A Miracle of the Quran and the Prophetic Tradition 

 Written by Abdul-Dayem Al-Kaheel 

Probing the depths of the Earth and taking pains to uncover the secrets of its internal structure and composition, scientists came to realize that the old myths about the Earth are scientifically baseless. Scientists in the twentieth century decided that the Earth consists of only three layers. Having discovered the sphericity of the Earth, they suggested that this sphere comprises three parts; the core, the crust which is very thin compared to the total volume of the Earth and a third layer in between the two called The Mantle. 

 Evolution of the scientific facts

However, the three-layer theory didn’t hold true for long, owing to recent discoveries in Geology. Measurements and recent tests showed that the pressure of the material of the Earth’s core is immense and reaches three million times the pressure at the surface.

Under such pressure the material transforms into the solid state, which means that the core of the Earth is solid and is enclosed by a liquid layer of extremely high temperature. This also means that the core of the Earth consists of 2 layers not just one; a solid inner core and a liquid upper core.

Measurement devices developed and scientists were able to observe a clear distinction between the different parts of the Earth’s interior. A layer of hot rocks underneath the crust was discovered, that is the Lithosphere. Underneath the Lithosphere are three layers distinct in density, pressure and temperature.

What the Quran says:

Telling of the seven layers of the Heavens and the Earth, God says in the Holy Quran:

1-     He (Allah) Who created the seven heavens one above the other – [Al Mulk: 3]

2-     Allah is He Who created seven heavens and the earth the like of them – [ Al Talaaq: 12]

 The first verse is talking about two characteristics of the heavens; their number, that is seven, and the arrangement of them (one above the other) or ‘in layers’. The second verse asserts the similarity between the Earth and the heavens (And the Earth the like of them), so as the heavens consist of seven layers, the earth identically consists of seven layers. 

  Let’s ponder on (one above the other). It denotes the layering of the Earth, and this is what today’s scientists discovered. Now we can see that the Quran had determined the structure of the Earth, which is in layers, and had also determined the number of these layers, that is seven. In other words, the Quran had given a precise description of the earth’s interior, thus it preceded the scientists of the twenty-first century by fourteen centuries in proving this fact. Isn’t this a splendid miracle of the Quran?

What the Hadith says:

Pondering on the Hadith (sayings) of Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), we’ll find one that asserts the existence of the seven layers of the earth concentric and one above the other. The prophet (PBUH) said: (Whoever usurps even one span of the land, his neck will be encircled because of it with seven earths) [narrated by Al Bukhari]. Here the prophet gave another characteristic of the layers, encirclement, by saying (will be encircled with it) and this is how the layers truly look like, they are concentric and each one encircles the one underneath it.

 The question here is: Isn’t this a great miracle of the prophet? Not just that the Hadith determines the number of the earth’s layers, seven, and determines the arrangement of these layers, but it also bears an indication to the sphericity of the earth.

  From this article we find that the Holy Quran and the Hadith reached these facts about the earth long before modern science did. The Quran had given us the precise description of the earth’s internal structure (layers one above the other) and also had given us the exact number of these layers, seven, while it took scientists long years of theorizing and re-theorizing to come up with the same conclusions. So exalted be Allah who said in His Holy Book : (And in the earth are portents for those whose faith is sure- and also in yourselves, can ye then not see) [Al Thariaat: 21-22].

                                         By Dr: Salama Abdelhady

We may look to the God’s description of the start of creation in Qur’an and in Bible. It will be seen that the Qur’an is the Holy Book which is revealed to Mohamed from the Wise and The All-Knowing God. However, the wording of the same facts in the Bible shows there were some hands which cast these facts in a human-lagging style. It can be found in the Bible some descriptions which are not corresponding to the modern sciences. This fact is declared by the Catholic Church in an article with the title:

“Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible", By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent, on  timesonline”

Now, let us read how the Quran described the start of the universe. Such moment that had not been witnessed by any one of us as the Quran states in the following verse:

[18/51] I called them they have not witnessed the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor (even) their own creation: So, it is for Me to help and lead them to know and not to go astray!

The creation of the universe had been done by the will, science and wisdom of the Creator. This creation is described in many surahs (chapters) of the Quran. Each surah looks at specific view of such wisdom and knowledge. We may read in Chapter 41 (Surat Fossilat):

[41/9-12] Say: "Is it that ye deny Him Who created the earth in two Days? and do ye join equals with Him? He is the Lord of (all) the whole universe", He set on the (earth). Mountains standing firm (to stretch the surface layers by its roots), high above it, and bestowed blessings on the earth, and created the measures therein for every thing to give them nourishment in due proportions, in four Days, in accordance with (the needs of) those who seek (sustenance), Moreover, He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth: "Come ye together (mutually), willingly or by our implement " They said: "We do come (each follow a specific order), in a willing obedience.", So He completed them as seven firmaments in two Days and He assigned to each heaven its duty and command (orbits and motion). And We adorned the lower heaven with lights (from the sun and the moon), and (provided it) with a guard (guarding layers of Ozone). Such is the Decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, Full of Knowledge.

Summing up the number of days will be more than six days. But there is an overlap in these days which you may see in modern project management. Such overlap stands for the difference in the number of days.

Now, compare these stages of creation, into the same story as expressed in the Bible, i.e. the Old Testament.

