Monday column: As the road to faith begins

More than two million pilgrims are now arriving in Makkah for the Haj ritual expected to start on June 5 and the target will be the Kaaba built by the Prophet Abraham many thousands of years ago.

But most of them know that the road to the holy city begins at home at a much earlier date. The greatest challenge of them all is to prepare the mind to satisfy the moral readiness needed for the pilgrimage. Many would realise that the challenge of maintaining the 'spirit of Haj' after this religious performance is too hard to meet in their daily lives. This is often the case when the mental preparation was too casual to begin with.

The performance of the Haj is one of the obligatory Five Pillars of Islam "for those who can afford" but it goes without saying it is also for those who are ready spiritually. Much older people would remember and tell you that an intense mental preparation would start years before one sets foot on the sacred grounds. There is a general tendency to accept the fact that once one is finan­cially able then one can pack his bags and go.

There is a danger here of trying to satisfy one of the religious obligations and get it out of the way so you can continue with life by doing other things. To some people, it is like a thorn on the side that has to be dealt with as soon as possible. They are those who go and perform the Haj just because most of their friends have done so and they feel they have to go.

You don't go when you feel you need to go but only when you are ready for it. At the same time, you should gear yourself for that day sooner rather than later. People wiser than I would argue that there is no guarantee you would live to the day when you are prepared to go. I would argue, too, that since you only perform this ritual because you are repentant and one of the conditions is never to consciously repeat your sins, then there is no point in going and coming back only to start all over again.
 
Remember as a child when your parents asked you to clean your room? You cleaned up because you were told to do it, not because you wanted to. You knew that there was no guarantee of not messing it up again at a later date. However, as you grow older and wiser, you realise that you need to clean your room regularly and you would make every effort of not messing it up. We may never reach that stage of religious perfection but there is every chance of getting near it as we get older and wiser.
 
The Haj is a solemn promise to Allah not to go back to the old undesirable habits. I am not sure that some of those who make this journey really under­stand the awesome responsibility they are about to accept. There is only one way to go after that and we all know which way. Nevertheless, to see a throng of hundreds of thousands of people around the Kaaba does stir a feeling of spiritual awareness.
 
Thanks to technology, we can all watch and follow it closely in the comfort of our own living rooms. It is amazing how people from all walks of life rub shoulders, regardless of status or nationality, and become humble before the Creator. I do not think you can get any closer to all the goodness of the world anywhere else. It is the pinnacle of faith and the self-realisation for those who believe.