{"id":166238,"date":"2022-06-14T08:22:31","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T08:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=166238"},"modified":"2022-06-14T08:22:32","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T08:22:32","slug":"the-spirituality-of-hajj-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.iium.edu.my\/?p=166238","title":{"rendered":"The Spirituality of Hajj: Say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Spahic Omer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Say, which comes after tawaf, is to\nwalk, and sporadically at the determined stations run, between the Safa and\nMarwah hills a total of seven times. One way distance between them is\nconsidered one stretch. Say starts at Safa and is completed at Marwah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a\nsign of vitality and ambition, Say means \u0153walking\u009d, \u0153striving for\u009d, \u0153seeking\u009d,\n\u0153effort\u009d, \u0153toil\u009d, \u0153endeavour\u009d and \u0153pursuit\u009d. In addition to being an ordinance\nof God, say also commemorates the effort and struggle of Hajar, Ibrahims\nwife, to find a solution to her and her sons (Ismail) predicament they had\nfound themselves in. Moving seven times between the Safa and Marwah hills \u201c a\ndistance of about 450-500 meters, and about 3.2-3.5 km in total – brings to\nmind the dedication and willpower of Hajar even when the odds were stacked\nagainst her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Say is the continuation of the movement that has been set off and\ncelebrated in tawaf. For that reason are tawaf and say sometimes regarded, in\nparticular outwardly, as two sides, or parts, of the same motion. They are\ncomplementary parts of one philosophy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have seen earlier that during the first three rounds of tawaf a\npilgrim hastens and jogs (ramal) – which is a form of say – whereas say\nitself is often called tawaf. The Quran itself does the latter: \u0153Indeed, Safa\nand Marwah are among the symbols of Allah. So whoever makes Hajj to the House\nor performs \u02dcUmrah – there is no blame upon him for walking between or\ncircumambulating them (yattawwafa bihima<\/em>). And whoever volunteers good –\nthen indeed, Allah is appreciative and Knowing\u009d (al-Baqarah, 158).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the movement of say is straight, representing infinity, and is\nalso horizontal, representing temporality. Just like everything in Islam, say is\na subtle interplay between the two domains. And in order to materialize, as\nwell as temporalize, the straightness (expansion) of say and its educed\ninfinity, say is framed between two earthly points: the hills of Safa and\nMarwah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This framing notwithstanding, the significance and effects of say are\nnot to be reduced in any way. Rather, the physical say is to be utilized as a\nlaunching pad for rising in a vertical direction towards the infinitude of the\ndivine realm. This rising is the envisioned definitive outcome of the say\nritual. It is a spiritual course (spiritual say) between heaven and earth, and\nbetween spirit and matter, and is truly boundless and unending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Say embodies the character and struggles of life. It is a blend of\nrunning and walking, and of delight and suffering. Which means, first of all,\nthat a person should run towards the consequential aspects of life, sacrificing\nmuch for getting hold of them, as they are indispensable (essentials), and\nshould merely walk towards the less important aspects, because they are\nrelative and are no more than fleeting means (accidents). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, by way of illustration, the Quran says that people should desire\nthe Hereafter and should strive therefor with all due striving (say)\n(al-Isra, 19); that people should hasten earnestly (say) to the remembrance\nof Allah (al-Jumuah, 9); that of their entire lives people will have only that\n(good and quality) which they strive for (say) (al-Najm, 39). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In opposition, when it comes to taking advantage of the material\nbenefits of the earth (of life), the Quran simply says: \u0153walk among its (the\nearths) slopes and eat of His (Gods) provision\u009d (al-Mulk, 15), and \u0153disperse\nthrough the land and seek the favour of God\u009d (al-Jumuah, 10). Undue tenacity\nand intensity are by no means implied. