Hajj Has Eleven Sunnats

1 - For those who are afaqi (from distant places), to go directly into Masjid al-Haram and make Tawaf-i-qudum. While looking at the Kaba they say takbir, tahlil, and prayers. Men rub their hands and face gently on the Hajar-i-aswad. After the tawaf-i-qudum and two rakats of namaz, the sa'i between Safa and Marwa is performed. Then, without taking off their ihram, they stay in Mecca and make as many supererogatory tawafs as they like until the day of Tarwiya. Because the mufrid hajjis and the qarin hajjis cannot take off their ihram till after throwing pebbles and shaving their head (or cutting their hair), they have to avoid the things prohibited when in the ihram. People who cannot avoid such things had better become mutamatti' hajji. It is not sinful to pass in front of people who are performing salat in Masjid al-Haram.

2 - To begin the tawaf from Hajar-i-aswad and to end it there.

3 - For the imam to make the (the speech called) khutba at three places: The first in Mecca on the seventh day of Zu'l-hijja month; the second at 'Arafat when the time for the early afternoon prayer comes, before the early and late afternoon prayers on the ninth day, and the third at Mina on the eleventh day. At 'Arafat, when the khutba is over, the early afternoon prayer and immediately after this the late afternoon prayer are performed in jamaat. A person who is late for the jamaat performs the late afternoon prayer at the time of the late afternoon prayer. After the salat, the imam and the jamaat (congregation) leave Masjid an-Namra to go to Masjid al-Mawqif and, the imam sitting on an animal and the hajjis staying on the ground, standing or sitting, they perform the waqfa. It is better for the jamaat to be on animals, too. It is not necessary to mount the rocks of Jabal-i-rahma or to make niyya for the waqfa. [The salat which is performed behind the imam who belongs to a group of bidat should be repeated. For, it has been conveyed through hadith-i sharifs that worships performed by people who belong to a group of bidat will not be accepted.]

4 - To leave Mecca for 'Arafat on the day of Tarwiya, that is, on the eighth day of Zu'l- hijja, after the morning prayer. After Mecca you come to Mina.

5 - To sleep at Mina on the night before the 'Arafa day and on the nights of the first, second and third days of the 'Iyd. It is not obligatory to stay at Mina on the third night and day.

6 - To leave Mina for 'Arafat after sunrise.

7 - To sleep at Muzdalfa on the night of 'Arafa. You go from 'Arafat to Muzdalfa and, when the time for the night prayer comes, you perform the evening and night prayers one right after the other in jamaat. Those who have performed the evening prayer at 'Arafat or on the way have to perform it again together with the night prayer at Muzdalfa, in jamaat or alone.

8 - To stay for waqfa after dawn at Muzdalfa. Spending the night at Muzdalfa, you perform the morning prayer right after dawn and then perform the waqfa at a place called Mash'arilharam until it becomes rather light. Then you leave for Mina before sunrise. On the way you should not stop at the valley called Muhassar. This is the place to stop for the Ashab-i-fil. After coming to Mina, at a place called Jamra-i-aqaba, which is the farthest from the Masjid al-Khif, by using the thumb and the pointing finger of your right hand you throw seven pebbles as big as chick-peas at the foot of the wall marking the place of Jamra from a distance of two and a half meters or more. It is acceptable if they fall at the foot of the wall after striking the wall or a man or an animal. Though it is permissible to do the pelting any time until the dawn of the following day, it is sunnat to do it before noon of the first day. Then, leaving the place immediately, you slaughter a qurban if you like. For, it is not wajib for a safari person to perform the qurban. Because hajjis are safari, it is not wajib for a mufrid hajji to perform the qurban. After the performance of the qurban you shave your head (or cut your hair) and take off the ihram. Those who are at Mina on the first day of the 'Iyd and all hajjis do not perform the 'Iyd prayer. Then, the following day or the other day or the day after the other day, you go to Mecca and, after intending, make the Tawaf-i- ziyarat. This is also called the Tawaf-ul-ifada. It is makruh to postpone the tawaf- i-ziyarat and the haircutting till after the sunset of the third day of the 'Iyd, and doing this necessitates killing a qurban. It is only when you are unconscious that someone else may perform the tawaf on your behalf. You do not make Raml and Sa'i during the tawaf-i- ziyarat. After the salat of tawaf you return to Mina. You perform the early afternoon prayer in Mecca or at Mina. The khutba is made at Mina after the early afternoon prayer on the second day of the 'Iyd. After the khutba you throw seven pebbles at each of three different places. You begin with the place closest to the Masjid al-Khif. On the third day of the 'Iyd you throw seven more pebbles at each place, and the number of pebbles becomes forty- nine. It is not permissible, or it is makruh (according to some savants), to throw them before noon. You leave Mina before the sunset of the third day. It is mustahab to spend the fourth day at Mina, too, and to throw twenty-one more pebbles any time you like from dawn to sunset. If you stay at Mina until the dawn of the fourth day and leave the place without having thrown pebbles at all, you will have to kill a sheep. After throwing pebbles at the first place and at the second place you stretch forward your arms on a level with your shoulders and turn the palms to the sky or to the qibla, and say your prayers. The seventy pebbles to be thrown are picked up at Muzdalfa or on the way. It is permissible to throw the pebbles when on an animal. After the Tawaf-i-sadr you will drink from the water of Zamzam. You will kiss the threshold of the Kaba, and rub your chest and right cheek gently on a place called Multazam. Then, holding on to the curtain of the Kaba, you say the prayers you know and send your invocations. Then, while weeping, you go out the door of the Masjid.

