The chronologically 24th revealed chapter of the Qur’an, around the second year of the mission of the Prophethood, when the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him (PBUH) started receiving the message in the Quran and spreading it around.
A historical background:
“Quraysh” is the name of the tribe who were residing in Mecca. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was one of the people of this tribe. Mecca is a special place because of the Ka’ba (black stone cube-like building) being there. Quraysh was the tribe that represents Ka’ba and they were loyal to their tradition and tribal pride. They were respected by all the other tribes of that area (Hijaz) because they were treating all the other tribes equally and were respecting and serving them by hosting them in their city. That was their tradition, and they took pride in this position.
- Among the people of the other tribes of the area of Hijaz, the name of the tribe of Quraysh was equated to “Ka’ba”, which was declared as Baitul Allah (House of God) i.e. in their eyes, God was the Creator of the universe.
For the Quraysh, the patriarch of their tribe was the Prophet Ismail, peace be upon him (pbuh). Ismail was famous because of his father Prophet Abraham (pbuh). In the course of time, the title and significance of Prophethood were forgotten and Abraham was remembered and considered as the father of the tribe. We know that Abraham was from the children of Israel. Abraham’s son, Ismail got married to an Arab woman and his descendants were considered a mixed race of Arab and children of Israel. The racial significance of pure race and mixed race is the traditional difference between Judaic tradition and Islamic tradition.
Although historically, Judaic tradition does not deny Hagar (Abraham’s wife) and Ismail as belonging to the Children of Israel, what they say is that the descendants of Abraham through Ismail and the children of Ismail were half children of Israel (Israelites) and hence, not pure. Abraham had another son, Isaac who got married to an Israelite woman. Their descendants were considered as a pure race. That is how the race issue started creeping into the Abrahamic religion.
The children of Israel kept the notion of Prophethood from the very beginning, but the Arabs (as pagans) did not have that notion at all. So, the Israelites looked down at the Arab people for not having a religion i.e. not knowing what God’s book/Prophethood is. For the children of Israel, the real descendent of Abrahamic tradition is through Isaac. This historical background makes us understand why the children of Israel do not accept Islam because of this racial conflict i.e. Ismail’s race is not pure, and Isaac’s race is pure.
Nowadays, that conflict or competition is still continuing although the followers of the Quran have no issues on this racial divide. The Israelites extend this issue to the Prophet Muhammad’s religion as not being pure Israelite but mixed with the pagan race. Unfortunately, some people do not look at the message, rather they look at the race. The core doctrines of the Israelites are to identify everything with race. Throughout history, the Israelites (the Jews) received many Prophets in the lines of Isaac (and are considered so blessed), while the lines of Ismail only received a few Prophets (considered not that blessed) with the Prophet Muhammad at the end. To some opinions of the Israelites, Muhammad is not a real Prophet, he just imitated the Torah tradition and changed it in a strange way. Regardless, people are free to claim anything based on what they hear, learn, and know.
- The point is that we should never look at the race but the message.
With the children of Israel, the message of God turned into a racial distinction and the children of Israel became the chosen people of God and are given a special status which goes against the definition of God i.e. an injustice. It is as if God created someone from their birth well-qualified than me to be the worshipper of God. And so, what is my mistake here, and why am I treated unjustly? There is no answer here and that is why religion needs to be put on the right path and corrected.
When Muhammad (pbuh) started receiving the message, the messenger of God (Muhammad) said that God creates every human being equal and He is the One who decides to whom He will reveal the message: “I am just appointed by my Creator to convey the message. If you don’t follow the message and do not take the message seriously, then you are in trouble. If I don’t convey the message and follow it, then I will be punished (double trouble)”, there are clear verses in the Quran about this.
The tribe of Quraysh were important not because they were the best Arab race/tribe, honest people (we don’t know), rather they took pride in their position to treat all other tribes equally, as a result of which, they will preserve their positions in the eyes of all other Arab tribes. That was their mission, otherwise, they would lose value in the eyes of the Arab tribes and the other tribes would not come to Mecca. And if the other tribes didn’t come to Mecca, then there would be no business trade, tourism, and pilgrimage, leaving the Quraysh in an economically devastating position.
