Harms of Delaying the Hajj
How could a faithful believer accept to leave off
Hajj
given his capability of fulfilling it with his property and body, when
he knows that it is among the obligatory duties and fundamental pillars
of
Islam?
How
could one greedily withhold his property from performing this
obligatory duty, given that he spends it on what his soul desires?
How could one not want to tire himself in
Hajj given that he tires and fatigues himself in worldly affairs?
How could one become too lethargic to fulfill this obligatory duty given that it is due only once in the lifetime?
How could one delay performing
Hajj given that he does not know whether he would have the power to reach it after this year or not?
Beware of hoping to live long!
O you, whom Allaah The Almighty gave property and he has not yet performed
Hajj!
It should be known to you that life is short, what remains thereof is
shorter (than what has elapsed), the appointed term is decreed but not
known, not available all the time and health is not assured
perpetually.
1)- Have you not heard Allaah The
Almighty saying to His Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may
Allaah exalt his mention ) (what means):
{Let them eat and enjoy themselves and be diverted by [false] hope, for they are going to know.} [Quran 15:3]
That
is to say, let them live as cattle, interested only in food and desires
and engaged in hope, as having excessive ambitions will divert them
from obeying the Lord of the Worlds.
Have you not heard the statement of Allaah The Almighty (which means):
{Do
they not look into the realm of the heavens and the earth and
everything that Allaah has created and [think] that perhaps their
appointed time has come near?} [Quran 7:185]
2- Have you not
heard Anas bin Maalik may Allaah be pleased with him saying, “The
Messenger of Allaah sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his
mention ) drew a line and said:
‘This is (the example of) man.’Then, he drew another line beside it and said:
‘That is his lifetime.’Then, he drew a third line far from it (the first) and said:
‘That is (man's) hope, and while he is in this state (of hope), the nearer line (death) attacks him.’" [Al-Bukhaari]
3-
The Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his
mention ), feared for us from having excessive hope of living too long.
In this respect, it was narrated on the authority of Jaabir may Allaah
be pleased with him that the Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam (
may Allaah exalt his mention ), said:
"Fancies and extensive hope
(to live too long) are what I fear most for my Ummah (nation). As for
fancy, it diverts (people) from the truth; and as for the extensive
hope, it causes one to forget the Hereafter." [Al-Haakim]
4- So, talk yourself to account and hurry, O heedless one!.
Al-Hasan
Al-Basri may Allaah have mercy upon him said, "Hurry, hurry (to do good
things), for it is only breaths (which connect you with that life) and
if they stop, your deeds which bring you closer to Allaah The Exalted
would stop as well. May Allaah have mercy upon the man who looks at
himself and then weeps for the number of his sins." Then, he recited the
following verse (which means):
{We only count out to them a [limited] number.} [Quran 19:84] He resumed, "The last number to be counted is your death, departure from your family and entering your grave."
You have a limited number of steps which you can never exceed and a fixed number of breaths beyond which you will never go.
For this reason, the Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may
Allaah exalt his mention ), urges us to hurry (to do good deeds) and
avail ourselves of (the opportunity offered by) life and time.
1-
It was narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah may Allaah be pleased
with him that the Prophet, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah
exalt his mention ), said:
"Hasten to (good) deeds before (the
coming of) seven (things): are you waiting for poverty that causes one
to forget (remembering Allaah and the Hereafter), richness that causes
one to transgress all due bounds, sickness that corrupts (the health),
old age that brings about senility (by which one might lose reason),
inevitable and sudden death, (the affliction of) Ad-Dajjaal, which is an
absent but expected evil, or the Hour, and the Hour is more disastrous
and more bitter" [At-Tirmithi]
2- It was further narrated on
the authority of Jaabir bin ‘Abdullaah may Allaah be pleased with him
that he said that the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam
( may Allaah exalt his mention ), addressed them in a Khutbah (sermon)
saying:
“O people! Turn in repentance to Allaah before you die, and
hasten to do righteous deeds before you are occupied (by illness and the
like of it), and maintain what is between you and your Lord (i.e. His
right over you) by remembering Him frequently, and giving charity
frequently in secret and public, so that you would be provided with
sustenance and victory and your affairs would be mended." [Ibn Maajah]
3-
It was narrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbaas may Allaah be pleased
with him that the Messenger of Allaah, sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam (
may Allaah exalt his mention ), said to a man while instructing him:
"Avail
yourself of five (good benefits you have) before (the coming of) five
(evil things you would suffer from): (avail yourself of) your youth
before (the coming of) your old age, your health before (the coming of)
your illness, your richness before (the coming of) your poverty, your
leisure before (the coming of) your occupation and your life before (the
coming of) your death." [Al-Haakim]
You have to show regret
and turn in repentance today before you are forced to show regret on a
day on which it would be of no profit to you to regret. At that time,
man would say (what means):
- {"My Lord, send me back that I might do righteousness in that which I left behind."} [Quran 23:99-100]
- {Or [lest] it says when it sees the punishment, "If only I had another turn so I could be among the doers of good."} [Quran 39:58]
Put before your eyes the following Statement of Allaah The Almighty (which means):
{And
spend [in the Way of Allaah] from what We have provided you before
death approaches one of you and he says, "My Lord, if only You would
delay me for a brief term so I would give charity and be among the
righteous." But never will Allaah delay a soul when its time has come.
And Allaah is acquainted with what you do.} [Quran 63:10-11]
At
the time death approaches you, you would neither return to your World,
nor add to your good deeds. You have to work for the Day of Judgment,
the Day of grief and regret.
Adhere to that gain by availing yourself of those virtuous seasons, which cannot be substituted.
Hasten to do good and hurry before the attack of death;
Before the indulgent shows regret for his indulgence;
Before he asks to be sent back to life to do righteousness, and his question receives no answer;
Before death impedes the hopeful from realizing his hope;
Before one becomes in his hole, in pledge of the deed which he has sent forth.
You
should know that if one does not avail himself of the opportunity, it
would turn into a cause of grief. Means might be available to you today,
but not tomorrow.
Thus, sow today to reap tomorrow, and tomorrow is very near.
You
should know that if Allaah The Almighty wills good for a slave, He
expands his breast to accept that in which there lies his prosperity and
salvation, and uses his organs in doing what pleases Him.
The
successful happy one is the one, who, if instruction is given to him,
his heart is opened to it, and his organs become responsive to act upon
it. Those have the glad tidings (of Paradise) as stated by the Lord who
says (what means):
{So give good tidings to My servants who listen
to speech and follow the best of it. Those are the ones Allaah has
guided, and those are people of understanding.} [Quran 39:17-18]
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