Mina is to the north of Mecca; Muzdalfa is to the north of Mina, and 'Arafat is to the north of Muzdalfa. With the recently built asphalt roads, between Mina and Mecca is 4.5 kilometers, between Mina and Muzdalfa is 3.3 kilometers, between Muzdalfa and 'Arafat is 5.4 kilometers, between Safa and Marwa is three hundred and thirty meters, and between the arch on the mount of Safa and the Kaba is about seventy meters.

9 - To make a ghusl before the waqfa at 'Arafat.

10 - During the last return to Mecca from Mina, to stop at a valley called Abtah and stay there for a while. Thence you come to Mecca, and stay there as long as you like.

11 - Before setting out for hajj, it is a sunnat to ask for permission from your parents who are not in need, from your creditors, and from your surety. If your parents are needy it is haram to set out without their permission. Also, it will be haram to set out without your wife's permission if you do not leave subsistence with her. It is mustahab to enter Mecca through a door called Mu'alla, and the Masjid through the Babussalam and while it is daylight.

He who omits the sunnats of hajj is not liable to punishment. Yet it is makruh and causes a decrease in the thawab (not to do them). If the 'Arafa day coincides with a Friday it produces the thawab of seventy hajjes. It is common among the people to call this Hajj-i- akbar, which is not true.

Lying between two opposite combinations of mountains extending in a north-south direction, Mecca covers an area of three kilometers in length and one kilometer in width. Its stone-built houses have mostly three to four stories. In the center of the city is a great mosque named Masjid al-Haram. Masjid al-Haram is open on the top and has a yard which, like the yards of Istanbul's mosques, is surrounded by three rows of domes. The domes number five hundred and are supported by 462 pillars, of which 218 are made of slender marble, 224 are carved from a stone called Hajar-i-shams, six or eight angled, and yellow-colored. Masjid al-Haram has an oblong form, its north wall is 164 meters long, south wall 146 meters long, east wall 106 meters long, and west wall 124 meters long. Wahhabis in 1375 [1955 A.D.] extended these four walls, so that Safa and Marwa were included in the Masjid. Hence, the mosque became one hundred and sixty thousand square meters. The blessed mosque of Saint Sophia in Istanbul is 77 meters long and 72 meters wide, and the blessed SultanAhmad (blue) mosque is 72 meters long and 64 meters wide. Masjid al-Haram has nineteen doors, of which four are on the east wall, three on the west wall, five on the north wall and seven on the south wall. It has seven minarets. During the time of the Ottoman Empire, the distance between Mecca and the port of Jiddah was 75 km., between Medina and Jiddah 424 km., and between Medina and Badr 150 km. The shortest road between Mecca and Medina is 335 km. The coastal way by which Rasulullah migrated was 400 km. Mecca is 360 meters above the sea level. Medina is 160 kilometers inland from the coast.

Before the time of Hadrat 'Umar (radi-Allahu 'anh), Masjid al-Haram did not have any walls. Around the Kaba was a small square, which was surrounded by houses. The Caliph 'Umar had some of the houses demolished and had a one-meter-high wall built around the Kaba, and thus Masjid al-Haram was built. Masjid al-Haram was restored various times. Today's Masjid al-Haram, together with the eleventh restoration of the Kaba al-muazzama, was built in 1045 hijri [1635 A.D.], during the time of Sultan Murad Khan IV, the seventeenth Ottoman Emperor. Now Wahhabis, on the pretext of enlarging them, are demolishing and annihilating those historic Islamic works, building in their place things that have only materialistic value. At the cost of desecrating the Kaba al-muazzama, they are building taller houses and hotels.

