Acceptance of documents for Hajj from Azerbaijan has been started for several days now. The Administration of Caucasian Muslims released information about this. It was noted that the price of the visit package for one person is 5,850 US dollars (9,945 manats). It was stated that the visit will be organized in a uniform form and will be carried out by air transport.
Publika.az informs that religious scholar Elshad Miri answered the questions of “Medianews.az” about Hajj in Islam, the organization of this pilgrimage, a number of beliefs of believers, discussions about it on social media and other issues.
– Mr. Elshad, I would like you to comment on the Hajj prices first. Isn’t this amount too much for one person?
– Hajj pilgrimage is a monopoly of the Administration of Caucasian Muslims. They adjust the prices as they wish. They do not report on this. Saudi Arabia also monopolized the Kaaba and claims that Muslim countries have no right to speak there. With this, he made it a big business for himself. For example, tomorrow if that country does not have oil reserves, they will skillfully use this Hajj pilgrimage business to maintain the state and form a certain part of the budget. In fact, they still do. For this purpose, they invented various rituals. For example, they perform rituals such as throwing stones at the devil, which are not found in the Holy Quran. And so the process continues. Or, they cover the face of the Kaaba with a black cloth, write some letters on it with golden threads and give it a mystical air. This black cloth is cut once a year and distributed to certain places and so on. However, the Kaaba is a building built of simple stones and has no special architectural style. Unfortunately, today different information about the Hajj pilgrimage and the Kaaba are presented, touching people’s religious feelings and causing them to go to the Kaaba with enthusiasm and certain emotions and spend certain funds. The sacrifices made there are meant to feed people. Even before, the local Arabs did not eat these sacrificial meats, which were slaughtered by polytheists. Since it was hot there, the sacrifices made during Hajj pilgrimage were covered with earth and destroyed. Later, Turkish companies built underground cold storages there and froze the meat through shock. The sacrificial meat stored and packaged there is sent to many countries and distributed to those who need it as sacrificial meat.
– What is the philosophy and goal of the pilgrimage?
– The philosophical goal of the Hajj pilgrimage is the gathering of people with opinions living in different countries of the world, holding discussions, and solving problems. A kind of Hajj is intended as a space for solving global issues. Imagine that the United Nations (UN) was established in 1945, but God asked us to do it from the beginning. While the concept of Hajj was organized at a similar level to a reputable organization like the UN at the time of the arrival of the “Holy Quran”, Muslims make tourist trips there under the name of religion. They also set a restriction that only Muslims can enter there. After that, the women who return from there are called Hajikhanim, and the men are called Haji. There are even people who are engaged in trade among them, saying, “I am a Hajj man, I don’t sell fake vodka”, and trying to increase their trade by saying that they are on the Hajj pilgrimage. There are many such examples. In other words, some such people spend 10-12 thousand manats in order to increase their reputation, to be respected and sympathized in the society as true Muslims and Hajis. This kind of Hajj concept is not the Hajj desired by God. It is the Hajj pilgrimage, which is a religious business, which people form in parallel under the name of Hajj.
– Social media users and some experts suggest that if pious citizens really want to be rewarded, they should spend this money on needy people in Azerbaijan, not abroad, cover the education fees of underprivileged youths, or support the families of martyrs by donating to the Yaşat Fund. What do you think about this?
– According to official information, ten thousand manats are required for one person to go on Hajj pilgrimage. For those traveling in the VIP category, this amount is sometimes close to 30,000 manats. Of course, when a person goes on Hajj pilgrimage, there should be additional funds to spend during the 3 weeks or 20 days he will stay there. Because in exchange for the money paid for the Hajj pilgrimage, only breakfast is served to them in the hotel where the visitors stay. After having breakfast there once, you don’t want to eat there at all. Moreover, when you return home from a visit, a souvenir or something to give to the people who will visit you is bought. Therefore, it is necessary to carry additional funds of several thousand dollars for the Hajj pilgrimage. Some people spend their whole lives preparing for this. They wish to go on Hajj pilgrimage, see them and worship there. But if we ask the people who go on Hajj pilgrimage, “how much of the 24 hours you spent in the shrine”, they will say only the time of prayer. Let’s see if that’s the goal. Does our religion, the only source of our religion, “Holy Qur’an”, our God requires us to do this? Of course not. Let’s take into account that a person going to Hajj needs at least 12 thousand manats along with other expenses. If a student in Azerbaijan receives a paid higher education, his annual tuition fee is two thousand manats. Thus, with 12,000 manats spent by one person on a 20-day Hajj pilgrimage, it is possible to pay the annual tuition fees of 6 students in Azerbaijan. Or you can pay the annual tuition fees of 3 students and cover their other expenses with the remaining amount. Only the organizers get a lot of profit from Hajj. Paying students’ tuition fees, paying for their courses, supporting them, and raising educated people is a greater reward than that. A question may arise, why not raise this issue for those who go to other resorts and spend more money? Of course, no one can interfere with what, where, and to whom someone else spends. However, the concept of Hajj is performed in the name of God, it is carried out as an important condition of the Islamic religion.
– Among those who go on Hajj pilgrimage, there are many who are engaged in meritorious deeds and benevolence. Are we not encroaching on their rights with such an approach?
