardship.

Ask the hajjaj — all of them complain about sleep deprivation. They all come back completely exhausted, looking around for their bed, wanting to just sleep. But when you ask them about what they did in Mina, in Arafah, in all these practices — it was sweet pain. They loved it. They enjoyed it. Even the pain of finding a spot in Muzdalifah just to rest for a few minutes before continuing to Mina — that pain, when they look back at it, was enjoyable. Because they were doing it for the sake of Allah.

Obedience despite hardship. Those who wake up for tahajjud, they understand what this means. Those who wake up for fajr, rubbing sleep from their eyes, fighting their legs to take them to the bathroom so they can make wudu and prepare to come to the masjid — those who fight that fight, they enjoy being triumphant afterwards. Similarly when it comes to hajj. You go through all that pain, and at some point they even get sick. But they continue with that journey because they know it's not just about the journey — it's about the way of life. And when they come back they see that alhamdulillah, obedience despite hardship made them stronger.

And brothers and sisters, we go back again to what's happening in this world. Weak people cannot survive in this. It is now the struggle of the fittest. And if you're not strong enough to handle the pressure, if you're not strong enough to see what the world is looking like in the near future, Allah knows how you're going to be able to stand against all the fitna and trials that come across us.

You need to be strong. Not escaping hardship through worship — no. You're going through it so you can refine your character, your skill, your strength, and your power. I need to wake up at night. I need to fast in the middle of the summer. Yeah, I'm going to get thirsty, get exhausted, get fatigued and tired. But guess what? It strengthens your resolve. It makes you stronger as an individual, and hopefully stronger as a believer as well. Brothers and sisters, hajj is teaching us this. I need to be strong.

Lesson Three: Brotherhood and Community in Islam

The third thing we learn from hajj, my dear brothers and sisters, is that beautiful sense of brotherhood, sisterhood, and community in Islam. A lot of people come back having made new family and new friends in just a few days of being in Mecca and Medina. People they've never met before, never seen before. And every day they were waking up to have breakfast together, to have dinner together, to share bread with each other, subhanAllah. And also carrying the burden of one another.

I've seen it in hajj — people helping each other with their own children, helping with their elderly parents, pushing the cart for them, pushing the wheelchair for them, carrying the baby on their behalf while the other is doing something else, subhanAllah. How beautiful that feeling is. And until this day, these people who went to hajj together are on the same WhatsApp group, still checking on each other — Eid Mubarak, Eid Mubarak. That strengthened the bond between people who were complete strangers to each other, because it goes back to the principle: we are one big family.

Allah says that the believers are brothers and sisters. What He's saying exactly is that we are a family. And if you're a family, you owe each other a set of rights and obligations.

Brothers and sisters, that is something we can live with here today as well. If I am individually strong, I can help and assist my brothers and sisters and strengthen one another as a community. And that's what we need to do in a time like ours — be united as one group, as one community, strong in faith, strong in our social connections, insha'Allah.

And where can you do this? You need to be part of this community. If you don't go to the masjid at least once a day, I don't know what you're doing in this dunya. If you're not being part of the community at least once a day, coming to the masjid and bringing your family to it — how are you going to be strong when you need that group of people you're associated with? Brothers and sisters, make sure that you do that. That you are one ummah and one community.

Lesson Four: Gratitude to Allah After Hardship

Another thing that we learn, my dear brothers and sisters, is that hajj teaches us to be truly grateful to Allah for His blessings — and especially after hardship. Because you have so many good things alhamdulillah in this dunya. You have your own private car, the AC is always running masha'Allah in the heat of Texas over here. All these things and so on.

And you go to hajj and you're deprived of all of that. Food is not to your liking. Your roommates are not the best partners, maybe. Whatever it is, subhanAllah, you have a lot to go through. And that's when you start reflecting and saying alhamdulillah. And when you come back to your comfort — your own bed, your own car, your own AC, your own food, your own schedule, your own routine — if you don't appreciate that after coming back from hajj, there's something wrong with you.

And you don't even have to go to hajj to appreciate that. But at least the thought of it — that hajj would disrupt all that routine for you — should make you appreciate the ni'mah and the blessing that Allah has bestowed upon you.

Lesson Five: Constant Remembrance of Allah

And finally, my dear brothers and sisters, when it comes to hajj — hajj teaches us that you always remember Allah at all times. During the day, during the night, in the morning, in the evening, while you're walking, while you're eating — at all aspects of the hajj journey, you will find people making takbir and talbiyah. And no one sees this as weird. Like, you'll be eating, and then people walk into the restaurant area making takbir and talbiyah. If you did this here, people would probably say, oh, that's weird. But that's a lesson to us — that you continue in a state of dhikr, regardless of where you are, whichever part of your day or evening you're in. You continue making dhikr to Allah.

Brothers and sisters, the dhikr of Allah is extremely important. It is one of the things that brings you closer to Allah, and it is one of the greatest and most valuable things you can do. As the Prophet ﷺ was asked by a man who said, Ya Rasulullah, so many things I need to learn about Islam — what do I do? Where do I start? Teach me something that brings me closer to Allah and keeps me away from Jahannam. He ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3375; Ibn Majah, Hadith 3793 — graded Hasan by al-Tirmidhi)

As long as you keep your tongue moist in the remembrance of Allah. Because when you do that, I hope it will always make you appreciate the blessings you have around you, the ni'am. And the people that you have in your life and your community. And make you appreciate — alhamdulillah — the fact that you have iman, and that you're part of this Muslim community, alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. And I hope that makes you a strong individual in the face of trials in this dunya and in the akhira.

I say this and ask Allah's forgiveness for me and for you, and for the sake of the Muslims, ask His forgiveness. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

The Second Khutbah: Staying With Allah

Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and companions.

After that, my dear brothers and sisters — whether you just came back from hajj, have been to hajj before, or are planning to go in the future — it doesn't really matter. But there is a beautiful statement from one of the salaf, rahimahullah:

What he is saying here is: It's not about reaching Allah once. It's all about staying with Him.

Which means — you've done your hajj. Check. I have my five pillars of Islam: hajj, done. Alhamdulillah. You reached there. But are you going to stay there? Like I said, people come back with their bodies. Are you going to leave your heart over there? Are you going to leave your soul attached to the house of Allah, always longing to reconnect that soul, that heart?

So it doesn't matter how many times you went to hajj, but how many times you kept your heart and your soul there. It's not about reaching Allah once — it's about staying with Him.

And we ask Allah to keep us all connected to Him.