The Secret of the Hajj

Two verses later, in verse 37, Allah (swt) speaks of the whole matter of the qurbānī, al-budn — the sacrificial animals slaughtered during the Hajj. Allah says of all this qurbānī, all these animals sacrificed at that time: We do not want your meat; the meat is for you to eat. That is why it is ḥalāl to eat the meat of the qurbānī.

It is not the meat that We want, nor the blood. Wa-lākin yanāluhu al-taqwā minkum: what reaches Allah is the taqwā and the righteousness — the feeling with which the qurbānī is performed. What is the state of the heart?

That is the secret of the Hajj: what is the state of the heart during the Hajj? Many people perform the Hajj in the spirit of a checklist: “I have done my seven rounds; I have gone and had my Zamzam, al-ḥamdu li-llāh; I have done the seven of Ṣafā and Marwah; khalāṣ.” One who felt nothing in all that did not really gain much. He has discharged his obligation — but what the Hajj is truly about is the feeling that should arise from being in the house of Allah.

In ṣalāh, one is ordinarily speaking to Allah (swt) at home. Fasting brings one closer still to Allah; one feels nearer to Him. Then there are some whom Allah wishes to reward by bringing them to His own house — so that the pilgrim may say: I have come to the house of my beloved. If we cannot summon that idea, that emotion, that conviction, that sentiment, we lose the whole spirit of the Hajj; and that is what Allah makes clear in this verse.