Genesis 1

The Creation of the World

1:1 In the beginning¹ God² created³ the heavens and the earth.⁴

1:2 Now⁵ the earth⁶ was without shape and empty,⁷ and darkness⁸ was over the surface of the watery deep,⁹ but the Spirit of God¹⁰ was moving¹¹ over the surface¹² of the water.¹³  1:3 God said,¹⁴ “Let there be¹⁵ light.”¹⁶ And there was light! 1:4 God saw¹⁷ that the light was good,¹⁸ so God separated¹⁹ the light from the darkness.  1:5 God called²⁰ the light “day” and the darkness²¹ “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.²²

1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse²³ in the midst of the waters and let it separate water²⁴ from water.  1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it.²⁵ It was so.²⁶ 1:8 God called the expanse “sky.”²⁷ There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.

1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place²⁸ and let dry ground appear.”²⁹ It was so. 1:10 God called the dry ground “land”³⁰ and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.

1:11 God said, “Let the land produce vegetation:³¹ plants yielding seeds according to their kinds,³² and³³ trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so. 1:12 The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. 1:13 There was evening, and there was morning, a third day.

1:14 God said, “Let there be lights³⁴ in the expanse³⁵ of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs³⁶ to indicate seasons and days and years, 1:15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. 1:16 God made two great lights³⁷ – the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also.³⁸ 1:17 God placed the lights³⁹ in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth,  1:18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.⁴⁰ God saw that it was good.  1:19 There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.

1:20 God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms⁴¹ of living creatures and let birds fly⁴² above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 1:21 God created the great sea creatures⁴³ and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. 1:22God blessed them⁴⁴ and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”⁴⁵ 1:23 There was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day. 1:24 God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.”⁴⁶ It was so. 1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

1:26Then God said, “Let us make⁴⁷ humankind⁴⁸ in our image, after our likeness,⁴⁹ so they may rule⁵⁰ over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth,⁵¹ and over all the creatures that move⁵² on the earth.”

1:27 God created humankind⁵³ in his own image, in the image of God he created them,⁵⁴ 

male and female he created them.⁵⁵

1:28 God blessed⁵⁶ them and said⁵⁷ to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it!⁵⁸ Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”⁵⁹  1:29 Then God said, “I now⁶⁰ give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.⁶¹  1:30And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground – everything that has the breath of life in it – I give⁶² every green plant for food.” It was so.

1:31 God saw all that he had made – and it was very good!⁶³ There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.Genesis 22:1 The heavens and the earth¹ were completed with everything that was in them.² 2:2 By³ the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing,⁴ and he ceased⁵ on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 2:3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy⁶ because on it he ceased all the work that he⁷ had been doing in creation.⁸

The Creation of Man and Woman

2:4 This is the account⁹ of the heavens and the earth¹⁰ when they were created – when the Lord God¹¹ made the earth and heavens.¹²

2:5Now¹³ no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field¹⁴ had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.¹⁵ 2:6 Springs¹⁶ would well up¹⁷ from the earth and water¹⁸ the whole surface of the ground.¹⁹  2:7 The Lord God formed²⁰ the man from the soil of the ground²¹ and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,²² and the man became a living being.²³

2:8 The Lord God planted an orchard²⁴ in the east,²⁵ in Eden;²⁶ and there he placed the man he had formed.²⁷  2:9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil,²⁸ every tree that was pleasing to look at²⁹ and good for food. (Now³⁰ the tree of life³¹ and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil³² were in the middle of the orchard.)

2:10 Now³³ a river flows³⁴ from Eden³⁵ to water the orchard, and from there it divides³⁶ into four headstreams.³⁷ 2:11 The name of the first is Pishon; it runs through³⁸ the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. :12 (The gold of that land is pure;³⁹ pearls⁴⁰ and lapis lazuli⁴¹ are also there). 2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it runs through⁴² the entire land of Cush.⁴³  2:14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria.⁴⁴ The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Of course, we may see that both texts give similar stories. In the Bible, you find human interpretations of limited understanding to something heard. However, in the Qur’an you find statements that fit to revelation from The Wise and All-Knowing God. This is stated by the following verses:

[27 / 6] As to thee, the Quran is bestowed upon thee from the presence of One Who is Wise and All-Knowing.

Another view of His Wisdom in creation is stated also in the following verses that describes the initial explosion of the initial material of the universe. Such bad term “Great Explosion” as nominated or assumed by the scientists is expressed by the creator in a better scientific term “Rupture”. Such term leads to who performs such rupture and expresses His Wisdom and Power.

[21/30 - 33] Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were stitched together (as the initial origin of the Creation), before We ruptured them asunder? Then, We made every living thing starting by water. Will they not then believe? And We have set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with them, and We have made therein broad highways (between mountains) for them to pass through: that they may receive guidance. And We have made the heavens as a canopy well guarded: yet do they turn away from the Signs which these things (point to)!

The wisdom in creation is expressed also in the following verses:

[ 2 /21 - 22] O ye people! Adore your Guardian-Lord, Who created you and those who came before you, that ye may have the chance to learn righteousness; Who has made the earth your couch, and the heavens your canopy; and sent down rain from the heavens; and brought forth therewith fruits for your sustenance; then set not up rivals unto Allah when ye know (the truth).