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the word \u0153safa\u009d means \u0153to be pure and purity\u009d and the word\n\u0153marwah\u009d \u0153pebble and flint\u009d. Hence, say between Safa and Marwah means that\nlife is every little bit of striking a balance between the purity of godliness\nand virtue, and the impairments of matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In principle, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with matter; it all depends on how one handles its few advantages and how he triumphs over its many disadvantages. Sometimes a person must \u0153run\u009d and sometimes \u0153walk\u009d, sometimes press forward (be on the offensive) and sometimes shrink back (be defensive), and sometimes give and at other times take – while finding the right balance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously, a person cannot survive and succeed in his life assignments\nonly on spirituality, or on matter. Regardless of how wholesome and pure\nspiritual life is, a person, who is a composition of matter and spirit, and who\noperates in the like existential conditions, cannot have it all. Similarly,\nregardless of how disagreeable and objectionable matter can be, a person cannot\nbalk at it completely, especially if that be in the name of self-righteousness.\nAs if a person declares to matter that his life is hard with it, but harder\nwithout it, and to the purity of religious devotion that his life makes sense\nand is fulfilling only with it on-board, but \u201c in the final analysis – there is\nno actual and complete life, nor bliss, except in the Hereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At any rate, no excesses of any kind are welcome, neither with regard to\npurity (spirituality) nor matter. Nor are the states of being stationary and\npassive, mediocre and unproductive, acceptable. These negativities are fated to\nbe swept away by the powerful currents of life (say). Because of this,\nprimarily, Islam abhors and is incompatible with the ideologies of materialism,\nrelativism and liberalism, on the one hand, and the ideologies of religious\nutopianism, liturgism and fatalism, on the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In connection with the say rite, there were three characters involved:\nProphet Ibrahim, Hajar and Ismail. Ibrahim followed the decree of God and\nsettled his wife and son (some of his posterity) in an uncultivated valley near\nthe sacred House of God (Ibrahim. 37). Having accepted her husbands doing \u201c\nfirmly believing that the divine providence will take care of everything \u201c\nHajar set out to do her utmost, run towards and facilitate fates choices for\nher (by running seven times between Safa and Marwah and hoping to find a source\nof help). She was distressed but never lost confidence or gave up hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, baby Ismail was selected to be the chief instrument\nand immediate object of a designing providential hand. He was innocently\nhelpless and on the point of dying, so the angel Gabriel (Jibril) was sent to\ndig the Zamzam well so that Ismails thirst and the thirst of his mother \u201c\ntogether with her motherly-cum-human desperation – could be quenched. The water\nis said to have gushed right beneath Ismails little legs. Thus, it was\nIbrahim who initiated the process, Hajar who stepped it up and so, induced an\nupper intervention, and finally Ismail around whose personality the first and\nperhaps most dramatic chapter of that process was concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The additional message gleaned therefrom is that man is a social being\nand must live in social relationships. Individualism and self-centredness are\ndeceases and can offer little to the social order over the long term. The\nsuccess of a community depends on social coherence and harmony. Each and every\nmember should be turned into a resource. Liabilities and demerits are damaging,\nhence must be faced head-on and cured. Every society should have its Ibrahims,\nHajars and Ismails, and should have its say path (quality vision and\nmission).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, in terms of scopes and jurisdictions, there should be\nneither ambiguities nor encroachments. People should be clear (and educated\naccordingly) about this and should be primed for performance. As for instance,\nmen in their roles cannot try to imitate, nor hinder, those of women, and vice\nversa. <\/em>The place and roles of youth should be defined properly and\nempowered as well. In fact, they should be thrust into the limelight \u201c just as\nthe condition of Ismail had been – because they are the future. As should the\ncompasses of peoples individual and collective, official and unofficial,\nduties be clearly outlined. The basis should be a social contract, and the\nculture cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Islam does not advocate any sort of imbalance, bias, preferentialism and even equality of the sexes, in the sense of the ideology of feminism. Rather, it advocates equity, impartiality and inclusivity. In order to expect everybody to be productive and behave accountably, everybody must be given equal access to opportunities and resources first. A community should be turned into a vibrant entity whose parts are held together in unity and strength with \u0153each part contributing strength in its own way, and the whole held together not like a mass but like a living organism.