Some MISCONCEPTIONS and often REPEATED MISTAKES during Hajj and Umrah The noble Sahabi, Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman said, People used to ask the Prophet ﷺ about good things, but I used to ask him about bad things because I was afraid that they might overtake me. What a beautiful example to follow. And thus, on a similar note, I have listed some of the extremely common misconceptions and mistakes that many Muslims make, year after year, so that we can be wary of them and protect and prevent ourselves from making them. This way our Hajj will be closest to the Sunnah, bi idhnillaah, and In Shaa Allah acceptable to Allah سبحانه و تعالى. ●Mistake # 1. Thinking that Duaa is accepted when they first look at the Kaabah: Many people have this wrong notion that the first time they look at the Kaabah, any Duaa that they make will be answered for sure. This is not true as this has no evidence from the Shareeah. And any hadeeth that you may find regarding this matter, is either extremely weak or fabricated. When asked about Duaa being accepted at the first sight of the Kaabah, Shaykh Sad al-Humayd repied: This is not true; there has to be evidence for this to be true, because acts of worship should only be based on evidence. And that evidence must be saheeh in and of itself and it should be clear and unambiguous. And Allah knows best. (Shaykh Sad al-Humayd) ●Mistake # 2. Kissing the black stone from far away and stopping in mid-tawaaf to do so: Kissing the black stone is a beautiful Sunnah, and an honour indeed for the one who is able to do so. However, due to the immense crowds, a very large number of people are not able to reach it. In fact, it is quite impossible. So a large number of people try to kiss it from far away. When they come parallel to the black stone, they stop dead in their tracks in mid-tawaaf, stand facing the black stone, put up both hands on the side of their head and kiss the black stone in mid air, as if the black stone is right in front of them. Or they throw flying kisses at the black stone from far away, by kissing their hands and then throwing these kisses in the direction of the black stone. Also, their stopping dead in their tracks like this and standing still, in the middle of the tawaaf, causes disruption of the flow of the tawaaf, unnecessary crowding in that area, and a LOT of inconvenience to their fellow Haajis. All this is NOT from the Sunnah. All the Prophet ﷺ did while doing tawaaf, was to kiss the black stone if he easily could do so, or touch it with his hand and kiss his hand. BUT, when there was a crowd, all he ﷺ did was POINT to it from far away and say Allaahu Akbar. Thats all. And thats what we need to do. If you are far away from the black stone, all you do is to point to it with your right hand, say Allah Akbar and move on. No facing the Kabah, no flying kisses, no stopping dead in your tracks. Keep moving and dont disrupt the flow of the tawaaf. It should be noted that the tawaaf remains perfectly valid without kissing the Black Stone. If one does not or cannot kiss the Black Stone. it is sufficient simply to point to it, saying Allahu Akbar when one comes parallel to it, although one may be at a distance from it. (Fataawa ibn Baaz) ●Mistake # 3. Shouting out Duaas in unison Some people shout on top of their voices all in a group while making Duaa during tawaaf. They follow an imaam or a leader who makes the different duaas and they all repeat after him, shouting all together in a group. This causes a lot of confusion and disturbs others in their own duaas, and makes them lose focus and not have proper khushoo. And obviously, it is also not befitting that one should shout and raise his voice in a place so sacred as the Haram. The right thing to do is to know, before you go for tawaaf, the duaas that you will be making, the Quraan you will be reciting, etc. so that you dont have to follow anybody. Rather you will be making your own Duaa, in your own language, from your own heart. This will give you better concentration and satisfaction. Plan your duaas ahead of time so that there will be no confusions etc. and say them to yourself quietly, with humility and khushoo. After all, youre making Duaa to the One Who hears all and sees all. The Prophet ﷺ said: Each one of you is conversing with his Lord, so do not disturb one