Another side of the Creator’s wisdom in the universe’s creation is given also in the following verses:

[23/17-20] And We have made, above you, seven tracts; and We are never unmindful of (Our) Creation. And We send down water from the sky according to (due) measure, and We cause it to soak in the soil; and We certainly are able to drain it off (with ease). With it We grow for you Gardens of date-palms and vines: in them have ye abundant fruits: and of them ye eat (and have enjoyment), Also a tree springing out of Mount Sinai, which produces oil, and relish for those who use it for food.

The God designed the sun and the moon to be sources of light before any creation had been started. This will is expressed in the following verses:

[10 / 3 - 5] Verily your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days, then He established Himself on the Throne (of authority), regulating and governing all things. No intercessor (can plead with Him) except after His leave (hath been obtained). This is Allah your Lord; Him therefore serve ye: will yet not receive admonition? To Him will be your return, of all of you. The promise of Allah is true and sure. It is He Who beginneth the process of Creation, and repeateth it, that He may reward with justice those who believe and work righteousness; but those who reject Him will have draughts of boiling fluids, and a Penalty grievous, because they did reject Him. It is He Who made the sun to be a shining glory and the moon to be a light (of beauty), and measured out stages for it; that ye might know the number of years and the count (of time). Nowise did Allah create this but in truth and righteousness. (Thus) doth He explain His Signs in detail, for those who understand.

The succession of day and night on the earth is described since more than 14 centuries in the following verses through miraculous expressions that are surely revealed from Allah: [39/4-6] He created the heavens and the earth in true (proportions and coordination), He makes the Night overlap spherically the Day (due to revolving the spherical earth), and the Day overlap spherically the Night: He has subjected the sun and the moon (to His law) each one follows a course of motion for an appointed time.  Is not He the Exalted in Power, He Who forgives again and again? He created you (all) from a single Person: then created, of like nature, his mate; and He sent down (the design of genetic maps of) eight head of cattle in pairs for your service: He makes (creates) you, in the wombs of your mothers, in successive stages, one after another (according to a law), in three veils of darkness (three layers of protection). This is Allah, your Lord and Cherisher: to Him belongs (all) dominion. There is no god but He: then how are ye turned away (from your true Centre)?

The unity of Creation is expressed in the following verse:

[67 / 3] He Who created seven identical heavens (seven here indicates repeated creations of unlimited number of heavens as repeated cycles of the 7 days week), no want of proportion wilt (i.e. all are created as one unit with harmonic proportions) thou see in the Creation of the Most Gracious Allah. So turn thy vision again: seest thou any flaw?

God assures that He set the laws that keep the prevailing balance and equilibrium in the universe by His Wisdom:

[15 / 19-21] And the earth We have extended it (in volume and all dimensions); place in it the settlements (that gives it the mass and gravity that stabilize its motion and the creatures on its surface); and produced (create) therein all kinds of things in a due balance (physically and proportionally, i.e. plants in balance with animals, both are in balance to atmospheric pressure, temperature and humidity, water in balance to needs, heat in balance to warm, etc.), And We have provided therein means of subsistence, for you and for those for whose sustenance ye are not responsible. And there is not a thing but its (sources and) treasures (inexhaustible) are with us; but We only send down thereof in due and ascertainable measures.

What is written here is just a part from unlimited number of verse which explains the wisdom of God as a Wise Creator for a magnificent universe. One of His Names Is stemmed from the word Magnificent ( the Magnificenator, i.e. the One who creates a magnificent universe)

However, several remarks may be seen regarding start of creation in the Bible:

1.Stating a God’s spirit moving over the surface of the water is illogic.

2.Considering God’s day limited by the sunrise and the sunset. In the Quran, God’s day cannot be defined by our limited days; the Quran states that God’s day may be as thousand years or fifty thousand years.

[32/5] He rules (all) affairs from the heavens to the earth: in the end will (all affairs) go up to Him, on a Day, its range may be (as) a thousand years of your reckoning

[70/4] The angels and the Spirit ascend unto Him in a Day the measure whereof is (as) fifty thousand years:

3.Stating that God had no formal knowledge of what will be good and what will be bad.  “He saw the light was good, God saw that was good”.

4.It states that the earth is plane; all the earth will be once in light, once in dark, one direction for the east and other direction for the west. The Quran stated the spherical overlapping of the day over the night and the night over the day, as stated previously.

5.It limits the universe creation to the earth only sources of light. So, it ignores the greatness of the whole universe.

For the reader: Can you imagine really the words of Genesis are from God and the words of the Quran are not?

I think We should actually approve the truth of the following Verse and We should say as the Muslim is accustomed to say: Sadaka (i.e. Veracity is in the Words of) Allah, The Great God.

[ 7 / 52] For We had certainly sent unto them a Book, based on science and knowledge, which We explained in detail, as a guide and a mercy to all who believe (in Him).

Who are interested in some scientific comments on these verses and more verses, He may have a look on this site:

www.55a.net

       By :Dr. Mohammad Alsagga Eid

  Translated by :Zakya Felata

Revised by : Magdy Abd Al-Shafy    

On thinking about Hormone and how each one functions performing aspecific task one might find oneself saying It is a wonderful and assorted world ;In fact , Hormones are among the many signs that lead to the belief in God . The act of Hormones  maintains uncountable voluntary and involuntary actions InsideOur body .

Sometimes, one wonders how billions of body cells work and interact? How do they communicate?

you should know ,at this moment while reading this short essay , that there are billions of biological functions that take  place in your body. Through these processes, each cell of your body takes the essential necessaries, and the function of a cell is defined, the body takes managements to supply cells with their necessaries by coordinating and organizing among different systems with  striking   speed and an amazing ability to defy and respond to any sudden changes.