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Prophet (pbuh) said: \u0153Each of you is a shepherd and each of you is responsible for his flock. The amir (ruler) who is over the people is a shepherd and is responsible for his flock; a man is a shepherd in charge of the inhabitants of his household and he is responsible for his flock; a woman is a shepherdess in charge of her husband’s house and children and she is responsible for them; and a man’s slave is a shepherd in charge of his master’s property and he is responsible for it. So each of you is a shepherd and each of you is responsible for his flock.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masa \u201c the location and route of say \u201c lay outside the precincts of the Holy Mosque (al-Masjid al-Haram). There were private houses and institutional buildings that separated the two. Masa was quickly turned into a main street (boulevard) of Makkah, lined with houses and shops. It became a commercial hub of the city too. During the Prophets time, the segment of masa where pilgrims are required to run was part of a dried riverbed covered with small stones, and the Prophet (pbuh) instructed: \u0153The riverbed is not crossed except with vigour.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This situation persisted until the expansion of the Holy Mosque by the\nthird Abbasid Caliph al-Mahdi (d. 785) when all the land with its built\nenvironment between the Mosque and masa was annexed and cleared for the\nconstruction. The south-eastern section of the Mosque linked up afterwards with\na masa section that was close to Safa. However, the masa stretch was yet to\nbe integrated into the Mosque proper. That was done only in modern times,\nduring the first Saudi expansion in 1955 by King Saud b. \u02dcAbd al-\u02dcAziz (d.\n1969).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Eldon Rutter (Ahmad Salahuddin\nal-Inklizi) (d. 1956) – an English reclusive explorer \u201c performed his Hajj in 1925, he wrote about\nmasa that it was lined for more than half its length\nwith little shops, and the part in which those shops were situated was roofed\nover. This roof extended from Marwah to the Dar al-\u02dcAbbas. The masa street,\nwhich was one of the principal markets of the city, was still unpaved in 1925.\nHowever, the author remarked that he had heard that the newly-crowned King \u02dcAbd\nal-\u02dcAziz bin Al Saud had given orders that masa must be paved with stone at\nthe earliest possible time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eldon Rutter added: \u0153During my time in Mekka, it (masa) was always several inches deep in dust or mud, according to the season of the year. In dry weather, the crowds which constantly passed to and fro, shopping or performing the say, stirred up a thick fog of dust which made breathing extremely uncomfortable.\u009d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The state of masa throughout history calls to mind a contention that say stands predominantly for the worldly energy and movement. It is a symbol of the straight path that leads to the success of this world and the Hereafter. But the path and the mission of treading it are fraught with trials lurking on all sides, which nonetheless vary in scale and magnitude. So engrossed in his duty should a person be that he will not be bothered, much less turned away from the path. Moving with vigour and frequently running, with no time to be idle and lose focus as well as perspective (say), helps a person to stay the course and never lose sight of his goals. This does not mean that masa actually featured any of those trials and challenges – above all major ones – however its several disturbances, natural and man-made, rang a bell as little as emblematically. Towards the end of this construal is the following hadith of the Prophet (pbuh). A companion Abdullah bin Masud reported: \u0153The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) drew a line in the sand with his hand and said: \u0153This is the straight path of Allah.\u009d Then, he drew lines to the right and left, and said: \u0153These are other paths, and there is no path among them but that a devil is upon it calling to its way.\u009d Then the Prophet (pbuh) recited the verse: \u0153Verily, this is the straight path, so follow it and do not follow other ways\u009d (al-Anam, 153). ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Assoc. Prof. Dr. Spahic Omer is an academic in Department of History and Civilisation, AbdulHamid AbuSulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences. The views expressed here are those of the author\/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of IIUMToday.<\/em>)
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