Eid al-Adha Thoughts – The Forgotten Fundamental Principle of Hajj
By: Seyyed Ali Shahbaz
"[This is] an announcement from Allah and His Prophet to all the people on the day of the Greater Hajj: that Allah and His Prophet repudiate the polytheists.” (Holy Qur’an 9:3)
As is clear the repudiation of the polytheists or disavowal of disbelievers (bar’aat min-al-mushrikeen) is a commandment of God Almighty and His Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), to be observed during the Hajj pilgrimage.
On revelation of this and related ayahs of Surah Towba when the Prophet had sent one of his senior companions – a former idolater – to proclaim the Divine Rules of Hajj to the neo Muslim or still pagan Arabs of Mecca, Archangel Gabriel descended with a fresh order from the Lord Most High, saying these ayahs pertaining to the repudiation of the polytheists should be recited at the holy Ka’ba either by the Prophet himself or someone similar to him – that is, a pure and pristine monotheist who had never bowed to idols.
All exegetes of the Holy Qur’an, narrators of hadith and chroniclers of history – whether Sunni or Shi’a – agree that the Seal of Messengers asked his dear cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), to take charge of the mission without delay. The Commander of the Faithful promptly set off, overtook the emissary, took charge of the mission as "Ameer al-Haaj”, reached Mecca and fearlessly proclaimed these ayahs on disavowal of disbelievers at the Holy Ka’ba.
Alas, following the Prophet’s departure from the mortal world when a group of neo Muslims – or more properly former idolaters – usurped political power of the Islamic state in violation of God’s commandments and the explicit instructions of the Prophet on Imam Ali’s (AS) Divinely-Designated right of leadership of the Ummah, they decided to ignore this fundamental declaration of Surah Towba.
Consequently, the second, third and subsequent generations of Arab Muslims, whose ancestors were polytheists, pagans, heathens, idolaters and atheists, also closed their eyes to God’s commandment in the holy Qur’an for Hajj pilgrims to disavow the disbelievers during the annual pilgrimage – perhaps on the assumption that no non-Muslim comes to Mecca and thus there is no need of these ayahs.
A shortsighted of blasphemous decision indeed, when in a few centuries we see the Crusaders from Europe occupying Syria and Palestine, along with Islam’s first qibla, Bayt al-Moqaddas,
Though a united Muslim force of Kurds, Turks, Iranians, and Arabs, liberated Bayt al-Moqaddas in 1187 after 88 years of Crusader occupation, and when it was again occupied, the Ayyubids used the elite Khwaremian brigades in 1244 to liberate Islam’s 3rd holiest city (the Crusades finally ending in 1291), Muslims coming to Mecca from various parts of Islamic World stretching from Spain in west to the borders of China in the east, seemed to have completely forgotten the Divine Commandment to repudiate disbelievers.
Even in the colonial era, this fundamental message of Hajj, enshrined in Surah Towba, was ignored, the result being Britain’s creation of the spurious entity Saudi Arabia in 1932 as a gift to its salaried servant, the desert brigand from Najd, Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud, seven years after his heretical Wahhabi hordes had seized Hijaz, the Land of Divine Revelation by unleashing rivers of blood in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the port city of Jeddah and the hill resort of Ta’ef.
This meant no mention at all of "disavowal of disbelievers”, since Islam’s most sacred cities were now under control of the Zionist-loving slaves of western imperialism, the Saudi disbelievers, who in order to fool the Ummah and justify their rule, masqueraded as Muslims.
It was only in 1980 that the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini (RA) – a direct descendant of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) through his 7th Infallible Heir, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) – revived this basic principle of the Hajj, with instructions to Iranian pilgrims to preach Islamic unity during the rituals, while proclaiming in an organized manner the disavowal of disbelievers, especially the archenemies of the Ummah (US and the Zionist entity).
Many Muslims welcomed this, but those who had usurped control of the Land of Divine Revelation, were firmly sitting in the lap of the US and Britain, and were direct descendants of either the pagan Arabs or the Israelite tribes of Arabia.
The seditious Saudis, not only opposed the ceremony of "bara’at min al-mushrikeen” but used batons and firearms to shed by blood of the Guests of God in the most inviolable of all places – beginning with the 400 Iranians massacred by the Aal-e Saud in 1987 and reaching climax with stampede in Mena in 2016 that resulted in the death of at least 7,000 pilgrims, including around 500 Iranians.
Well on the Day of Arafa and on the eve of Eid al-Adha, the intention is not to spoil the mood of those who without any legal authority, claim to be Custodians of Two Holiest Shrines, while openly dallying with the Zionists and unabashedly shedding Muslim blood in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, etc.