- Tourism from the pilgrims was the main source of income of the Quraysh.
When Muhammad (pbuh) started spreading the message, the Quraysh felt challenged because they thought that if they accept the message that the messenger of God is conveying, then all the leading figures (chiefs) would become second status people and would lose their leadership position in the community. That was their concern. On the contrary, the Messenger of God had nothing to do with leadership. Muhammad (pbuh) was not interested in leadership/status as he was just advocating to worship One God and get rid of the idols across humanity.
In Ka’ba, the Quraysh were the guardians of the symbolic idols representing their different tribal identities. That is why the idols represented the honor of each tribe. Since the representation of the identity of each tribe was kept in Ka’ba, everyone felt that they had to protect the Ka’ba. And in order to protect the Ka’ba, they had to protect the Quraysh. At that time, the town of Mecca was habituated by Quraysh and due to their being honest people, they agreed for them to be the custodian of the Ka’ba.
In this chapter of the Quran, the Quraysh is representing “Ka’ba”. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT we are not reading the honor of a tribe, rather we are looking into the honor of Ka’ba and what it represents (not what Quraysh represents).
- The main point is “Ka’ba”, which represents the center of the revival and ramification of Abrahamic tradition without being polluted with racial competition or discrimination: “We are going to be the followers of One God, who is the Creator of the universe and this God has employed Abraham to establish this place of worship”.
Quran always speaks in a figurative way to give palpable and physical examples to let us know what the reality of Oneness of God or Absoluteness is (i.e. ghaib). This is the only way of presenting the subject of the reality of this universe and what this existence points to, otherwise, ghaib (Absolute) cannot be described within the conditions of this created universe.
- “Ghaib” is the Absolute One and you cannot describe Absolute. That is why the Quran is full of analogies, similes, stories, parables, metaphors, symbolic teachings…
“Ka’ba” is a symbolic physical representation, teaching the importance of the Abrahamic tradition which emphasizes the Oneness of God. It is a black building with the simplest of stones, with no architecture, no figures on it, no art. It means Ka’ba has no value as a building, in and of itself.
- Kaba represents the Oneness of God (tawhid).
How did pilgrimage, the old pagan tradition of the Arab nation/tribe of pilgrimage get transferred to an Islamic tradition with the pilgrimage to Ka’ba?
Historically, the Quraysh also performed pilgrimage where they were visiting the Ka’ba, the house of God; but their aim was to visit their symbolic idols. They were going in and paying respect to the sacred representation of their tribal symbolic idols, rather than commemorating the Abrahamic tradition of tawhid (God’s Absoluteness) which had been long forgotten. Eventually in the minds of Pagan Arabs Abraham represented the patriarch of the Arab nation there (tribal emphasis).
They all knew that Abraham built this building, but they did not ask for what? The building was built to ask people to worship one God in that prayer place. During the times of Abraham, there was no representation of symbolic idols based on Abraham’s teachings. Later, the people lost themselves in tribal identities.
The Islamic tradition of “Hajj” is nothing but reviving the pure representation of Tawheed as symbolically practiced by Abraham under the guidance of God’s instruction. Why do human beings need a material representation of the idea of “Tawhid” (is an independent subject to be dealt with)?
Now, let’s study the verses.
106:1 “For the security of Quraysh”.
The “Quraysh” represents the Ka’ba, symbolizing the Absoluteness of God. That is, the Abrahamic tradition of “tawhid” (Absoluteness/Oneness of God) needs to be preserved and secured to save humanity from heedlessness, destruction, and meaninglessness.
106:2 secure in their winter and summer journeys.”
A journey in a caravan going North during the summer or South during the winter. In summer, Yemen becomes cool and in winter, Damascus is warm i.e. Bilad-ul-shaam (Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Damascus, Lebanon, Iraq). They went South during the winter, what should I do? It is meaningless to talk about this. Let us understand the symbolic teaching here (next week).
106:3 “So let them worship the Lord of this House.”
What does the house symbolically represent here? The Oneness (or Absoluteness) of the Creator of the universe, the One which cannot be described here in this universe.
Attention: Ka’ba never ever is taken as representing God as such. Going on Hajj is only for joining the annual commemoration of Abraham’s declaration of God’s Absoluteness on earth.
