Maintain Your Hajj High | A New Life after Hajj

Muslims all around the world once again completed the most virtuous form of worship the Hajj or Pilgrimage this year. Muslims were honored to become the Guests of Allah in His Holy House the Kaaba and through Divine Guidance have completed the rituals of Hajj with great love and enthusiasm for Almighty Allah. In hadith, our beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said that: “Whoever performs Hajj for the Pleasure of Allah and therein utters no word of evil, nor commits any evil deed, shall return from it (free from sin) as the day on which his mother gave birth to him.” (Bukhari)

The one who performed Hajj with love and enthusiasm will get a reward of Jannah as stated in hadith: “Verily there shall be no reward for a Mabroor (accepted) Hajj except Jannah” (Muslim). As Hajj is over and pilgrims are coming back to their homes, back to the reality of family life, work, and other normal life responsibilities. Even though Hajj is over, pilgrims return home to their loved ones, not only with many precious memories but also with lots of lessons learned from the spiritual journey of Hajj and a sense of noble spirituality. These lessons and sense of noble spirituality should remain with pilgrims throughout their lifetime and they have to apply these lessons for the rest of their lives.

Maintain Your Hajj High

Pilgrims should maintain their Hajj High but it is difficult for most of the people due to their involvement in normal life routine as earlier before Hajj. One should remain on the straight path and on a higher level with the right intentions, sincere Duas, and dedicated efforts, even if that level isn’t quite as grand as what you’d hoped for. Below we will discuss some points by following which one can maintain his/her Hajj high for the rest of life.

  • Pilgrims should remain realistic in worship even though they could not maintain the same levels of worship that they had on the Hajj journey. But if you need to keep a few small and manageable ones then do them sincerely and consistently for the sake of Almighty Allah.
  • The most important thing that one should maintain after Hajj is the issue of steadfastness and guarding this great deed i.e. performance of Hajj against things that could nullify it. You should ask Allah Almighty ceaselessly to help you adhere firmly to His religion and guide you to obey Him, and make you avoid His disobedience.
  • After being totally purified on Arafah, your clean soul recognizes your new sins and mistakes much more easily. But you won’t stay that pure forever and Allah doesn’t expect you to remain that way. All of the mankind sins, but the best of those who sin are those who repent and return to Allah. Even when you don’t recognize sins, make a habit of daily Istighfar so that you can seek forgiveness from Allah Almighty.
  • Remember the spiritual significance of pelting the Jamaraat. After shaytan was humiliated on the day of Arafah, he’s even more determined to corrupt you. So, just as you stoned Shaytan in those days, whenever you notice his temptations coming to you back home, repeat that pelting in your mind just like you chased him away on Mina, and you can do it again now too.
  • Protect your senses from spiritual filth by staying away from sights and sounds that would corrupt your heart, and if you do see or hear them, immediately try to erase their effects by replacing those experiences with something better. Recite or listen to the Quran immediately and let the wrong thoughts or sight be pushed out of your memory.
  • Use gratitude to go back for Hajj. It’s very, very sad for pilgrims to leave Makah especially after they have made their final Tawwaf and left the Grand Mosque Masjid-al-Haram. Those who have returned from Hajj should encourage others upon whom Hajj is compulsory to start making preparations from now and to go and perform this great duty of Hajj next year.
  • Keep doing good deeds even if they are little because regular small deeds are better than disrupted greater ones. You should know that deeds, which Allah Almighty Loves most, are the most regular and constant ones even though they were little.

May Allah Almighty accept the Hajj of all pilgrims who performed this year and before, help them to maintain it until they reach the end of their life, and also take them again in His house for performing Hajj. We also ask Allah (SWT) to accept our good deeds and provide us steadfastness and uprightness until death. Ameen!