The function of every cell is defined, along with what it needs to have its necessaries  ,through an  expeditious amazing  co-ordination between the different organs in a way that keeps it safe against any unexpected sudden change .

Cells that form your body work within a complementary network and supply you with your the necessaries though you don't sense any of these activities  . That takes place through a network between cells which is of very high  performance. Proteins are one of the most important components which are considered to be the most essential substances inside cells

Hormone Definition

Hormones are chemical substances that act in very small quantities and circulate in blood continuously; they define growth rate, configuration, calmness, femininity and virility, strength and weakness, emotions and everything related to life . They also have a noticeable affect on body organs’ functions whether it is  active or  inactive  . Hormones control personal behaviours, ethics, customs and how someone deals with others and with situations.    

Each hormone is a chemical messenger of a determined function that is secreted into blood stream by the secreting gland to perform its role on target cell or target tissue, so hormones are proteins or peptide chains; these chains are one of protein formation phase

A figure shows the chemical structure of a hormone, it is of a complex structure.

a- Hormones are produced from definite parts of body called endocrine glands, that pour their secretion directly into blood stream to act as an important role in regulating the functions inside the body. Endocrine glands have no ducts, they have internal secretions ;unlike the body glands that consist of ducts ,  Hormones  consist of specified cells that shed secretions into blood .

b- Hormones don’t act their role locally in the same area from which they were secreted (haven’t localized effect), but  they are carried in  blood to affect other parts of the body.

c- Hormones are substantial in  coordinating and organizing  body functions.

d- Hormones have a stimulatory and inhibitory effect.

e- Hormones can be  classified according to their chemical structure into three types ; these are : protein hormones such as Insulin; Steroid hormones such as sexual hormones and Adrenal glands hormones; the third type is of Phenol derivatives such as Adrenalin that is released from the  adrenal medulla.

Hormones are important as they act synergestically with the nervous system to regulate body functions. While the nervous system performs its role in regulating the body  functions quickly (within  a fraction  of a second), endocrine glands act slowly, they might take  several  minutes, hours or  even days.

Hormone Function Mechanism

There are three main ways for hormones to activate target tissues or organs :

1. Hormone might activate a gene. For instance, sexual hormones, which have the ability to enter into cell nucleus to bind to the nucleic acid (DNA).

2. Hormone might activate some enzyme Such as Adrenalin hormone that activates specific enzyme within the  cell membrane, this enzyme brings about changes while hormone is still out of cell membrane.

3. Hormone might change cell membrane permeability  (the ability to allow some substances to pass through or out of the cell membrane and preventing others from passing). Insulin and Growth Hormone (GH) are examples of those hormones. Insulin allows Glucose to enter the cell, while GH allows amino acids to enter cells for protein synthesis.

pituitary Gland is the most important gland to secrete hormones within human body

Why should we work with hormones carefully?

Firstly: it depends on the origin of hormones; hormones are very susceptible substances and are secreted in small amounts so the increase or decrease of these amounts leads to serious effect.

Secondly: there are many relations between hormones, for example; the increase of some hormones in the body causes decrease of others such as Insulin which is responsible for lowering sugar concentration in blood; there is a hormone that acts antagonistically with it and this  raises blood sugar concentrations ; this is called called Glucagon, so the body maintains between its necessaries and those hormones concentrations in the blood; if a person takes unmeasured synthesized hormones,  that will bring about disturbance in hormones concentrations set by God in the body.

Another example, there are hormones that integrate and cooperate with each other ; a unit of estrogen thickens the lining of the uterus by 1gm, and so does  Progesterone , but if we take two units of Estrogen and Progesterone together, lining of uterus will thicken 8gms at once. What would happen if we increase one of the two hormones rate when body doesn’t need that increase? We think that uncalculated increase or decrease in hormones concentrations brings about disturbance in the previous cycle which goes with many hormones and leads to considerable troubles.

God glory to him says: {He, Whose is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Who did not take to Himself a son, and Who has no associate in the kingdom, and Who created everything, then ordained for it a measure} (Al-furqan: 2).

Also God glory to him says: {Surely We created man of the best stature}

                                                                                                                   (At-tin: 4).

The Last Word "

God , to whom all perfection and majesty are ascribed, created amazing postal net and system in which  hormones molecules play the role of postman, as postman goes about city carrying letters to definite places, so do hormones when they carry orders coming from the brain to target cells. Whereupon all the essential biological processes within the  human body are accomplished, yet we have to take into account that hormones are  not  conscious as human is ; they have no sensations; nor awareness to determine their directions, to identify what they carry and to whom they are going to  carry  it, they aren’t trained  in this field for many years to have the aptitude to do that.

  So hormones , which we liken to postman,  are very complex molecules that can’t be explained fully without using complicated chemical symbols and equations.

On thinking about hormones and its mechanism , one should come o the coclusion that Harmones are wonderful  miracles among the many miracles and blessings that God bestows on man . To know how great this is a miracle is just imagine

   It is of an incredible work and wonderful miracle for hormone molecules to identify the messages they carry and to identify the cell that will receive messages, then to continue traveling through internal body dimness (that is milliards times bigger  ) and never lose  their way; and to act their role perfectly, this is just an examples of the miracles that God planted in the human body to know how greatly and harmoniously these organs act

It is a general invitation To Whom It May Concern to contemplate and think of creating and creatures   God says in the Holy Quran what means : { Have they not considered the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and what things Allah hath created, and that it may be that their own term draweth nigh? In what fact after this will they believe? (7:185)

Glory to God who says: {We will soon show them Our signs in the Universe and in their own souls, until it will become quite clear to them that it is the truth. Is it not sufficient as regards your Lord that He is a witness over all things?} (Fussilat: 53).