– Someone may point out that Hajj pilgrims are engaged in good deeds and meritorious deeds in Azerbaijan, and even pay the tuition fee of some student. Not at all. Not all pilgrims, including Azerbaijanis, are wealthy people. There are people who save their family budget, do not spend money on food and clothes, but collect money for Hajj. Although it is not specifically mentioned in the “Holy Qur’an”, in the hadiths and narrations referred to our prophet, such an expression is used that Islam is based on five principles. These are witnessing, praying, fasting, giving zakat, and going on Hajj pilgrimage. The first three principles can be followed by everyone, regardless of whether they are rich or poor. According to the fourth condition, if you have a certain amount of wealth and income, you should pay zakat in the amount of 1/40 of it. This is not in the “Holy Qur’an”. Finally, the fifth principle is that able-bodied Muslims should go on Hajj at least once in their lifetime. It can be logically concluded that the first three principles of Islam are applied to everyone, including the poor, and the last two are applied to wealthy Muslims. Or they can write it in this way that you need to work hard to become rich and fulfill the other two conditions. Let’s see if God wants us to do this. Never! Islam is not a religion where only the wealthy can go to Hajj, pay zakat, and buy paradise with money. This concept of religion presented and indoctrinated to us is not Islam. It is not the religion that God sent down, but the religion that people invented.
– Are the sins of people on Hajj forgiven?
– This is fiction. It is claimed that the sins of people who go to Hajj and worship there, and perform the pilgrimage correctly, are forgiven, as if they were born again. That is why rich people try to go to Hajj every year. Even corrupt people go to Hajj to cleanse their sins. It is as if there is a center or station for washing sins. However, people living in the country where the Hajj is located are not so eager to see it. But those of us who go to Hajj live and go with the interest of seeing and walking there, and with the belief that their sins will be cleansed. Many claim that I deny the Hajj because of such approaches. Not at all. I am against those who deviate from the essence of Hajj and what God commanded us. In the Holy Quran, God wants us to use our minds, to think, to analyze, to approach issues deeply. It is impossible to live by the principle of what happened before us, and to live by the principle of blindly looking at the world and imitating it. For example, when we look at the Kaaba, we see that it is a cube-shaped building. There is no specialness, magnificence, or miracle in this. Pilgrims almost destroy each other to touch the Kaaba, the black stone, and kiss it. However, none of these are in the “Holy Qur’an”. Or they circle the Kaaba seven times, they believe in the miraculous effect of ordinary water called “Zamzam” and so on. God does not ask us to do that. Of course, it is not forbidden for people to go to any country in the world, to travel anywhere they want. Everyone is free to walk, see and get to know each other. However, it is not the right approach to fulfill this desire under the name of religion. To what extent is it correct to say that it is worship to make others suffer to kiss the black stone that is claimed to have come from heaven and was used as an elevator by the Prophet Abraham when he was building the Kaaba with his son? With reference to the Prophet, they have also created a myth that the person who touches Hajar al-Aswa touches the hand of the Most Merciful – God. He has been compared to God, as if he has touched God in this way. Is this our understanding of Hajj, our religiosity? A wrong idea, a wrong goal unknowingly leads a person to the wrong path. Even if pilgrims do not go there for tourism purposes, it is a business for the organizers. Which of the people who went there changed their lives for the better? Are the people living in Mecca the most honest, pious, beautiful and innocent people in the world? Imagine that people who go to Hajj and call themselves Shiites have “invented” a new concept of circumambulation. This is “Nisa Tawaf”. This means female circumcision. According to the logic of such people, after completing the Hajj, you must perform the “Tawaf of Nisa”. It applies to both men and women. I wonder if women perform this as “male circumcision”? According to those who came up with this fiction, if someone does not perform “Nisa Tawaf”, his wife – if he is a man, his wife, and if she is a woman, her husband – is haram for him. It is also prohibited to cut a new kab before performing “Nisa Tawaf”. They brought the concept of Hajj to this level and removed it from its reality and purpose. In the 27th verse of the “Hajj” surah of the “Holy Qur’an”, it is ordered to announce the Hajj. But today, such an idea has been formed, a decision has been made, and a verdict has been issued that non-Muslims cannot go to the Kaaba or enter it. However, in the “Holy Qur’an” Allah does not say Muslims, but people. Such examples clearly show how far we have deviated from the “Holy Qur’an” in the matter of Hajj.
– In which month of the year are Muslims ordered to go to Hajj or in how many days to complete the pilgrimage?
– Until now, we have been taught that Hajj has only 3 Farsi. These are entering the ihram, standing at the waqf in Arafat, and circumambulating the Kaaba. Hajj is enough for a person who does these things. While it is possible to do all these three assumptions in one day, they take millions of people to Saudi Arabia and keep them there for 3 weeks and a month. Is there any benefit, significance, benefit to this? Is it worth wasting so much time? Or why do people who go to Hajj stay there for so long? In verse 197 of Surah Al-Baqarah of the Holy Quran, it is said that Hajj is in known, known and announced months. However, they have limited Hajj to 1 month. Limiting Hajj to only one month of the 12 months of the year is not the right approach. Every year, millions of people go to Mecca voluntarily, paying large sums of money in dollars. There is no other place or ceremony in human history where so many people gather together at a certain time of the year. What is the benefit of this gathering to humanity? What will change in our fate and life after this meeting and victory? Unfortunately, nothing. Since 1968, the statistical institute of Saudi Arabia has published information on the number of pilgrims. It is clear that more than 100 million people visited Mecca in 55 years. This means that about 2 million people visit Mecca every year. What contribution has the gathering of so many people in one place made to humanity? Allah tells us in the “Holy Qur’an” to walk around the earth, travel, communicate with people, know what happened to them, draw conclusions from what happened, see the creation. No specific year, month, day, hour has been determined for this.
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