Let us look at the verses given below which are full of wisdom. One wisdom and lesson in it has to do with the pilgrimage (hajj). The point in going to hajj is to revive the heritage of Abraham, pure belief in the Oneness of God with nothing else associated with it.
- Ka’ba was the first symbolic house established on Earth to represent the Oneness of God alone.
3:95 “Say: God speaks the truth, Follow, then the religion of Abraham, who turned away from all that is false, and was not of those who ascribe divinity to anything other than God.
3:96 “The first Temple (house of worship) to be established for people was the one at Bakkah. It is a blessed place, a source of guidance for all the worlds.
3:97 “These are clear messages, in it, it is the place where Abraham stood to pray; whoever enters it finds inner peace. Pilgrimage to the House is a duty owed to God by people who are able to undertake it…”
“Hajj” or pilgrimage was ordered to the believers in God to perform if they can afford it (financially) at least once in their lives. Going to Ka’ba, House of God is important to revive the tradition and heritage of Abraham which is the Oneness of God. That is to say, when you go on the pilgrimage, you do not go to Mecca, rather you go to revive the heritage of Prophet Abraham’s message, which is “proclaiming tawhid”.
- Abraham’s whole life (pbuh) was devoted to proclaiming tawhid. That is why Abraham is the symbol of tawhid (Oneness of God) in all monotheistic religions.
- What Ka’ba represents is in the heart of the hajj/pilgrimage.
Tawhid is not only related to the area of Mecca, but more so it is the direction of One’s worldview (qibla). Qibla means the direction of prayer, the direction I take in my living in this world.
- Anyone who worships one God turns to Ka’ba, the original representation/symbol of the message delivered by Abraham is tawhid (Absoluteness of God).
Ka’ba is the place that represents tawhid and the protection of tawhid. In other words, when people go to hajj, they would shift their belief understanding to qibla. That is, their direction of life (qibla) is to live by tawhid, the Absoluteness of God.
A legitimate common question by the followers of Islam: Why should I go to Ka’ba (a place on earth) and make hajj since tawhid is a perception of the heart and mind?
- Yes, you may understand tawhid both rationally and emotionally. Yes, rationally you may contribute to the budget of the Saudi Government. But, are you going there for touristic purposes? No.
- Example: Physically, Jane’s body is in New York (NY) and her spirit does not acknowledge anyplace. If she is going from NY to Mecca, then she is going out of the place where she resides physically. Jane may say that NY is her home, but her hajj (and qibla) says that her home is Ka’ba (and tawhid) because her heart belongs to God, who is the only One to direct our human expectations to.
Ka’ba is the heritage of the Abrahamic tradition. “I am going home to physically experience what Abraham has represented, tawhid in a physical form because I do not exist only in my mind, emotions and feelings but I exist in my body.
Human body is like the world and the human heart (spirit) is within the body. Heart is the Ka’ba since it seeks tawhid. The body is where the spirit resides. That is to say, your spirit’s home is Ka’ba. And so, when I make a journey, it’s not only a spiritual journey but it is also accompanied by a physical means because I live in a physical body.
Human feelings (heart and spirit) are not restricted to any physical location, they operate as they are given existence. The body, on the other hand, needs to be at a physical location and direction. In other words, while setting my qibla (direction) towards Ka’ba (tawhid), I must make my body also worship God alone, the same God as my heart and mind worship because I am spirit, mind, and body. That is also why we are asked to perform the prescribed prayers in the form of physical activities as well.
Let’s say, Jane’s physical body is in New York. Although her heart and mind have no physical direction, she directs them towards Ka’ba/qibla/tawhid along with the body. Therefore, in order to commemorate my tawhid direction as established by Prophet Abraham, I must take my body to that physical location as well as part of the full pilgrimage experience where the establishment of tawhid took place. My body goes with my spirit as a symbolic representation of the tawhid experience.
- I get to know about tawhid through physical means, how else can I know otherwise?
I look at the universe and my own creation and realize that everything represents something, a message from beyond, and bring messages to me from their Maker. The things and the qualities in the universe cannot exist by themselves. As a result of this realization, I become aware of the Necessity of concluding that this universe must have a Creator and all the qualities that I can see, experience and observe over the physical body of the universe tells me that they are created by an Absolute Being whose qualities that are manifested in us must be Absolute. The way that the qualities manifest in the physical world refers to the Absoluteness of the Source of these qualities.
