The Hajj and its critics

Also published in Daily Trust  

Having almost completed this year’s Hajj rituals, the several tens of thousands of Nigerian pilgrims in Makkah have presumably begun to look forward to returning back home. This is even though, due to the ongoing massive expansion and upgrading projects on the holy sites, and the resultant reduction in the number of allocated slots to all countries including Nigeria, those lucky enough to make it from Nigeria constitute, as they have often done, the largest chunk of Black Muslim pilgrims anyway.

After all, this is not surprising considering the fact that, Nigeria has the largest Black Muslim population in the world. Yet, the average Nigerian Muslims’ passion for Hajj grows all the time, and the number of people who, even though can’t afford it but are prepared to make any sacrifice in order to make it is equally growing.

Anyway, the sheer amount of fortune spent by Nigerians every year to make the journey, has often re-triggered the debate on whether, in view of the pressing need for such resources to help the poor in the society and create philanthropy projects for sustainable development, such huge spending for Hajj is worth it or not.

Many social critics who lament the scarcity of philanthropy projects in the society encourage prospective and intending pilgrims, especially who have performed it in the past, to instead use the funds to alleviate the severe hardship in the society. However, while they rightly highlight the huge Godly reward that philanthropy initiatives attract, on one hand, they on the other hand, though indirectly, seek to downplay the significance of the Godly reward earmarked for those who perform Hajj sincerely and correctly. As a matter of fact they, also indirectly, cast doubt on the sincerity of the frequent Hajj goers, for that matter.

Ironically however, they hardly address the tendency of unnecessary spending in less worthy or even worthless and counterproductive things, by both the rich and the poor in the society, where while the microscopic minority flaunts incredible affluence amid the largely poverty-stricken majority, the ever-growing public obsession with the habit of showing off makes even the poorest of the poor squeeze themselves in their desperation to match the trend as a result of which they incur unnecessary expenses hence worsen their financial woes.

Unfortunately, it is not uncommon in our societies to see a pauper turning a blind eye to his financial obligations towards himself and his family, and instead spending the extremely meagre amount of money he has managed to accumulate, just to marry another wife he hardly needs in reality. Yet he does not get criticized, whereas his rich neighbour’s frequent journey to Hajj is regarded as a show of insensitivity to the plight of his poor neighbour.

Furthermore, such social critics never advise Muslim politicians to refrain from unnecessary spending in bribing the electorate and the election officials during elections, and instead use the money to provide shelter, education and health services to the army of destitute scattered all over their respective constituencies.

Incidentally, the arguments often presented by such critics to argue against frequent journey for Hajj are largely based on the general assumption in Nigeria that equates Hajj with luxury, apparently due to the air travel, hotel accommodation and other expenses necessarily incurred in the process, all of which nonetheless hardly cost as much as the price of an exhausted tokunbo car. Besides, even in Hajj standard, the average Nigerian pilgrims don’t, and perhaps can’t, afford luxury service packages. 

Anyway, in as much as I, to a large extent, agree with such social critics in this respect, I believe it does not necessarily entail sacrificing the Hajj in order to help the needy or even undertake philanthropy projects, for that matter. 

In any case however, I am not downplaying the value of philanthropy works especially those of sustainable nature, and indeed the Godly reward awaiting those who do it sincerely and correctly, I only reject the idea of discouraging able people who can also afford it to perform Hajj as many times as they wish.

It is noteworthy that, just as the sources of earning Godly reward through either compulsory or recommended deeds are so many that no single individual can exhaust, individual Muslims differ in their abilities and attitudes towards each particular worship rite.

For instance, while some people are particularly bestowed with the virtue of generosity, which makes them derive peace of mind only when they engage in charitable giving, others are particularly at ease with the stress of fasting hence they frequently observe it not necessarily during Ramadan. The same theory also applies to all other worship rituals accordingly.

Therefore if Hajj worship ritual particularly appeals to some able Muslims who can also afford it, there is no moral let alone legal impediment inhibiting them from performing it as many times as they wish. After all, Hajj, which is one of the pillars of Islam, attracts a huge Godly reward.

For instance, the messenger of Allah, peace and blessing of Allah be upon him was authentically reported to have said “He who performs Hajj free of obscenity or any prohibited act is cleansed from his sins and he returns as clean as the day he was born by his mother” (Hadith # 304,Sahihul-Bukari, and Hadith # 1350, Sahihu Muslim.) He also said “An accepted Hajj attracts no reward less than the Heaven” (Hadith # 1773, Sahihul-Bukari, and Hadith # 1349, Sahihu Muslim.)