References :

: http://ar.wikipedia.org

Pictures taken from the website http://ar.wikipedia.org

Human Creating Miracles- Haroon Yahya

Dhad- Electronic Magazine for Science

When and How and Why Do Hormones Act Their Roles in the Body?

Human Body Encyclopedia- Hormones- Electronic Area Forum

Dr. Mohammad alsagga Eid

Optic Surgery Specialist

A member in Egyptian Ramdiyah Association

Egypt

Azzarqa’a- Tariq Bin Ziyad St

Prepared by : Magdy Abd AL-Shafy

In Islam , every pillar is imposed to purify Moslem's heart and to give strength to the Connection with God and to give a wider scope to the meaning of submission to God ; once you feel submission to God , you feel freedom from the heavy  impact of life and materialism that put people to psychological torture . nothing else in life is equal being within the sphere of God's pleasure . Islam draws within itself all the sublime meanings of the true previous religions . Among the basic five pillar over which the towering meaning and core of Islam is built is Hajj . Here are some lofty verses with meaning about Hajj : God says in the Holy Quran what means " Announce the Hajj to mankind. They will come to you on foot and on every sort of lean animal, coming by every distant road so that they can be present at what will profit them (22:25-26)

As for those who honour Allah's sacred rites, that comes from the taqwa in their hearts. (22:30)

Their flesh and blood does not reach Allah but your taqwa does reach Him. (22:35)

Abu Hurayra said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, 'Whoever goes on hajj for the sake of Allah alone and does not have sexual intercourse or commit any outrage will return as he was on the day his mother bore him.'" (Bukhari)

Hajj is a symbolic journey to God , in which a Moslem leaves behind people whom he loves taking pains in this journey , yet they are sweet pains and what is the reward – it is to return with a body quite free from the filth of sins and a soul quite free from the darkness that used to enclave it – you are a newly born person .

"The Hajj is the demonstration of the reality that in Islam all roads lead to the House of Allah, where nationality, race, and difference of doctrine are all blown away. The hajjis come from everywhere, from every country, every continent and every background. They come flying, sailing and by land. But whoever they are, wherever they come from and however they come, they are drawn by only one thing and to only one point – their desire to worship Allah at His House and perform the rites of the Hajj.

"From the moment he sets out with the intention of performing Hajj, the hajji's journey is in one sense not his own – in that he is just one of millions of others doing exactly the same thing – and yet in another sense it is uniquely his own – since within that great gathering he will stand alone face to face with his Lord in the unfolding of his own unshared individual destiny. He becomes one of the many elements heading for the crucible of Makka where the great fusing of the Muslim community takes place, where all the parts are thrown together under the most intense conditions, mixed, melted together and then finally separated out again and returned to their homes never quite the same as when they left."

How much such a meaning is effective and lofty  – to be within a group raising their hands in supplication to God  , directing their movement and  setting their heart on one goal , what ecstasy is then that fill the human hearts . with hearts filled with light and minds filled with new concepts and a self  aspiring to complete its perfection , every Hajj returns home . No one remains unaltered

  And it is precisely in this alteration that the profit spoken of by Allah ta'ala in one of the ayats I quoted at the beginning manifests itself and where the spiritual benefits of hajj can be clearly gauged. With some returning hajjis the change is only superficial; the gloss disappears quickly; and within a very short time they are exactly as they were before. Others, however, come back utterly transformed, their lives take on a new and more meaningful quality; they are those the Prophet, was referring to as new born; for them the hajj really has acted as a new beginning to their lives.

The difference between the two groups lies firstly in what we looked at earlier, the strength of their intention, and secondly in what Allah so clearly states in the other verse about hajj I quoted at the beginning, the need for piousness  to make the actions performed on hajj truly meaningful. It is not sufficient just to participate passively in the rites of hajj, just to get swept along with the flow like a piece of flotsam; you have to bring something to them from within yourself and that "something" is piousness  , fearful awareness of Allah. The rites are not magical, by which I mean that they have no automatically beneficial effect on those who perform them. Certainly there is great blessing  in them stemming from the ancientness of their Divine prescription and billions of believers who have participated in them down through the centuries. But the benefit you personally will derive from them is directly proportional to the amount of piousness you bring to them.

Perhaps the most comprehensive statement ever made concerning this inward dimension of hajj was made by Junayd al-Baghdadi, the great 3rd century faqih and sufi.