Human feelings can understand that the qualities manifested in creation (beauty, form, decoration, justice, wisdom, purposeful activities, measured ways of creation…), all these qualities tell me that whoever is the source of existence of this universe must have these qualities in Absolute form. However, such a thing is not in this universe. That is how I reach to conclude that the Creator must be the Absolute One (belief). That is my experience. I reach this conclusion and I understood this through physical means and my life experiences. In other words, everything in physical terms that we do such as I can see the beauty and perfection manifested in creation, I can see the perfect measurement and timing in creation… all of them through my eyes. Also, I can hear creation and sounds through my ears, and I can taste creation through my tongue, I can touch anything through my hands/body. The spirit functions through physical means.
In this type of creation, the human soul communicates with everything through physical means. The taste through my tongue, the beauty through my eyes. That is, I must eat the food prepared for me in the world in physical form to experience the sense of taste. Example: I must get the fruit and bite it otherwise I cannot get the delicious taste of the fruit and then think about what is the Source of Existence of the taste? In other words, my mind starts questioning the sense of taste, and my heart/feelings start enjoying it. Only after the experience, can I question how this taste comes into existence?
And so, one’s worship of God must also be through the physical means, while the soul is worshipping. That is, while I am praying, fasting, or going on hajj, it can only be practiced through physical means. This implies that while I am interacting with the physical things, my mind, heart and feelings experience tawhid, worship of God alone, nothing else and I do not worship any physical being. All this, I do it through my body because that is how I am created. I cannot deny my reality and I must be realistic to my own existence. I must worship God by performing the pilgrimage at least once in my life where the representer of the belief in Oneness/Absoluteness of God (Abraham) first performed his worship on earth in physical form on a piece of land and established a symbol there declaring: “Here is the place where I worship”.
When I worship with all my body (mind and spirit), I feel and experience peace there because of what I am doing i.e. by turning to Ka’ba i.e. the representation of Tawhid. Of course, one’s mind and soul have nothing to do with the physical direction/restrictions. However, according to the reality of the existence of this universe, I exist with my body. And so, tawhid can only be practiced and represented with all my body, where this body, just like anything physical, is not the object of worship at all.
These Quranic verses are full of meaning. The pilgrimage is my practice of Tawhid, the symbolic representation of the Absoluteness of God. That is to say, my body must turn to the Ka’ba, qibla (tawhid direction). With this, the body will remember in terms of the conditions of this physical world, that Ka’ba is the place where the founder of the belief in tawhid expressed his declaration about his reality. I am now able to have this knowledge from the historical context available through Torah narrations that Abraham was the representer of Oneness in God.
The way the Quran speaks is that it introduces the Absolute world (ghaib) to us, and the Absolute world is presented to us via similes and parables (as mentioned earlier on page 3). That is the only way of making tawhid (Absoluteness of God) understandable to the human mind and then this understanding will be transferred to the human feelings and heart. As a result, the human soul will feel at peace.
Ka’ba is sacred not because of Prophet Abraham as a person, rather the prayer (declaring/expressing Absoluteness of God) of Abraham was performed in this physical place Ka’ba. Whoever enters Ka’ba or the tawhid world, finds inner peace.
- Inner peace is only possible (amniya) when the human soul and feelings are put on the right way (fitting to their expectations) i.e. when the real guidance is provided.
Life goes from Abraham establishing tawhid and representing the house of worship (Ka’ba) and Abraham standing to pray there, to put the message of tawhid in a physical form while he was praying. How did he pray? We do not know about the physical mechanics of that, but what we know is that he performed his prayer there. Now, at the very end of one’s establishment of tawhid in one’s practical life, the subject comes to pilgrimage/hajj.
- In this worship of God alone (tawhid) and practicing the understanding of tawhid in your life, one finds inner peace.