The Kaba al-muazzama is a cubical room built of stone in the middle of Masjid al- Haram, and is 11.4 meters tall. Its north wall is 9.25 meters long, south wall 8.5 meters long, east wall 13.5 meters long, and west wall 13.3 meters long. On the corner of the east- south walls is the stone of Hajar-i-aswad, which is over one meter above the ground. With so many hajjis having kissed it, its surface is now rather concave. The Kaba has a door on the east wall. 1.88 meters above the ground, the door is 1.7 meters wide and 2.6 meters high. Its inner side, as well as the floor, is covered with colored marble. Its minaret-like spiral staircase near the corner called Rukn-i-Iraqi, which has twenty-seven stairs of which seven are made of marble and the rest of wood, was restored by Mustafa Khan II. To the right of the door is a hollow and three pillars reaching high up to the ceiling. The outer side of the Kaba is dressed with black silk tissue. The door is curtained with green satin.

The Zamzam well, also within Masjid al-Haram, is in a room opposite the corner of hajar-i-aswad and fourteen and a half meters away from the corner, and has a stone curb 1.9 meters high. Its diameter is two and a half meters long, and its depth is thirty meters. The room, built by Sultan Abd-al Hamid Khan I, who also had the Beylerbeyi Mosque built in Istanbul, has a floor covered with marble, sloping near the walls, and ending in gutters at the feet of the walls. The gutters are of such competent work that they do not let any water ooze into the well. The mouth of the well is about one meter and half above their level. This work of art, a valuable keepsake of history, was barbarously destroyed in 1383 [1963 A.D.] They lowered the mouth of the well and an area of several meters around it to a level several meters below the earth's surface.

The four corners of the Kaba are called the four rukns. The one pointing to Damascus is termed Rukn-i-Shami, the one pointing to Baghdad is termed Rukn-i-Iraqi, the one toward the Yaman is termed Rukn-i-Yamani, and the fourth corner is termed Rukn-i-hajar-il- aswad.

It is mustahab to drink Zamzam after the farewell tawaf. With hundreds of thousands of hajjis drinking the Zamzam, washing themselves with it, and taking lots of it to their countries, the water in the well cannot be exhausted. And now everyday the water has been pumped out day and night with a machine and a large-hose pipe, but it still does not seem to be exhaustible.

There is a Gold Gutter on the north wall of the Kaba. The space between this gutter and the curved small wall, which is below the gutter and in line with it, is called the Hatim. While making the tawaf it is necessary to make the turns outside of this Hatim wall.

The earth has only one Kaba. And it is in the city of Mecca al-mukarrama. To perform the hajj believers go to the city of Mecca al-mukarrama, and there they do the things commanded by Allahu ta'ala, and become hajjis. Disbelievers go to other countries and visit other places. They are not called hajjis. Muslims' acts of worship and disbelievers' irreligious acts are different things.

If people living in the Hil enter Mecca without the ihram it becomes wajib for them to make hajj or 'umra.

The final pages of the part entitled "Twin apples of the eyes of Muslims" in the Turkish book Ashab-i Kiram, give detailed information indicating that after making the hajj it is necessary to go to Medina-i-munawwara and visit the Prophet's blessed grave. The Hujra- i-saada (the Prophet's grave), being close to the east corner of the qibla wall of Masjid ash-Sharif, remains on the left side of a person who stands towards the qibla in the mihrab. And the Minbar remains on his right. The area between the Hujra-i-saada and the minbar is called Rawda-i-mutahhara. The Hujra-i-saada is enclosed by two walls, one within the other. There is a hole in the middle of to the ceiling of the inner wall. The outer wall reaching up to the ceiling of Masjid, its green dome can be seen from long distances. The outer walls and the high grating outside are screened with curtains called Sattara. No one can go inside the walls, for they have no doors. On the 384th page of the book Mirat-i Medina it is written that when Masjid as-saadat was first constructed, its width was 60 dhra' [25 meters], and its length 70 dhra' [29 meters]. Two months before the Battle of Badr, i.e. in the month of Rajab of the second year, after the heavenly order to change the qibla direction towards the Kaba was revealed, its door was moved from the north wall to the south wall, and the masjid's length and width were extended to a hundred dhra' [42 meters] each. This door is named Bab-ut-tawassul. During the restoration period of Walid bin Abdulmalik and the Abbasi Caliph Mahdi (rahmatullahi alaihim ajmain) in 165 [781], the masjid's length became 126 meters and its width 76 meters. Wahhabis extended it in 1375 [1955] and its length became 128 meters and its width 91 meters. They changed the historic names within Masjid an-Nabi and put the Wahhabi names in their places..