another or raise your voices over one another when reading – or he ﷺ said, when praying. (Abu Dawood, saheeh by al-Albaani) ●Mistake # 4. Designating specific duaas for specific rounds: There are some people who make specific duaas for each round and there are even books that have specific duaas written for each specific round, with Duaa # 1 to be read for round # 1 and so on. This is something thats NOT from the Shareeah. The Prophet ﷺ did not recite any specific dua in any of the rounds, and neither did his companions. If there was such a thing he would have told us about it and he would have done so himself. The only Duaa that he did specify during Tawaaf, was when he reached at the end of each circuit between the Yamani Corner and the Black Stone, and he would say: Rabbana atina fid-dunya hasanatan wa fil-akhirati hasana wa qina adhaban-nar. (Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter and save us from the punishment of the Fire.) The above the Duaa is the only Duaa that is specified. So the thing to do in each round is to make sincere Duaa from your heart about whatever it is that you make Duaa to Allah سبحانه و تعالى for, in whatever language you like, in whatever words that you feel comfortable in,, until you come to the Yamani (third) corner and then say the above Sunnah Duaa. Think about it. If youre reading something from a book, in a language that you dont understand, would that have the same effect on you or the same impact on your Duaa as compared to something that you do understand? Imagine the power of the Duaa that comes from deep within your heart and its effect. Youre the one who knows your problems.....youre the one who is afflicted....youre the one beseeching your Lord and Hes the One who knows what youre asking for. And just think.....Subhaan Allaah.....this is the Kabah. This is Allahs سبحانه و تعالى House and now is the time for you to make sincere Duaa and have it accepted. Are you going to waste this opportunity in reading something from a book that you dont even understand? Or say something that does not come form your heart? And even if you did understand the duaas, yet it would still be wrong. Because the Prophet ﷺ didnt tell us to make any specific duaas. And if we were to specify a specific Duaa for every specific round, then it comes under adding to our deen. And the Prophet ﷺ said: Whoever introduces into our matter (our religion) that which is not a part of it, will have it rejected. (Bukhari, Muslim) This indicates that whoever follows his desire and invents or adds to the religion of Allah سبحانه و تعالى what is not a part of the religion, or what is not in conformity to the ways of the Prophet then this innovation is rejected and is NOT ACCEPTED by Allah. ●Mistake # 5. Doing Tawaaf on someone elses behalf: Many people are making this mistake. They circumambulate the Kabah 7 times and then they donate the reward of this tawaaf to their loved ones, their family members or their relatives who have passed away. Also, when people go for Hajj or Umrah, their relatives and friends specifically ask them to do one tawaaf on their behalf. This is not valid and there is no evidence for its permissibility. You see, Tawaaf is a kind of prayer and you cannot do the act of prayon someone elses behalf. Can you? Similarly, you cannot do just tawaaf by itself on someone elses behalf either. However, if they were doing an entire Hajj or Umrah on their behalf, then and only then is it valid as part of that Umrah or Hajj. But to do tawaaf by itself, meaning 7 rounds around the Kabah and donating the reward to someone else is not correct. Shaykh ibn Baaz said: Tawaaf around the Kabah cannot be done by proxy, so no one can do tawaaf on behalf of someone else, unless he is doing Hajj or Umrah on his behalf, in which case he may do it on his behalf along with the rest of Hajj or Umrah. (Fataawa Ibn Baaz) What is the best thing to do is to do as many tawaaf as you can for your own self. Tawaaf is an Ibaadah that cannot be done anywhere else except Makkah and this is a golden unique opportunity. ●Mistake # 6. Going to Taneem again and again for multiple Umrahs: Some people perform multiple Umrahs after finishing their own, going outside Makkah either to Masjid Aaisha (Taneem) or other meeqaat points, put on a new Ihraam and repeat Umrahs again and again. Some of them