Hajj: The Sūrah and the Scene

Occasion: A summary of a Friday khutbah delivered at AIA Masjid on June 12, 2026.Source: A transcription of a video khutbah by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Open the Muṣḥaf to Sūrat al-Ḥajj, and see how it begins: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمْ إِنَّ زَلْزَلَةَ السَّاعَةِ شَيْءٌ عَظِيمٌ ۝ يَوْمَ تَرَوْنَهَا تَذْهَلُ كُلُّ مُرْضِعَةٍ عَمَّا أَرْضَعَتْ وَتَضَعُ كُلُّ ذَاتِ حَمْلٍ حَمْلَهَا وَتَرَى النَّاسَ سُكَارَىٰ وَمَا هُم بِسُكَارَىٰ وَلَٰكِنَّ عَذَابَ اللَّهِ شَدِيدٌ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 1-2] ("O people, fear your Lord; indeed, the convulsion of the Hour is a tremendous thing. On the day you see it, every nursing mother will be distracted from what she nursed, and every pregnant woman will deliver her load, and you will see the people as if drunk, yet they are not drunk; but the punishment of Allah is severe"). A sūrah whose name is al-Ḥajj, and whose opening is the convulsion of the Hour. So why this tone that makes a person feel threatened as he meets his Lord and reviews the burdens of what has passed? In the Qur'an we are used to a smooth address in matters of obligation, as in His saying: ﴿وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ طَرَفَيِ النَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ﴾ [Hūd: 114] ("And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and in some hours of the night; indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds"): an obligation to perform, followed by hope of acceptance, then reward, then salvation. So what is the matter with this sūrah?

Praise be to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help and ask His forgiveness, and we bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, without partner, and that our master Muhammad is His servant, His Prophet and His Messenger ﷺ. He conveyed the message, fulfilled the trust, gave sincere counsel to the Ummah, and through him Allah removed the distress; may Allah reward him on our behalf and on behalf of the Ummah of Islam with the best reward. To proceed: the title of our meeting today is «الحج سورة وصورة» ("Hajj: the sūrah and the scene").

A Sūrah with the Title but Not the Content

What is striking is that the name of a sūrah is normally meant to carry a heading for its content. And here we are before Sūrat al-Ḥajj, and there is nothing of Hajj in it but a few verses, telling of an Abrahamic call in the middle of the desert: ﴿وَأَذِّن فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 27] ("And proclaim the Hajj among the people"). It does not speak of the rulings of the rites, their details and how to perform them, as Sūrat al-Baqarah does clearly, for example. So at first you ask yourself: why was the sūrah given this name if it does not show us the way, where we begin, where we end, and when we are finished?

The wonder fades as you leaf through the sūrah. Right after its opening: ﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يُجَادِلُ فِي اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّبِعُ كُلَّ شَيْطَانٍ مَّرِيدٍ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 3] ("And among the people is he who disputes about Allah without knowledge and follows every rebellious devil"). Disputation is a very high stage that comes after all the expected possibilities of discussion. It is a dispute with Allah and about Allah, and we are before a particular type of people, and it seems that Hajj came to deal with them. Then the verse returns once more: ﴿وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يُجَادِلُ فِي اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَلَا هُدًى وَلَا كِتَابٍ مُّنِيرٍ ۝ ثَانِيَ عِطْفِهِ لِيُضِلَّ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ لَهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا خِزْيٌ وَنُذِيقُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ عَذَابَ الْحَرِيقِ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 8-9] ("And among the people is he who disputes about Allah without knowledge, without guidance and without an illuminating Book, twisting his side to lead astray from the way of Allah. For him in this world is disgrace, and We will make him taste on the Day of Resurrection the punishment of the burning fire").

In the first, a rebellious devil came with him: he has a leader whose counsel he seeks and a whisperer he follows. In the second, he has lost even that: no knowledge, no guidance, no illuminating Book, as if the devil had accompanied him to a place of ruin and then abandoned him, so that he was left with no guidance, no beacon and no guide. And «ثاني عطفه» ("twisting his side") is an image we know: the one who turns his neck and his side so as not to hear you, turns his shoulder to you and walks off; the height of arrogance, self-regard and insolence before an opponent.

And who are these? They are the ones who lived around Muhammad ﷺ in Makkah; he was raised among them, and they saw his character and tested his truthfulness for forty years, then he called them once to tawḥīd, and what these verses state applied to them. Do you see their like around you? They see the truth shining, the picture clear, and Islam dazzling in all its details and teachings, then they insist on opposing it, fighting it and spending everything they own on that, out of sheer defiance and nothing else.