Masjid an-Nabi now has five doors. Two of them are on the west wall; the one near the qibla is called Babussalam, and the one near the north corner is called Baburrahma. The east wall has no door on the qibla side. The east wall has the Bab-i-Jibril, which is opposite the Baburrahma. Please see the picture at the end of the first part of the (Turkish) book Faideli Bilgiler (Useful Information).

It is written in Durr-ul-mukhtar, "The fard hajj must be made before visiting Medina. It is also permissible to visit Medina first. While making the supererogatory hajj you go to the city which is on your way first. When entering Medina you must intend only to visit the Prophet's 'alaihis-salam' grave. One prayer of salat in Masjid an-Nabi is superior to a thousand prayers of salat at other places. So is the case with such kinds of worship as fasting, alms, dhikr, and reading the Qur'an. You do not wear the ihram when you enter Medina. The prohibitions that are valid as you wear the ihram in Mecca are not valid in Medina. Ibn Taymiyya said that one should not go to Medina in order to visit the Prophet's grave, but his assertion has been answered by the savants of Ahl-as-sunnat. Imam-i-Abu Hasan Ali Subki 'rahmat-ullahi ta'ala alaih', [in his books Arraddu li-Ibni Taymiyya and Shifa-ul-sikam fi ziyarat-i Sayyid-il anam], refutes Ibni Taymiyya's misleading words with strong proofs. It is permissible even for women to visit the blessed grave at times when it is not crowded, provided they shall cover themselves." The articles refuting Ibni Taymiyya, by Imam-i-Subki and other savants, have been published in Arabic in the book Islamic Savants.

It is written in Maraqilfalah and in its marginal notes, "Seeing Medina from a distance, you say salat and salam. Then say a certain prayer, which exists in the Turkish version of our book, Endless Bliss. You make a ghusl before entering the city or Masjid. You put on some good alcohol-free perfume. You assume new, clean clothes. It will be good to enter the city walking. After placing your luggage, etc. at some place, with a hanging head and a broken heart, meditating on the value and the greatness of those sacred places, saying the prayer, "Bismillahi wa 'ala millati Rasulillah," and the eightieth ayat of sura Isra, which was revealed on the night of Hegira, and also the salawat-i-Sharifs, which are said also in namaz, you arrive at Masjid. Entering Masjid either through the Bab-us-salam or through the Bab-ul-Jibril, you perform two rakats of Tahiyyat-ul-masjid namaz near the minbar. The pillar of the minbar must be in line with your right shoulder. Rasulullah 'sallallahu alaihi wa sallam' would pray there. Then you perform two rakats of namaz of thanksgiving. After saying your prayers you stand up and with adab come near the Hujra-i-saada. With your face toward the wall of Muwajaha-i-saada and toward Rasulullah's blessed face and your back toward the qibla you stand with adab, about two meters from the blessed grave. You keep in your mind that Rasulullah sees you, hears your salam and prayers, and answers you, saying amin. Beginning with, "Assalamu 'alaika ya sayyidi, ya Rasulallah...," you say the long prayer in the (above-named) book. You say the salams sent (by others) through you. Then, first saying the salawat, you say the prayers you choose. Then, moving one meter to your right, you greet Hadrat Abu Bakr by saying the long prayer in the book which begins as, "Assalamu 'alaika ya khalifata Rasulillah..." Then, moving half a meter to your right you greet Hadrat 'Umar by saying the long prayer in the book. Then you pray for yourself, for your parents, for those who asked you to pray for them, and for all Muslims. Then you come back opposite Rasulullah's blessed face. You say the prayer in the book and also other prayers which you will choose. Then you come to the pillar to which hadrat Abu Lubaba tied himself and made tawba (penance). Here, and in the Rawda-i-mutahhara, you perform supererogatory or qada salat. You make tawba and pray. At your own discretion, you should also visit Masjid al-Kuba, Masjid Al-qiblatayn, the martyrs of Uhud, the graves at Baqi, and many other sacred places."

