عَنْ اَبِیْ ھریرۃؓ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اﷲِ ﷺ مَنْ حَجَّ فَلمْ یَرْفَثْ وَلَمْ یَفْسُقْ رَجَعَ کَیَوْمٍ وَّلَدَتْہٗ اُمُّہٗ (رواہ البخاری و مسلم)
Narrated Hazrat Abu Hurairah ؓ: The Holy Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever performs Hajj for Allah’s pleasure and does not have sexual relations with his wife, and does not do evil or sins then he will return (after Hajj free from all sins) as if he were born anew.”
Explanation:
In Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse No: 197, Allah, the Almighty says:
اَلْحَجُّ اَشْهُرٌ مَّعْلُوْمٰتٌ فَمَنْ فَرَضَ فِيْهِنَّ الْحَجَّ فَلَا رَفَثَ وَلَا فُسُوْقَ وَلَا جِدَالَ فِى الْحَجِّ وَمَا تَفْعَلُوْا مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَّعْلَمْهُ اللّٰهُ وَتَزَوَّدُوْا فَاِنَّ خَيْرَ الزَّادِ التَّقْوٰى وَاتَّقُوْنِ يٰٓاُولِى الْاَلْبَابِ (197)
Quran Ayah Data not found….for Surah:2, Ayah:197 and Translation:24
Quran Surah:2 Ayah:197
“So whoever undertakes Hajj in them, there should be no obscenity, no sin, no quarrel in the Hajj.”
In the tradition appearing above narrated on the authority of Hazrat Abu Hurairah ؓ there has been furnished a glad-tiding for the Hujjaj who abide by the instructions given in the tradition that all their sins would be forgiven and they will return (after Hajj free from all sins) as if they were born anew.
Terminologically, Hajj is a well-know act of worship that is the last of the five principles of Islam. In his well-known book, ‘Hujjatullahil Baligah’, Hazrat Shah Waliullah Muhaddis Dehlavi (R.A.) has defined the term and reality of ‘Hajj’ in the following words:
“In reality, Hajj refers to a worship performed by a great number of righteous people at a specific place in a specific time put-together. It is a time when one recalls the sacrifices of those people n whom Allah, the Almighty has bestowed with His special favour such as the Apostles, Siddiqueen, Shuhada and Saliheen.
Together with it should be such a place that it must contain the clear signs and hallmarks of Islam and which had been a place of frequent visit of religious elders who respect the memoirs of the religion, turned to Allah in repentance and came there with many hopes of goodness from Allah, the Almighty and forgiveness of their sins. The moment a huge gathering of pious people get together to worship Allah in such specific time and place, there remains no doubt in turning the mercy and forgiveness of Allah, the Almighty towards it.
It appears in a tradition:
عن طلحة بن عبيد الله بن كريز أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم قال : ” ما رئي الشيطان يوما هو فيه أصغر ولا أدحر ولا أحقر ولا أغيظ منه في يوم عرفة وما ذاك إلا لما يرى من تنزل الرحمة وتجاوز الله عن الذنوب العظام. (رواه مالك مرسلا وفي شرح السنة بلفظ المصابيح)
Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibrahim ibn Abi Abla from Talha ibn Ubaydullah ibn Kariyz that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Shaytan is not considered more abased or more cast out or more contemptible or angrier on any day than on the Day of Arafa. That is only because he sees the descent of the Mercy and Allah’s disregard for great wrong actions.”
The word ‘رفث’ is infinitive, meaning absurd talk an intercourse. فَسق، فِسق and فُسوق literally means being deviated from the right path and turn to wrongdoer. With regard to both the words, it becomes quite clear that in order to take advantage of forgiveness from Hajj, it is must to perform Hajj without any defect.”
The word defect here means that a man should try his best to refrain from all kinds of evil while performing Hajj. The greatest trouble a man has to suffer during Hajj is that he has to undergo different difficulties while observing the Mansik-e-Hajj every now and then, since it is the time when a great number of people have to perform Hajj at the same time.
Thus, there always remains a possibility of being hurt by someone intentionally or unintentionally. Hence, the one who performs Hajj must face all these difficulties with fortitude and avoid abusing, arguing and quarrelling with each other. If, by chance, one is hurt by any means, he must observe patience at that tiem. (Tafheem-ul-Hadith)
Though there are a number of spiritual, moral, collective, social and material advantages and merits of performing Hajj, however, all of them come into the secondary category. The most important advantage of Hajj is that it is a means of purification for a Haji i.e. it not only washes away his sins, rather alos cleanses his inner-self. As a result, all his sins would be forgiven and they will return (after Hajj free from all sins) as if they were born anew.