A man came to visit Junayd and Junayd asked him where he had come from. He replied that he had just returned from hajj. Junayd said to him, "From the time you left your home did you also leave behind all wrong action?" "No," replied the man. "Then you never really left at all. At every stop you made on the way, did you also advance another stage on the path to Allah?" "No," came the reply. "Then you did not really make the journey. When you put on your ihram at the miqat, did you discard the attributes of selfhood as you took off your ordinary clothes?" "No." "Then you did not really take on ihram. When you did tawaf of the Ka'ba, did you witness the beauty of Allah in the abode of purification?" "No, I did not," said the man. "Then you did not really do tawaf. When you did sa'y between Safa and Marwa did you reach the rank of safa (purity) and muruwwa (virtue)?" "No." "Then you did not really do sa'y. When you went out to Mina did your muna (desires) cease?" No, they did not." "Then you never really went to Mina. When you stood on 'Arafa did you experience even a single moment of ma'rifa (direct knowledge) of Allah?" "No." "Then you did not really stand on 'Arafa. When you stayed the night at Muzdalifa did you renounce your love of this world?" No, I did not." "Then you did not really stay at Muzdalifa. When you stoned the Jamra, did you cast away from yourself everything that stands between you and your Lord." "No." "Then you did not really do the stoning. When you made your sacrifice, did you offer up your lower self to Allah?" "Then you did not really make a sacrifice and the truth is that you have not properly performed hajj at all. Return and do the hajj again in the manner I have described so that you may finally truly attain to the Maqam of Ibrahim."

Now obviously we cannot take this literally – I doubt that these days even one hajj a year would be acceptable according to Imam Junayd's stringent criteria – but what his words do indicate very clearly is that there is an essential inner dimension to the hajj. At the same time it is vital to point out that Imam Junayd's words do not involve any kind of inward/outward dichotomy, some kind of inward meaning to hajj separate from the outward form. They rather show that, like all our acts of worshipping , every outward act of the hajj has a corresponding and inseparable inner reality without which cannot be considered complete, just as an egg without its white and yolk is no longer properly speaking an egg but merely an eggshell. This is the element of ihsan which the Prophet, (peace be upon him ) , declared to be an integral part of our religion  in the famous hadith related by 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, radiya'Llahu 'anhu. Ihsan, he said, was "to worship Allah as if you could see him, for though you cannot see Him, He sees you." The awareness of Allah (SWA) that this predicates is precisely the piousness which Allah demands from us in connection with the rites of hajj and without it our hajj will definitely be deficient and we cannot expect the great reward promised to those who truly go on hajj for the sake of Allah alone.

We have already discussed the necessary inward dimension to the act of going into ihram which takes the form of that intention on which the very validity of our hajj depends and which should be projected forward into all the rites we are expecting to fulfill so that the whole of our hajj will be imbued with it. After ihram Imam Junayd asks about tawaf, the act of circling Allah's House which is another of the essential components of our journey. When one enters the great wheel which night and day incessantly revolves around the Ka'ba, the central focus of all who truly worship Allah on the surface of the earth, it is all too easy to become distracted by the amazing sight it represents and the inevitable pushing and shoving which is the necessary accompaniment of so many people moving round in a limited space and which becomes particularly vigorous in the vicinity of the Black Stone. For this reason it is extremely important to keep a watch on your heart, and one way to do this is to choose a simple formula of dhikr and to repeat it continually, remembering to change it to the Qur'anic du'a recommended by the Prophet between the Yamani corner and the Black Stone. The circle of the tawaf is perhaps the place on hajj where one is most aware of being a citizen of the world. Every continent, race, and nation is represented and, extraordinarily, the specific characteristics of each is evident in the way they perform the rite.

On another level the act of tawaf can be seen as a reflection of our lives. If you look carefully at your life you will see that it is not so much an unbroken progression from beginning to end as a series of cycles which tend to bring you back and back again to the same point in a kind of repeating pattern. This pattern has its high point and low point, a little like a comet whose orbit comes close to the sun and then whizzes back off into deep space before returning once more to the light. This is mirrored in the tawaf by the passing of the Black Stone and the energy generated when that happens. What is to be desired both in our lives as a whole and in our tawaf is that our circling should not, as it were, remain always at the same level but should rather take the form of an upward spiral so that each time we pass the same point we have come that much closer to Allah than we were the previous time round. Our tawaf ends with two rak'ats at the Maqam of Ibrahim and this really is an exercise which has great meaning for our lives at large. Somehow, in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of the haram, at the edge of, or even within the compass of, the endless wheeling of the tawaf crowd, we have to carve out a space for ourselves and locate a few moments of stillness and concentration in which we can stand and bow and prostrate and devote ourselves to the worship of our Lord.

One other definite spiritual benefit connected with the House of Allah has as much to do with people who are not there as those who are. The short length of wall between the door of the Ka'ba and the corner containing the Black Stone is known as al-Multazam. If you look at a picture of that side of the Ka'ba you will always see people spread-eagled against the wall at that point, almost as if they are trying to enter the House directly through the wall, and when you are there you will hear and feel the intensity of the supplication in that place and there is scarcely an eye that will not be flooded with tears. It is said that all du'a made there are answered and many people at some during their visit to the Masjid al-Haram try to take advantage of the opportunity it offers to ask Allah's help and blessing, not just for themselves but also for those they left behind. There are, of course, endless chances during the hajj in many of the holy places to make such du'as, and in this way something of the spiritual benefits of hajj reach many people who are not there to profit from the experience in person.