Ibn Qayyim says, "You pray by turning your back to Rasulullah's grave. Likewise states Abu Hanifa." It is written in Durar-us-saniyya that "Alusi, too, states so in his tafsir." However, all the savants of Ahl-as sunnat write that you pray by turning toward the blessed grave while putting the qibla wall behind you. Even Alusi, who is a follower of Ibni Taymiyya and Ibni Qayyim, is reasonable enough not to hide the fact, and writes in his Ghaliya: "After performing two rakats of namaz in Masjid, you come to the Hujra-i-saada, turn towards his blessed face and, standing with adab as you would do if he were alive, say salat and salam and say the prayers prescribed by the Sharia. For, Rasulullah is alive in his grave too. Most savants say that it is a sunnat to come from far away places only to visit the blessed grave. For, a hadith declares, 'He who comes to visit me and only visits me without doing anything else will have the right upon me that I should intercede for him,' and another hadith declares, 'I return the greeting of the person who greets me.'"

Abdulhaq-i-Dahlawi 'rahmat-ullahi ta'ala alaih' says in Persian in his book Jazb-ul- qulub: As the Masjid ash-Sharif was being built, two more rooms were built, one for Aisha and one for Sawda 'radiallahu anhuma'. Then, a room was built for each wedding, and the number of rooms became nine. It being a custom in Arabia, the rooms were made of date branches and were roofed with hair felt. Its doors were no more than hanging curtains. The rooms were on the south, east and north sides of Masjid. Some of them were made of sun- dried bricks. The doors of most of them opened into Masjid. Their ceilings were a span higher than a man of medium stature. There was a door between the rooms of Hadrat Fatima and Hadrat Aisha. A few days before his passing away, he had the doors of the Sahaba's rooms opening into Masjid closed, with the exception of that of Abu Bakr.

In the seventeenth year of the Hegira, Hadrat 'Umar 'radiallahu anh' had Masjid enlarged on the north, west and south sides. With the rooms belonging to the Zawjat-i-tahirat 'radi- allahu ta'ala anhunna' being on the east side, he did not do any enlargement on the east side. Thus, its south-north wall became a hundred and forty dhra' [seventy meters] and the east- west wall became a hundred and twenty dhra'. He said, "I would not enlarge Masjid if I had not heard the Prophet's command: 'It is necessary to enlarge my Masjid!' " He had the new walls made of sun-dried bricks and date branches like the old ones. Hadrat Abbas donated his room, which was adjacent to the west wall. Half of Jafar Tayyar's house adjacent to it having been bought, the two were added to Masjid ash-Sharif. In the meantime hadrat 'Umar had the Hujra as-saada restored with sun-dried bricks. In the thirtieth year of the Hegira hadrat 'Uthman had these walls demolished again and the Masjid enlarged. He had the new walls and the pillars made of stone and the ceiling of teak timber. A hadith conveyed by Abu Huraira declares, "If they enlarged my Masjid as far as San'a city in Yaman, all of it would be my Masjid."

In the eighty-eighth year the Caliph Walid gave an order to the governor of Medina 'Umar bin Abdulaziz, and all four walls were demolished, and the rooms of the Zawjat-i-tahirat, which were on the east side, were added to Masjid. The four walls of the Hujra-i-saada were demolished and rebuilt with dressed stones from the base. As the base was being dug out Hadrat 'Umar's one foot was seen. It had not rotted at all. A second wall was built around the Hujra. It had no doors. The ceiling of the Hujra became half a meter higher than Masjid, and Masjid became two hundred dhra' long and a hundred and sixty-seven dhra' wide. Forty craftsmen had been brought from the east Roman Empire, and the walls, the pillars, and the ceiling were ornamented with gold. For the first time, the mihrab and four minarets were built. The work took three years. In the hundred and sixty-first year Mahdi, one of the Abbasid caliphs, enlarged it by erecting ten pillars only on the north side. Also the Caliph Mamun enlarged it a little more in the year 202. Then, in the year 550, Jamaladdin Isfahani made a grating of sandalwood around the second wall. This grating is called Shabaka-i-Saada. A white silk curtain, which was sent from Egypt in the same year and on which the Sura-i-Yasin was written in red silk embroidery, was hung around it. This curtain is called Sattara. In the year 678 [1279] the Turkoman sultan of Egypt Salih Klawun 'rahmat Allahi ta'ala 'alaih' had today's Kubba-i hadra built and had it covered with sheet-lead. Today's Masjid was built in 888 [1483] by Ashraf Qaytabay 'rahmat Allahi ta'ala 'alaih', one of the Circassian sultans of Egypt, and was restored and embellished by the Ottoman sultans. Thus, we end our translation from Jazb-ul-qulub.