Since Arafa is the day for attaining the proper cognition of the One and Only Creator, as food for thought, here is a passage from the famous supplication of this day from the Prophet’s grandson, the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS):
"You are verily Originator and Reproducer (of the creation) and worthy of all praise and full of all glory. Holy be Your Names as Your bounties are so immeasurable. Which of Your favors, O my God, can I count in numbers and examples? Or which of Your gifts can I thank properly?
"And I bear witness, O my God, with my true belief, and the fortitude of the determinations of my conviction and the purity of my open belief in Your Oneness and the essence of the secret of my conscience, and the ties of the canals of the light of my sight, and the lines of my forehead and the hallows of the courses of my breath, and the (nasal) cavities of my nose, and the courses of the meatus of my hearing, and whatever my two lips hide and cover up, and the motions of the vocalization of my tongue, and the socket of the palate of my mouth and jaw, and the matrices of my dents, and the tasting of my food and my drink, and the carrier of my skill, and the tube of the tissues of my neck and what is included by the cloak of my chest, and the carriers of the cord of my aorta, and the cords of the pericardium of my heart, and the pieces of the retinues of my liver, and that which is included by the cartilages of my ribs, and the cavities of my joints, and the interacting of my organisms, and the extremes of my fingertips, and my flesh, and my blood, and my hair, and my skin, and my nerve, and my sinews, and my bones, and my brain, and my veins, and all of my organs, and that which was pieced together during the days of my suckling, and whatever of my body that the ground carries, and my sleeping, and my wakefulness, and my motionlessness, and the movements of my bowing and prostration; (by all that I bear witness) that if I try my best and strive throughout all ages and all times, to thank properly only one of Your favors, I will not be able to do that except through Your favor, which also requires me to thank You for it once again with new thanking and with praise that is newly acquired.”
Happy Eid al-Adha for the Muslim World, but with thoughts for the martyrs of the massive mismanagement at Mena, as well as tributes to the "Zibhin Azeem” or the Great Sacrifice, that is, the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS) and dear and near ones in Karbala, through whom God Almighty ransomed Prophet Ishmael after having tested the firm faith of Prophet Abraham.
Congratulations on Eid al-Adha & Condolences for the Martyrs of Mena
"[This is] an announcement from Allah and His Prophet to all the people on the day of the Greater Hajj: that Allah and His Prophet repudiate the polytheists.” (Holy Qur’an 9:3)
As is clear the repudiation of the polytheists or disavowal of disbelievers (bar’aat min-al-mushrikeen) is a commandment of God Almighty and His Last and Greatest Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SAWA), to be observed during the Hajj pilgrimage.
On revelation of this and related ayahs of Surah Towba when the Prophet had sent one of his senior companions – a former idolater – to proclaim the Divine Rules of Hajj to the neo Muslim or still pagan Arabs of Mecca, Archangel Gabriel descended with a fresh order from the Lord Most High, saying these ayahs pertaining to the repudiation of the polytheists should be recited at the holy Ka’ba either by the Prophet himself or someone similar to him – that is, a pure and pristine monotheist who had never bowed to idols.
All exegetes of the Holy Qur’an, narrators of hadith and chroniclers of history – whether Sunni or Shi’a – agree that the Seal of Messengers asked his dear cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali ibn Abi Taleb (AS), to take charge of the mission without delay. The Commander of the Faithful promptly set off, overtook the emissary, took charge of the mission as "Ameer al-Haaj”, reached Mecca and fearlessly proclaimed these ayahs on disavowal of disbelievers at the Holy Ka’ba.
Alas, following the Prophet’s departure from the mortal world when a group of neo Muslims – or more properly former idolaters – usurped political power of the Islamic state in violation of God’s commandments and the explicit instructions of the Prophet on Imam Ali’s (AS) Divinely-Designated right of leadership of the Ummah, they decided to ignore this fundamental declaration of Surah Towba.
Consequently, the second, third and subsequent generations of Arab Muslims, whose ancestors were polytheists, pagans, heathens, idolaters and atheists, also closed their eyes to God’s commandment in the holy Qur’an for Hajj pilgrims to disavow the disbelievers during the annual pilgrimage – perhaps on the assumption that no non-Muslim comes to Mecca and thus there is no need of these ayahs.