After tawaf comes sa'y which in a way always reminds me of the rush hour in one of the great cities of the world. An endless seething mass of people flooding ceaselessly backwards and forwards in a paradoxical integration of confusion and order. Sa'y is a re-enactment of the desperate search for water by Hajjar, the wife of Sayyidina Ibrahim, 'alayhi salam, when she and her young son 'Isma'il were placed by him in the Hands of Allah in the barren valley of Bakka. She ran backwards and forwards between the two rocks of Safa and Marwa, climbing first onto the one and then onto the other searching every horizon for that group of travellers who would save them from their plight. In the end, as we know, what they needed appeared literally under their feet with the emergence of the spring of Zamzam. How often we do the same thing in our own lives. We cast about here and there, desperately seeking help of one kind or another from this one or that one, usually forgetting that Allah ta'ala is very well aware of our circumstances, and then Allah's help arrives from right under our noses or sometimes even from within ourselves and the situation is resolved.

Like all the rites of hajj the act of sa'y is packed with wisdom and many different insights can be gained from its performance. Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi has this to say about it in his seminal work The Way of Muhammad:

When the hajji begins his sa'y, he joins an already moving bank of people between the two rocks of Safa and Marwa, so that the stream of people between the two Waymarks is endless. As you fall into that sea of activity rushing from here to there and there to here, and the ocean of faces washes past you, some seen again and again, others seen once and for all, the rhythmic running from a place to a place takes on the impulse of activity that has governed all one's life of forgetfulness. All the struggle and fretfulness of existence, all the coming and going, becomes condensed into these seven terrible flights from A to B and from B to A. Seven times is enough for the life of one to be exposed to one's palpitating heart.

The next step on the hajj is the move to Mina. It is perhaps at Mina that the reality of the Umma of Islam is most clearly to be seen. People tend to be camped according to the geographical area of the world from which they come so that at Mina all the races and nations of Islam more or less preserve their ethnic and national distinctions and yet are all in close juxtaposition to one another within a very confined area. So for a few precious days communities normally separated by thousands of miles find themselves right next door to one another and in the benign atmosphere of hajj that brotherhood of Islam, which is so elusive in today's artificially divided world, finds genuine and heart-warming expression, as Muslims from every part of the globe meet and enjoy the pleasure of one another's company. What is also made apparent is how much was stolen from us by the break-up of the khilafa and how much we stand to gain from the political reunification of the umma once more under one khalifa.

The Prophet, salla'Llahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said, "Hajj is 'Arafa," so it is evident that the great gathering of the hajji's on the plain of 'Arafa is the core rite of hajj. This is what everyone has come for. There is no doubt that in an almost explicit way it prefigures that Final Gathering which all of us will inevitably attend on the Last Day. It is there at 'Arafa that the reality of the state of ihram is made most manifest. The lives of all who are present are stripped down to the barest essentials. All distinctions are removed. Wealth and poverty, every kind of class distinction, all the things which normally set people apart from one another in their worldly lives, all these things are set aside and all that remains is the simple fact of our common humanity. All we have is our actions, what we have done with ourselves up to that point, what we have turned ourselves into by what we have done, nothing more and nothing less than what we truly are. It is a priceless opportunity to take stock. We stand there, as it were, naked in front of our Lord, with all the normal distractions and cushions taken away, face to face with Allah with nothing in between but the veil of our own existence.

There is nothing to do there but turn to Allah with complete sincerity and to call on Him making our din sincerely His, hoping for His forgiveness, longing for His mercy and yearning for the vision of His noble Face; and truly there is nowhere and no time on earth where our prayers are more likely to find acceptance. Jabir reported Allah's Messenger, salla'Llahu 'alayhi wa sallam, as saying:

When the Day of 'Arafa comes, Allah descends to the lowest heaven and praises the people there to the angels, saying, "Look at My servants who have come to Me dishevelled, dusty and crying out from every deep valley. I call you to witness that I have forgiven them." Then the angels object, saying, "But my Lord this man has done such and such a thing and also that woman " Allah, Who is great and glorious replies, "I have forgiven them."

Shaykh Abdalqadir says about 'Arafa in The Way of Muhammad:

It is a rite that takes man back to his origin, for 'Arafa is the meeting point, the point of the reunion on earth of Adam and Hawwa, peace be upon them. It is the source point of the human situation. The meaning of the Hajj and its reality lies in this 'moment', this time at the source of life itself, and what the hajji does is stop. Stand on 'Arafa – it was for this that the journey was undertaken. Alone on a wide desert plain surrounded by a throng of others identical to yourself, bare-headed and draped in two white cloths – many there will be buried in these same cloths – you just come to a halt – quite simply, exhausted, dazed, you stop. At that moment there is absolutely nowhere to go. You are there. With Allah. The journey is accomplished. After that everything is purification and supplication.

The three rites of the eid at Mina are stoning the Jamrat al-'Aqaba, sacrificing an animal and shaving the head. All of them represent very specific actions and in one way the meaning of them is inextricably bound up with the actual doing of them and unfolds for every individual as they take place. But, of course, much has been written about them over the centuries and all of us inevitably reflect on their significance before and after actually performing them. Stoning the jamras is often referred to as stoning Shaytan. Allah warns us against Shaytan and informs us unequivocally that he is our enemy and perhaps one lesson we can learn is that even on this most blessed of days, the Eid al-Adha, we are not safe from Shaytan's insinuations and must protect ourselves from them. Shaykh ibn al-'Arabi al-Hatimi takes that one step further in his explanation of the rite. He says that at 'Arafa we purify our understanding of tawhid and rid ourselves of shirk and that in throwing the seven stones the next day we are casting out of ourselves certain Shaytan inspired thoughts that make us associate other things with Allah and that is why we call out the takbir as we throw – by declaring Allah to be greater we are disassociating Him from the tendency to commit shirk which Shaytan has tried to instil into our thinking process. So rather than throwing stones at Shaytan we are casting out from ourselves shaytanic thoughts.