The center of Da'wat-ul-islamiyyat-ul-alamiyya, which is in Mirpur, in Pakistan, sent a declaration to all Muslim countries in 1398 [1978]. The declaration stated:

Our center of Da'wat-ul-islamiyyat-ul-alamiyya has met with disgust the article that proposes the demolition of the Qubba-ul-hadra and which was written by a Wahhabi named Sadulharamein in the Shaban 1397 [1977] issue of the periodical Ad-da'wa, which is published in Saudi Arabia. Our members convened in Mirpur, Pakistan, to protest the article. The assembly was presided over by Allama Muhammad Bashir 'rahmat-ullahi ta'ala alaih'. The following is a summary of speeches made in the presence of that great audience:

The Qubbat-ul-hadra is the apple of the eye of all Muslims. Muslims regard visiting this Hujra as a means for their salvation. For, our Prophet 'sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam' declared, "My shafa'a (intercession) is wajib for a person who visits my grave." That squalid article of Sadul-haramein's is a great mischief and is a surreptitious stratagem of the enemies of Islam. Could a Muslim ever think of such a thing? Could he act as a ringleader in destroying the ensign of Allahu ta'ala? We swear by Allah that he could not. We have reason to believe that the scandalous article has been buttressed up by clandestine hands, e.g. Jewish forces, from behind. It is beyond doubt that their exhumation of the blessed bodies of the Sahaba and of our Prophet's father Abdullah from their graves has emboldened them to the detestable thought of demolishing the Qubba-i-hadra. This abominable article will lead to great mischief. There is no value in this. The Saudi Arabian government must explain whence the daring comes for this ugly article which has deeply hurt Muslims, whose hearts are filled with the love of Rasulullah and of the Qubbat-ul- hadra. Muslims, no doubt, love the Arabs because they have been serving the Haramein-i- Sharifein and the Qubbat-ul-hadra. If the Arabs desecrate these sacrosanct places, Muslims' hearts will certainly no longer have any love for them. We call upon the Muslims all over the world to inform the government of Saudi Arabia with the vehemence of the sorrow caused by this detestable trickery and to join the struggle for the neutralization of this atrocious stratagem!

The Arabic origin of the above-given summon has been appended to the end of the 1978 edition of the book Al-madarij-us-saniyya.

It is written at the end of the chapter about hajj in the book Ibn Abidin: "A poor person who goes on hajj does supererogatory worship until he arrives in Mecca. Hence he is given the thawab of supererogatory worship. When he arrives in Mecca it becomes fard for him to make the hajj. But a rich person begins to earn the thawab of the fard the moment he leaves his country for hajj. If a poor person leaves his country (or hometown) after putting on the ihram, he will earn the thawab of fard on the way too, thus attaining the same thawab as the rich one does. A person whose parents do not need him can go on the hajj which is fard without their permission. [But he cannot go on the supererogatory hajj without their permission.] Doing things useful for Islam, such as building mosques, schools for teaching the Qur'an, and the like, causes more thawab than the supererogatory hajj. If the money spent on the supererogatory hajj is portioned out to Muslims in need, making supererogatory hajj or 'umra will cause more thawab than giving alms in your own country. For, in this case, you will be worshipping both through property and through the body. It is stated in the twenty-sixth letter in Maqamat-i-mazhariyya that in this hajj it is necessary not to omit a fard or wajib without an excuse and not to commit an haram or makruh. Otherwise making the supererogatory hajj will produce sins rather than thawab. Please see the final part of the seventy-fourth chapter and the section dealing with zakat in the forty- sixth chapter in the first part of the Turkish original version and the letters 29 and 123 and 124 in the (Turkish book) Mujdeci Mektublar. Serving Islam by joining the army or through publication or propagation causes more thawab than the supererogatory hajj. For a person who does not have such services, helping the poor, the needy, the pious, the sayyids with money causes more thawab than making the supererogatory hajj or doing such services as building mosques, schools for teaching the Qur'an, and the like."

An eye whose looks take no warning,
Is one's enemy on one's own head.
Ear that takes no advice at each hearing;
In its hole one must pour hot lead!
A hand that has no good, pious doing,
Is not given Paradise grade.
Foot must be cut if worship's not its knowing;
Hang it near mosque, let others dread!
If the heart's not inhabited by divine loving,
Don't call it heart, it's fed in the mead!
Don't call the devil my nafs; it takes you to evil-doing.
Nafs will run to good, like downhill sled.
How could one call it heart, which Satan's leading;
By pride it's led, and on grudge it's fed.

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