A shortsighted of blasphemous decision indeed, when in a few centuries we see the Crusaders from Europe occupying Syria and Palestine, along with Islam’s first qibla, Bayt al-Moqaddas,
Though a united Muslim force of Kurds, Turks, Iranians, and Arabs, liberated Bayt al-Moqaddas in 1187 after 88 years of Crusader occupation, and when it was again occupied, the Ayyubids used the elite Khwaremian brigades in 1244 to liberate Islam’s 3rd holiest city (the Crusades finally ending in 1291), Muslims coming to Mecca from various parts of Islamic World stretching from Spain in west to the borders of China in the east, seemed to have completely forgotten the Divine Commandment to repudiate disbelievers.
Even in the colonial era, this fundamental message of Hajj, enshrined in Surah Towba, was ignored, the result being Britain’s creation of the spurious entity Saudi Arabia in 1932 as a gift to its salaried servant, the desert brigand from Najd, Abdul-Aziz Aal-e Saud, seven years after his heretical Wahhabi hordes had seized Hijaz, the Land of Divine Revelation by unleashing rivers of blood in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the port city of Jeddah and the hill resort of Ta’ef.
This meant no mention at all of "disavowal of disbelievers”, since Islam’s most sacred cities were now under control of the Zionist-loving slaves of western imperialism, the Saudi disbelievers, who in order to fool the Ummah and justify their rule, masqueraded as Muslims.
It was only in 1980 that the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Seyyed Ruhollah Khomeini (RA) – a direct descendant of Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) through his 7th Infallible Heir, Imam Musa al-Kazem (AS) – revived this basic principle of the Hajj, with instructions to Iranian pilgrims to preach Islamic unity during the rituals, while proclaiming in an organized manner the disavowal of disbelievers, especially the archenemies of the Ummah (US and the Zionist entity).
Many Muslims welcomed this, but those who had usurped control of the Land of Divine Revelation, were firmly sitting in the lap of the US and Britain, and were direct descendants of either the pagan Arabs or the Israelite tribes of Arabia.
The seditious Saudis, not only opposed the ceremony of "bara’at min al-mushrikeen” but used batons and firearms to shed by blood of the Guests of God in the most inviolable of all places – beginning with the 400 Iranians massacred by the Aal-e Saud in 1987 and reaching climax with stampede in Mena in 2016 that resulted in the death of at least 7,000 pilgrims, including around 500 Iranians.
Well on the Day of Arafa and on the eve of Eid al-Adha, the intention is not to spoil the mood of those who without any legal authority, claim to be Custodians of Two Holiest Shrines, while openly dallying with the Zionists and unabashedly shedding Muslim blood in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, etc.
Since Arafa is the day for attaining the proper cognition of the One and Only Creator, as food for thought, here is a passage from the famous supplication of this day from the Prophet’s grandson, the Martyr of Karbala, Imam Husain (AS):
"You are verily Originator and Reproducer (of the creation) and worthy of all praise and full of all glory. Holy be Your Names as Your bounties are so immeasurable. Which of Your favors, O my God, can I count in numbers and examples? Or which of Your gifts can I thank properly?
"And I bear witness, O my God, with my true belief, and the fortitude of the determinations of my conviction and the purity of my open belief in Your Oneness and the essence of the secret of my conscience, and the ties of the canals of the light of my sight, and the lines of my forehead and the hallows of the courses of my breath, and the (nasal) cavities of my nose, and the courses of the meatus of my hearing, and whatever my two lips hide and cover up, and the motions of the vocalization of my tongue, and the socket of the palate of my mouth and jaw, and the matrices of my dents, and the tasting of my food and my drink, and the carrier of my skill, and the tube of the tissues of my neck and what is included by the cloak of my chest, and the carriers of the cord of my aorta, and the cords of the pericardium of my heart, and the pieces of the retinues of my liver, and that which is included by the cartilages of my ribs, and the cavities of my joints, and the interacting of my organisms, and the extremes of my fingertips, and my flesh, and my blood, and my hair, and my skin, and my nerve, and my sinews, and my bones, and my brain, and my veins, and all of my organs, and that which was pieced together during the days of my suckling, and whatever of my body that the ground carries, and my sleeping, and my wakefulness, and my motionlessness, and the movements of my bowing and prostration; (by all that I bear witness) that if I try my best and strive throughout all ages and all times, to thank properly only one of Your favors, I will not be able to do that except through Your favor, which also requires me to thank You for it once again with new thanking and with praise that is newly acquired.”
Happy Eid al-Adha for the Muslim World, but with thoughts for the martyrs of the massive mismanagement at Mena, as well as tributes to the "Zibhin Azeem” or the Great Sacrifice, that is, the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS) and dear and near ones in Karbala, through whom God Almighty ransomed Prophet Ishmael after having tested the firm faith of Prophet Abraham.
Congratulations on Eid al-Adha & Condolences for the Martyrs of Mena