do an Umrah a day, some even more! This is also NOT from the Sunnah. And NOT the practice of the Sahaabah. If it was good to do multiple Umrahs all in one trip, surely the Prophet ﷺ would have done so himself and the Sahaabah would have done so too. But we see that although the Prophet ﷺ stayed in Makkah for 19 days after the conquest of Makkah, yet he did NOT leave Makkah to do `Umrah, even though he could have easily done so. Sheikh al-`Uthaymeen said: Ibn Taymiyah mentions that the Salaf are agreed that making multiple `Umrahs is disliked. In any case, leaving Makkah and going to the boundary of the sacred precincts to make a second or third `Umrah is an unfounded practice that was unknown during the time of the Prophet ﷺ. The only exception to this was the case where `Aishah sought permission to make a single `Umrah after Hajj because of special circumstances. If it was generally recommended to leave Makkah to perform `Umrah in this way, the Prophet ﷺ would have encouraged his Companions to do so. Actually, instead of making multiple Umrahs, the better thing to do and the worship that will earn more rewards, bi idhnillaah, is to perform as many tawaaf as you can for yourself. Like I said before, tawaaf is an Ibaadah that cannot be done anywhere else except Makkah and this is a golden opportunity. Ibn Taymiyah said: The Salaf agree that performing voluntary tawaaf is superior to going to al-Tan`îm or to the boundaries of the sacred precincts and making `Umrah. [Majmu` al-Fataawa] ●Mistake # 7. Thinking that the Jamaraat are Shayaateen: When some people go to stone the Jamaraat, they think they are going to stone the devils. In fact, they think they are stoning Iblees himself! They even call this ritual, stoning the SHAYTAAN. That is NOT TRUE. The Jamaraat are NOT shayaateen and to call the Jamaraat Shayateen is also wrong. All we do when we stone these Jamaraat is an act of remembering Allah سبحانه و تعالى following the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as an act of worship. Thats all. No need to get emotional, no need to curse at the Jamaraat, no need to push and shove. ●Mistake # 8. Touching or wiping over the Kaabah, any part of Masjid al-Haraam or Masji an-Nabawi: Some people try and touch any part of the Kaabah or Maqaam Ibraaheem, thinking that there is blessing or barakah in it. Or they touch or wipe their hands on the different parts of Masjid al-Haraam or Masjid an-Nabawi, and then they wipe over themselves, thinking that this is something good or it will be source of blessing for them. But again, this is another act with no basis in the Shareeah of Islam. The Prophet ﷺ did not touch any part of Kabah except the Black Stone and the Yemeni Corner. If it was good, he would have done so. But he ﷺ didnt and so we dont either. Dear brother/sister, just think about it. Blessings come from following what Allah سبحانه و تعالى and His Messenger ﷺ have prescribed, and NOT from following innovations, ie bidah ●Mistake # 9. Thinking that praying forty prayers in Madeenah is compulsory: Some people think that you have to complete forty prayers in the Prophets ﷺ Masjid and that this is necessary and part of Hajj. Its not. This is based on a weak hadeeth. Neither is it necessary to complete forty prayers there nor is visiting Madeenah a part of Hajj. Obviously it is good if you can spend as much time as you can in Madeenah and pray as much as you can in Masjid an-Nabawi. But to think that one has to complete forty prayers there is not correct. You can pray one day or one hour or one month or whatever is according to your hajj program. It does not have to be forty prayers. Shaykh Ibn Baaz said: With regard to the widespread idea that the visitor should stay for eight days so that he can offer forty prayers in the Masjid is wrong. Although it says in some ahaadeeth Whoever offers forty prayers therein Allah will decree that he is safe from the Fire and free from hypocrisy, this hadeeth is daeef according to the scholars and cannot be taken as proof or relied upon. There is no set limit for visiting the Prophets ﷺ Masjid. If a person visits for an hour or two, or a day or two, or for more than that, there is nothing wrong with that. (Fataawa Ibn Baaz) Jazak Allah Khair Qasim
Posted on: Mon, 14 Oct 2013 11:35:23 +0000
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