Millions of Muslims are currently gathered in the holy cities in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage. For many people, this is an experience of a lifetime that will continue to make an impact in their lives.
Hajj is a lifetime journey packed into a few days of intense worship. It’s almost like a magical Muslim society where you are on a constant spiritual high. Everyone is nice to each other and worshipping Allah (ta’ala) nearly every minute of the day.
But when the journey is over and everyone returns to their homes, there is the tendency to forget the lessons of Hajj and return to your regular life.
But before we settle into normal life again, here are some tips to help us keep living the Hajj life, even after the pilgrimage.
Remember Your Experience
The best way to maintain your Hajj life after the pilgrimage is to remember the experience. Write down your experience or record parts of it if possible and do your best to preserve it in memory.
When you forget how Hajj life was, there is the chance that you will forget all the important lessons that you want to carry into your normal life.
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Maintain Some of the Hajj Routine
Hajj is intense, and it is nearly impossible to worship at that same pace when we have our real life responsibilities waiting for us to attend to them.
But maybe there are some Hajj activities that we can continue to do during our normal days?
We can:
- Recite the Quran after every salah, even if it’s five verses
- Sit at the spot of our fajr salah till it’s sunrise, then offer two rakats of salat al duha so that we can earn the reward of performing an umrah
- Walk to the Masjid for every salah if possible
- Arrive at the Masjid before the adhan
- Keep our tongues moist with the remembrance of Allah
We won’t be able to do things like tawaf and going between the mountains of Safa and Marwa because they are specific to Hajj and Umrah, but we can still do all the other little activities in our regular day.
Continue to Repel Shaytaan
The stones of Jamraah are not the only ways to repel Shaytaan. In our everyday lives, Shaytaan does his best to lead us astray. But in the same way that we strive to keep away from his whisperings in Hajj, we should continue to repel him in our lives.
Whenever you feel yourself committing an act that is wrong, seek refuge from Shaytaan and seek to replace it with a good deed.
Remember that the one who has his Hajj accepted is like a newborn – free of sins. So we should guard this status so that Shaytaan will not take advantage.
Do Good Deeds for Strangers
One of the beautiful things at Hajj is receiving goodness from strangers. Everyone is eager to hand out food, counters, water, umbrellas, mats, and anything that a stranger would need.
In our normal lives, we have the opportunity to do this in our own communities. We may not need to hand out things on the streets, but every act of charity that you do for another person will help you keep up the Hajj spirit.
“Whoever relieves a Muslim of a burden from the burdens of the world, Allah will relieve him of a burden from the burdens on the Day of Judgement. And whoever helps ease a difficulty in the world, Allah will grant him ease from a difficulty in the world and in the Hereafter.” (Tirmidhi)
Strive to Perfect Your Character
Nearly everyone is on their best behavior at Hajj and how best to maintain the Hajj life other than keeping up that behavior?
If you’ve held your anger in at a fellow pilgrim, try to hold your anger in when a colleague does something you don’t like. Practice every positive behavior that you exhibited at Hajj so that even after the days of Hajj are long over, the Hajj life becomes your norm.
Keep Your Reliance on Allah (ta’ala)
The journey to Hajj is one that symbolizes absolute reliance on Allah (ta’ala). The pilgrim leaves everything dear to him behind and goes on a journey that is not like his regular life.
Hajj is unlike any vacation you may have ever taken. We set out to worship Allah (ta’ala) with as few resources as possible, with millions of other people, under intense conditions, with the hope of returning to our families safe and sound.
“If you were to rely upon Allah with the required reliance, then He would provide for you just as a bird is provided for, it goes out in the morning empty, and returns full.” (Tirmidhi)
We should strive to maintain this same reliance in our daily lives. Whatever stage of life we are in, we should always remember that like Hajj, the success of that phase is only by the mercy of Allah (ta’ala).
The days of Hajj are some of the most blessed days in Islam and for us as Muslims, everything that we do in these few days should be the things that we will continue to do in our daily lives, Insha’Allah
ASSALAAMU ALAIKUM WARAHMATULLAH WABARAKATUHU
JAZAK ALLAHU KHAIRAN! MAY ALLAH SUBHANO WATA AALA bless you all with the best reward of both the worlds for inspiring knowledge and may ALLAH SUBHANO WATA AALA guide each muslim on the right path including us,accept the hajj of all who have performed this year ,forgive each one of us and protect us from doing wrong Aameen.Fulfilling needs of other by suppressing one own self,is really a great work
ASSALAAMU ALAIKUM WARAHMATULLAH WABARAKATUHU
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