“Where on the surface of the earth would you find the largest concentration of human beings, dedicated to the same activities, focused on the same goal and for a certain number of days?"; I asked James, my friend since childhood. I call him James, the Razor, because his intellect is razor-sharp and sometimes you have to deliberately make the question vague so that you won't get a prompt answer as the question falls out of your mouth. I got him this time, he 'bombed' the question outright. It must have been the effect of the beer he was drinking.
James and I started 'hanging out" over two decades ago; since then, alhamudulillahi, I have rediscovered Islam, become more devoted, stayed away from alcohol and never buy it for anyone. Somehow, I manage to keep our Thursday Night rendezvous each week once I'm in town. It used to be every Wednesday but I had it moved to Thursday so that I could keep my weekly fasts of Wednesday as recommended by Rasulullah (PBUH). "If you think you'll get me to comment on that perfidy in Abuja, you have another thing coming"; he shouted. "It's a shame"; he continued with a slight drawl to his voice apparently the effect of his second bottle of beer; "that a whole nation can look on idly as a group of people with no hope, no job, no ambition and indeed no God, can gather together for a senseless March"!
Poor; poor James! His mind is so fixed on the affairs of this world that he could not see the Hereafter. Meanwhile, my mind was far away from both the revelry in Abuja or the tension in Lagos. Rather, my thoughts were filled with the vision of the' annual assembly of the best of mankind (for the believers are the
"best of peoples evolved for mankind ..." (Q3:110),
on the best spot on earth (Arafat, the holy plain where there is no strive, no crime, no vanities but only reverence and devotion) for the best goal of life (self-sacrifice and denial to achieve full submission and salvation). Each year, almost three million people come for the pilgrimage
“on foot and (mounted) on every camel.... through deep and distant mountain highways.. "(Q22:27).
I really should be in that assembly; if I had thought well about it.
As I corrected James' response, memories of my late mother came to my mind. Tier ambition for the last four years of her life was to go on hajj: when the money was available, she was not cleared by the Pilgrims Board; when she was cleared, Nigerian pilgrims were disallowed; then she passed away before the hajj last year. Quite unfortunately, she had missed the rewards of hajj forever as nobody else could perform it on her behalf. May Allah forgive her (Amin).
Makkah, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the city wherein is the centre of tawhid (oneness of Allah) and the city by which Allah swears (Q90:1), is currently hosting many of my friends who are part of the great assembly. May Allah accept their devotion as hajj mabrur (a blessed hajj).
Really, I should be part of this three million man- march instead of keeping bad company in a pepper-soup joint.
There are four inaccurate statements in this story…use your hidden knowledge to find them.
Solution
Paragraph 1&2- A Muslim should not be in the company of anyone taking alcohol. Read Q5:90
Paragraph 2- The day recommended for fasting by the Prophet (PBUH) are Monday and Thursday and not Wednesday.
Paragraph 4- Wrong, hajj can be performed by someone else on behalf of a deceased believer.
Paragraph 4- Wrong, Riyadh (and not Makkah) is the capital of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.