The largest concentrations of believers of any faith on earth on the occasion of Hajj provides tremendous opportunity to Muslims to exploit its political, social, ideological, economic and intellectual potentialities along with realizing its religious, spiritual and divine realities. Hajj is a tremendous show of untapped, unexploited and raw strength, which, if intelligently channelled can yield tremendous benefits to Muslim Ummah.

The swelling multitude of people fired by their devotion and dedication to a philosophy of life, enthralled and entranced by the sanctity and purity of time and place, going through a collective experience of an upheaval that is spiritual and transcendental in nature and in contents, can give a voice, a spirit, a hope, an inspiration, an enlightenment and motivation to Muslim Ummah currently bearing with trying circumstances.

Islam is an all-inclusive and comprehensive religion that takes in its pale all economic, social, cultural, ethnic, spiritual, political as well as foreign policy aspects and needs of human life and society. It furnishes a unique concept of prayers (lbadat) which is non-existent in any other religion of the present world. The most pronounced aspect of Islamic prayers is Tauhid (Unity) which finds expression in the "collectivism" which every prayer so jealously emphasizes. Islamic prayers are not just a jumble of disconnected rituals; instead, every movement, every action, every bending and every prostration establishes one fact: the Grandeur and Unity of Tauhid. If any prayer (Ibadat) fails to do so, it becomes a spiritless ritual that does not bring any benefits to its performer. Very cautiously, one has to say that Hajj of today leaves much to be desired. The "collectivism", an expression of Tauhid, which is projected there in the sacred days of Hajj fails to yield benefits to the Ummah as were promised to it. According to Dr Shariati, "…the performance of Hajj is a simultaneous show of many things. It is a "show of creation, a show of history, a show of unity, a show of the Islamic ideology and a show of the Ummah," however, we see that Hajj in its present shape is nothing more than a set of rituals. The message that the Haj rights inculcate and promote has been totally ignored. How did it happen? History is witness to the fact that political exigencies of Umayyad and Abbasid rulers robbed Hajj of its true spirit. They were despots, aggressors and usurpers and they feared that politically conscious the largest gathering of Muslims at the time of Hajj could rob them of their so-called legitimacy. To avoid this they began to project only the spiritual aspect of Hajj and it so happened that through the course of history the economic, social, cultural, political, and foreign policy dimensions, which also had religious moorings, were totally overshadowed by this aspect. There now remains only a semblance of "collectivism" otherwise individualism is so glaring and conspicuous that one does not need deeper insight to notice that. Hajj has been described as sure key to Paradise. Significant stress is being given to rituals as an end in themselves, the philosophy behind rituals, is being totally ignored. Hajj is the sublime apex of all Islamic emotions. Every Islamic prayer has been gathered /collected into Hajj Prayers, fasting, sacrifice and Alms giving all find significant expression in Hajj. Whereas no prayer (lbadat) in Islam is without its attendant social, economic, political, cultural and spiritual gains then how can Hajj only be regarded as a set of religious rituals? Hajj certainly entails tremendous cultural, social, economic, and religious dimensions to the Ummah and its benefits are so tremendous that they cannot be overestimated and overemphasised. The enemies of Islam fear Hajj, the largest concentration of human beings on earth. This is the blessing of God. Only Islam has such a show to tell the world at large that all Islamic prayers condensed in Hajj have a practical expression of Unity of faith, culture and ethnicity. They have discipline, brotherhood, accommodation and universal fraternity. Anyone who starts this journey towards Mecca, first divorces his identity, and everything which is regional, local, territorial, and myopic and become at once a member of a larger entity/whole which is one in dress, culture, behaviour, relation to God, in rituals, in language, in its call to God and above all in twenty-four hours routine. Now he is not an individual: he himself has become an expression of Tauhid — the message of unity and solidarity as against disunity and individuality, which is an expression of "shirk". No one who is not able to do that and remains an individual has certainly not touched the spirit of Hajj: and has not performed Hajj, has not fulfilled his responsibility as Muslim and thus may not deserve any reward.

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