From Vicegerency to Leadership

Then comes the verse of Hajj: ﴿وَإِذْ بَوَّأْنَا لِإِبْرَاهِيمَ مَكَانَ الْبَيْتِ أَن لَّا تُشْرِكْ بِي شَيْئًا وَطَهِّرْ بَيْتِيَ لِلطَّائِفِينَ وَالْقَائِمِينَ وَالرُّكَّعِ السُّجُودِ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 26] ("And when We designated for Ibrāhīm the site of the House: Do not associate anything with Me, and purify My House for those who circle it, those who stand, and those who bow and prostrate"). It brings back to us the first scene our Lord told us of in al-Baqarah: ﴿وَإِذِ ابْتَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِمَاتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ قَالَ إِنِّي جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا﴾ [al-Baqarah: 124] ("And when his Lord tested Ibrāhīm with words and he fulfilled them, He said: I will make you a leader for the people").

Ibrāhīm (peace be upon him) is the second model the Qur'an set forth for the righteous, the first of them being Ādam (peace be upon him): ﴿إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً﴾ [al-Baqarah: 30] ("I am placing upon the earth a vicegerent"). Ādam was not charged with any of the obligations we know: no prayer, no zakāh, no fasting, no Hajj. What was his obligation? Not to eat from the tree, and nothing besides. He was given knowledge entirely, he became acquainted with the states of the angels, he saw Satan with his own eyes and challenged him plainly, and yet he was not charged with a project, because he held only the contract of vicegerency.

Then Ibrāhīm comes to receive a new position: not the position of vicegerency but of leadership (imāmah): ﴿إِنِّي جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا﴾ [al-Baqarah: 124] ("I will make you a leader for the people"). It is like the difference between taking your son by the hand in the morning to school, submitting his papers, paying his fees and preparing everything for him, and his becoming one of these people himself, with the responsibility being his own. So there are two stages: a stage in which you were made successors in this land, then the Abrahamic stage of leadership, which you choose yourselves or give up yourselves, so choose what you will.

It is as if our Lord were addressing the people of Makkah with the verses of Hajj: ﴿إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَيَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَالْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ الَّذِي جَعَلْنَاهُ لِلنَّاسِ سَوَاءً الْعَاكِفُ فِيهِ وَالْبَادِ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 25] ("Indeed, those who disbelieve and bar others from the way of Allah and from al-Masjid al-Ḥarām, which We made for the people, equal are the resident therein and the visitor"), then reminding them of Ibrāhīm: Muhammad calls out among you and you do not respond, so remember Ibrāhīm, who called out in the desert and found those who answered him, even after a time. And just as Allah answered the call of Ibrāhīm with people who had not yet come to exist on earth: ﴿وَأَذِّن فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالًا وَعَلَىٰ كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ يَأْتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 27] ("And proclaim the Hajj among the people; they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every distant pass"), so He will bring to Muhammad ﷺ people who one day live in distant lands and fly across the horizons of the earth, carrying the banner of Islam in their hearts and minds, in their work, their neighborhoods and their conduct, who neither deviate nor lead anyone into deviation, but hold fast and help others toward the religiosity that counts with the Lord of the Worlds.

Al-Baqarah Details, al-Ḥajj Explains

Sūrat al-Ḥajj spoke about the Hereafter more than it spoke about Hajj. Whoever has witnessed the scene (we ask Allah not to deprive us of it) has seen the Resurrection with his own eyes: everyone in a single garment, everyone repeating with a single tongue, and the whole gathering seeking salvation, as happens on the Day of Resurrection when people call out: O Lord, salvation.

And this is a task for you, if you accept it: compare the verses that speak of Hajj in al-Baqarah with those in Sūrat al-Ḥajj. Busy yourselves a little with the Qur'an for Allah's sake, for we have nothing besides it. Fill your eyes with the divine beauty that Allah placed in His Book. You will see that al-Baqarah is more detailed and deeper in speaking of the rites and the practical procedures: ﴿فَإِذَا أَفَضْتُم مِّنْ عَرَفَاتٍ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ عِندَ الْمَشْعَرِ الْحَرَامِ﴾ [al-Baqarah: 198] ("And when you depart from ʿArafāt, remember Allah at al-Mashʿar al-Ḥarām"). Why? Because Sūrat al-Baqarah is the sūrah of building the Ummah. It builds for you the structure by which an Ummah is founded, and shows you the precise details of every matter you need in your life, and details your movement in your home with your wife and in raising your children: ﴿وَالْوَالِدَاتُ يُرْضِعْنَ أَوْلَادَهُنَّ حَوْلَيْنِ كَامِلَيْنِ لِمَنْ أَرَادَ أَن يُتِمَّ الرَّضَاعَةَ﴾ [al-Baqarah: 233] ("Mothers shall nurse their children two complete years, for whoever wishes to complete the nursing"). What does this have to do with the Ummah? These are the details of life, so that the Qur'an leaves you no gap before which you stand bewildered asking: what do I do? And this applies fully to Hajj as a rite.