As we saw in the ayat which referred to it, Allah tabaraka wa ta'ala is Himself concerned that we understand that the important element in the rite of sacrifice is that awareness of Him in us which must accompany the physical act and which alone imbues it with meaning. We should remember that it commemorates the occasion when Sayyidina Ibrahim, 'alayhi salam, was absolved from having to sacrifice his beloved son and given a ram to sacrifice in his stead. So what the rite indicates is our preparedness to give up what is most precious us for the sake of Allah. The thing more precious to us than anything else is our own selfhood, our own independent existence, and so, in its highest sense, the sacrifice represents our willingness to give up our own will and submit ourselves entirely to the will of our Lord and the truth is that by doing this we stand to lose nothing and to gain our heart's desire. Allah ta'ala says in Surat at-Tawba: "Allah has bought from the muminun their selves and their wealth in return for the Garden," and then at the end of the ayat: "Rejoice then in the bargain you have made. That is the great victory." (9:112)

The sheer physical relief of removing the accumulated dust and grime and dishevelment of our days in ihram in itself gives a more than adequate meaning to the act of shaving the head and the cleaning process which accompanies it. It really does give one a sense of starting life all over again. It is this very feeling which validates a slightly more symbolic interpretation of the rite which is, that in getting rid of your hair you are in a certain sense stripping away your past and that the new hair growth as it emerges truly is indicative of a new beginning to your life as a whole.

One aspect of the journey to the Hijaz we have so far not mentioned at all is the visit to Madina al-Munawwara. This is strongly recommended to the point of being considered a sunna of the hajj journey. Qadi 'Iyad said about it, "Visiting the tomb of the Prophet, salla'Llahu 'alayhi wa sallam, is a sunna among the Muslims on which there is agreement. It is a virtue which is encouraged." If Makka is a crucible where the hajji is purged and purified, Madina is a pool of tranquillity where he finds peace and refreshment. Remember that it was in Madina that the social reality of Islam was first given form, where the justice and compassion of Allah's deen found their most perfect expression, that city about whose inhabitants Allah Himself said, "You are the best community ever to be produced before mankind." (3:110) What was latent and implicit during the long and difficult years in Makka, became realised and explicit in Madina and a community of human beings living according to the laws of Allah by following the example of His Messenger brought about the best human social situation ever to have existed on the surface of the earth. It is the resonance of this which emanates from the grave of the Prophet, salla'Llahu 'alayhi wa sallam, and still pervades the city which welcomed him and made it possible for Islam to be implemented in its totality.

One does not have to go too far to discover the spiritual benefits of the visit to Madina. What blessing could be greater than being greeted by the Messenger of Allah himself, salla'Llahu 'alayhi wa sallam, and as he himself said that is what happens to all who greet him in his grave. In the famous hadith from Abu Hurayra, radiya'Llahu 'anhu, related by Ahmad, Abu Dawud and al-Bayhaqi, he said, salla'Llahu 'alayhi wa sallam, "There is no one who greets me but that Allah will return my ruh to me so that I can return the greeting to him." And certainly there are very few hajjis who do not experience something of the sweetness of the Prophetic presence during their stay in Madina. So just as the hajj itself imbues one with a greater sense of the Divine presence and fosters love of Allah in the heart, the visit to Madina opens the heart to greater love for His Messenger and by extension to the whole Umma of Islam.

What I have hoped to do by talking of these things is, by drawing on my own experience and the experience of others with much greater knowledge and insight than myself, to indicate something of the inner dimension of the various rites of hajj. But in the end, although such indications may perhaps open a door or two to a deeper appreciation of the hajj, it is only your own tasting of the acts themselves which will really be of any use to you. It is only your direct experience of the rites of hajj which will actually constitute your hajj, and your hajj will inevitably be uniquely your own, totally different from everyone else's, even that of someone who may have been alongside you for most of the time you were there. This is because the hajj is as much an inward journey as an outward one and, as we have seen, it is that inward dimension, the unknowable amount of that outwardly indefinable but indispensable quality of taqwa which you bring to all the rites you perform, it is that and that alone on which the amount of benefit you receive from the hajj and its acceptability to Allah in the end depends.

The Prophet declared that one of the very best actions possible for a human is an accepted hajj and it is, therefore, devoutly to be hoped that all of those who go on it will bring to it the strong intention and the amount of taqwa they need to ensure that their hajj will find acceptance with their Lord. If they do they will find immediate evidence of it in their own being. They will find that their hearts have been filled with an unfading love for Allah and His Messenger and all the Muslims and they will find themselves determined to dedicate themselves from now on to the task of seeing the deen of Allah established to the fullest possible extent in their own lives and in the lives of their families and communities.

I will finish with the ayats with which Allah concludes the sura which He dedicated to the institution of hajj.

You who have iman, bow and prostrate and worship your Lord, and do good, so that hopefully you will be successful. Do jihad for Allah with the jihad due to Him. He has selected you and not placed any constraint on you in the deen – the religion of your forefather Ibrahim. He named you Muslims before and also in this, so that the Messenger could be witness against you and you could be witnesses against all mankind. So establish salat and pay zakat and hold fast to Allah. He is your Protector – the Best Protector, the Best Helper. (22:75-76)

Source : http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ABewley/hajjspir.html