الحج.. وقلبي بيْن بين !

"Here I am, O Allah, here I am"..

The voice of the announcement rose with this eternal call, in the submission of the beloved, the hope of the confident, the fear of the hopeful, and the determination of the commanded: "And proclaim to the people the pilgrimage."..

They came from every deep valley; on bare feet, and lean camels, and carts between a lull and a rush, driven by the guides to the source of light, the resting place of tranquility, and the homeland of security and peace.

To You, my God, I have come, responding

So bless, my God, my pilgrimage and my supplication

I came to You in need and came to You weeping

And far be it from You, my Lord, to reject my weeping

It is enough pride for me that I am a worshiper of Yours

Oh, how happy I am if I become a loyal servant

Have you seen in all the arts and literature and the manuscripts of documents, books that have been filled with more than what has been written about the blessed journey?

No journey has garnered attention in documentation and expression of feelings and inner thoughts as much as the pilgrimage journey to the Sacred House of Allah and the holy sites.

So look at their yearning and longing for the pilgrimage and the House of Allah; if their steps fall short, they send forth their longings and travel with their imaginations. How intense is the longing of "Barai of Yemen," who expressed his yearning in his wandering poem:

O travelers to Mina with my guidance

You stirred my heart on the day of departure

You walked, and your guide walked, O my solitude

And the camels delighted me with the sound of the caller

And you will find a similar sentiment in the poet Ibn Daqiq al-Abdi:

My soul wanders in delight when

I catch a glimpse of the lightning of Hijaz

And my mind is overwhelmed with longing

And I have become adorned with the beauty of the pilgrimage

O, can I fulfill my need from Mina

And sacrifice the noble camels

So I may drink from Zamzam, for it is to me

More delicious than the saliva of the gazelle

And travel and wander among the abundant writings about this blessed journey from Arabs and non-Arabs, ancient and modern. If you reach the Prince of Poets, Ahmed Shawqi, lend your ear to what he says:

To You, O Lord of the pilgrims, I have gathered them

For a pure house of the plains and courtyards

I see people of all kinds and from every place

They have come to You from estrangement and dispersion

They are equal; there is no distinction in lineage

With You, nor in destinies are there differences

As for those from the gray land, you will hear the voice of the Bedouin of the mountain, reciting his poem:

O my soul, the valley of the trustworthy Muhammad

Fertile in guidance, while the crops are not fertile

Here is the radiant Kaaba, revelation, and fragrance

Here is the light, so perish in its love and dissolve

And O my soul, between the Hatim and Zamzam

I left my tears as an intercessor for my sins

And in the radiant Kaaba, my lament adorned

And the doors of heaven were perfumed with my weeping

And the desert echoed east and west

The echo of a melody from longing and moisture

This is a vast and magnificent station; nothing will prevent you from its refreshing springs and its flowing streams except the sound Arabic proverb: "What surrounds the neck is enough from the necklace."..

So if you stand at this "station" with a sense of the sanctity of the place and the greatness of the ritual, others have stood for another purpose, and the sanctity and grandeur of the scene did not protect them from "going out" with careless words and "strange" positions. You may wonder whether to admire what they have created or to deny what they have committed..

Compare between the determination of the Nabigha of Dhubyān and the laxity of Umar ibn Abi Rabi'a; the former was patient and dignified when faced with the temptation of one of the women due to the sanctity of the months of pilgrimage, and he said:

She is a fair one, the most complete of those who walk on foot

Beautiful and the most charming of those I have conversed with

She said: I see you a traveler and a camel driver

Approaching places that will not see you as an old man

May you be greeted, my Lord, for it is not permissible for us

To indulge in women, for indeed, religion has determined

We are striving on woven palm fronds

We hope for God and we hope for righteousness and sustenance

Oh, how delicate and sweet his poetry is, and "how vile" his position and misguided, despite the vastness of religion and the mercy of God in forgiveness.

As for his companion "Ibn al-Malouh," he strayed and threw far away; he added a "pillar" to the pilgrimage from his own, look at what he says:

If the pilgrims do not stand at Layla

I do not see their pilgrimage as complete

The completion of the pilgrimage is that the camels stand

At Layla and you greet her with peace

He had previously shifted the "qibla" towards Layla when he said:

I see when I pray, I direct towards her

With my face, even if the place of prayer is behind

And there is no polytheism in me, but love for her

And the greatness of longing has exhausted the healing physician

How great is this love and its effect, for it takes people to horizons that only those who have endured them can reach, and they are few. So do not rush in that nor be disturbed by a disdainful disturbance, for the Lord is Forgiving, and the days are kind, and the heart is fickle. For in what is narrated from "Abu Hazim," there is some consolation and much comfort, and he conveyed the position of that "beautiful one" at the stoning of the pebbles, immortalizing it with the words:

She removed the silk cloak from her warm face

And let down on her two arms a worn-out cloak

From those who have not performed Hajj, seeking a reward

But rather to kill the innocent and the foolish

O Allah, indeed my heart is standing in between, with a longing for that, and a yearning departing with Ibn al-Qayyim, who said:

So for Allah, how many tears have been shed

And another upon its traces does not advance

And the eye of the lover has choked with its tears

So he looks from between the tears and is silent

And they went to the declaration, hoping for mercy

And forgiveness from the One who is generous and gracious

So for Allah, that greatest position

Like the position of the Day of Presentation, but that is greater

And the Almighty draws near to it, exalted be His majesty

He boasts of them to His angels, for He is the Most Generous

He says: My servants have come to Me out of love

And I am generous and gracious to them

So I bear witness to you that I have forgiven their sins

And I grant them what they hope for and bestow upon them

So rejoice, O people of this position

Where Allah forgives sins and shows mercy

How many have been freed in it, completing their freedom

And another hastens, and your Lord is the Most Generous."