As for Sūrat al-Ḥajj, it tells you the reasons: why these details? So you see the great words: the rite (al-shaʿīrah), the sanctity (al-ḥurmah), the sacrificial camels (al-budn), and piety (al-taqwā).^[1] Great words that tell you that this is what you went for. So al-Baqarah gives you the specifications, and al-Ḥajj gives you the purposes.

When the Scene Is Lost

Here I move on to the scene in our hands. Among the strangest of things is to see some of those who came and spent dawdling over trivial matters, the like of which none of them would dare raise with his family at home: this is not clean, this place is not fitting. My brother, what brought you here? Roll up your sleeves and do something for Allah, and put in some effort. The pattern the verses draw for us is entirely different from what the modern environment has prepared for us.

Servants of Allah, our Lord wanted us to be men, and wanted for us an act of worship that addresses hearts and minds and moves bodies toward greater resolve. He wanted us to learn from Hajj the meaning of sacrifice in all its horizons and senses. He wanted us to drive Satan and his whispering out of our minds, in that symbolic stoning which expresses enmity and the stand a person takes. Then: ﴿ثُمَّ لْيَقْضُوا تَفَثَهُمْ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 29] ("Then let them end their untidiness"), that they shake off the dust of their former lives and return to the world with a new form, appearance, face and conduct, through which they see better, feel better and deal better.

Half an Hour with the Qur'an

My counsel to myself and to everyone I speak to concerns the Book in our hands. We leaf through it in Ramadan and then close it, and perhaps we open it only in Ramadan. Whoever among us is diligent and has a daily portion, what a good deed; but he still needs reflection (tadabbur). Half an hour with the Qur'an in reflection is better than ten hours of bare recitation. Each has his station, his knowledge, his ability and his level, I know that; but if we do not move our minds in the Qur'an by the Qur'an, they will remain stagnant in the old information we inherited, and if hearts are not moved by knowing its meanings, we will remain at the same level.

Allah has moved us a great move, from Ādam to Ibrāhīm, from vicegerency and possession to leadership and pioneering. And here we are living in this country, seeing its conditions and what befalls it every day. If you feel it is a land of daʿwah, then take hold of its reins and help it not to slide. And Muslims know that they have a purpose in life, and that the basis of their existence is to build up the earth, whoever they are. Yūsuf built a state that was not Muslim when he took the reins in Egypt, which was at one time disbelieving. And there is no prophet who did not emerge in the midst of disbelieving, denying people. And I ask you: had Mūsā (peace be upon him) been given the chance to stay in Egypt at that time and been enabled to reform, even partly, would he have left it for another land, or stayed in it, building it up as the Lord of the Worlds commanded him to build?

The tools of reform in our hands today were not available to those before us, and our deliberately neglecting them is a proof against us on the Day of Resurrection before Allah. And the one who walks against the current, his effort is known in heaven before earth; the water may cover him in the midst of people so that they do not see him, but the eye of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, sees. So let each of you see his place, know his position, sense his worth, be guided by his Lord, and accomplish a deed with which to meet Allah.

O Allah, take us by our forelocks to what benefits Your religion and our salvation before You on the Day of Resurrection, and save us from being questioned about our shortcoming toward Islam. O Allah, give us insight into what is in our hands and guide us to the right path. O Allah, we seek refuge in You from trials, the apparent of them and the hidden. O Allah, grant victory to our people in Palestine and honor them, protect the oppressed throughout the earth, in Lebanon and elsewhere, bring the affair of the people of Syria to a good completion, have mercy on our weakness, mend our brokenness and ease the means in our hands. O Allah, establish us and guide us to our paths.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Their places in the sūrah: ﴿وَمَن يُعَظِّمْ شَعَائِرَ اللَّهِ فَإِنَّهَا مِن تَقْوَى الْقُلُوبِ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 32] ("And whoever honors the rites of Allah, indeed, it is from the piety of hearts"), ﴿وَمَن يُعَظِّمْ حُرُمَاتِ اللَّهِ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 30] ("And whoever honors the sacred ordinances of Allah"), ﴿وَالْبُدْنَ جَعَلْنَاهَا لَكُم مِّن شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ﴾ [al-Ḥajj: 36] ("And the sacrificial camels We have made for you among the rites of Allah").