Let’s expand our example from above (on page 4). There is a historic city in Spain and Jane wants to go there because of its history and interest in architecture. When you go to a place, you go around the city to experience all kinds of beautiful architecture. And so, Jane goes to the city in Spain where art is manifested, and she takes on the journey from where she is physically. However, her interest, mind and feelings are for the love of architecture. Since Jane’s heart is full of love for art, her body turns to that historical place in Spain.
- Similarly, when you go to Ka’ba, what do you do? You turn to qibla i.e. we must remember that we are on the journey to tawhid, that is our destination. As I reach the destination (tawhid), that is my purpose of life.
- I would feel peace in tawhid and tawhid is represented in the physical world by worshipping God alone through performing prayers.
Each prayer we perform must be an intent to go to tawhid and find peace there: We say I was busy with this world and busy with my physical needs and was forgetting about the need of my spirit by ignoring my heart. That is how we are, but our heart must be seeking the signs of tawhid everywhere and then we must gather our conclusion and present it to our Creator. That is what the daily prayers represent i.e. my conclusion to God (who is the Creator of this world and myself), here is what I conclude.
While I am doing this (prayer), I shouldn’t forget that the message which carries the speech of God is presented to me through a physical man who is employed to spread and convey this message to people through a human voice and represents the content of the message in the form of a human body (the messenger that carries the message). In this world, we cannot separate our transactions including the prayers and how we develop the concept of tawhid, which has nothing to do with the matter but can only be reached out through matter.
- My spirit functions through the body and the speech of God functions through the body of the Prophet.
Tawhid functions through the place that Abraham stood to realize and make it real in physical terms through Ka’ba. That is why Abraham (man/body/physical location/form) and tawhid (expressing/declaring Absoluteness) are so integrated with each other. In other words, you cannot say that I am worshiping God in my heart only. Can you taste the food in your heart without eating the food and thanking God who created the taste of the food in a miraculous way?
- Can you get your satisfaction by not eating the food and saying that I am satisfied with my spiritual experience of God’s providence? No, impossible!
We must worship in our physical form as well and the physical form must have meaning in it. We find peace in worship where Abraham stood and while I am performing my worship during hajj, I find peace as I experience Tawhid, which is represented by a building. Be careful, you are not there to worship a stone/building, rather you are there in physical form to worship the One who is represented (Absoluteness/tawhid). Otherwise, performing prayers becomes meaningless because one may say why should I turn to Ka’ba.
- Ka’ba makes the significance of everything in creation.
- Tawhid makes the significance of Ka’ba.
Tawhid is represented through Abraham, who is a physical being, but the message is not a physical being. When the body becomes dysfunctional, we say that man lost his life. Life is the quality of my physical existence. When my body loses its power of functioning that is called death, and “death” means that my spirit cannot use my body anymore and my spirit leaves this physical world because the spirit cannot function without physical means.
- That is why, “death” is not equal to losing life only, but “death” is the spirit and life leaving the body because the body is not functioning anymore. That is how the order of the universe is arranged. Our spirit is not subject to time changes and physical boundaries/limitations because it is directly from God.
The spirit is put in this body within the condition of this existence because we are created beings and thus cannot be Absolute. Only the Absolute can be free from the restrictions of this physical form.
- Absolute is nothing like this world, but this world points to its necessary existence.
Every creature in existence has a different form. That is why the Quran speaks about jinn, created out of the flame. When the candle wick burns, at the tip of the wick the flame looks so fine that we may not see the flame there but on the top, we see the flame. Jinn is said to have been created from the unnoticed part of the flame. That is why “Jiin” means “covered” because the origin of this word means to “cover”. Hence, “Jinn” means a creature that is covered from the sight of human eyes. Jinn is not something physically visible to the eye but is still created out of something (appropriate to the conditions of this world) unlike the human body created out of clay. We all know that, for instance, energy exits but we do not see it with our physical eyes. God’s creation has myriad kinds, Jinn is only one of them.
In the hereafter, are we not going to be given another physical body? Yes, we are. If we are going to be created, then we must be given another type of physical existence as well so that my soul will function through that physical means as. The Quran gives the news that everything will be alive in a living form in the new kind of creation in the hereafter, i.e., one can imagine the life standards that I experience here will be upgraded to one stage higher. If you want to compare the hereafter to this life, then the “material” existence we know from our experiences of existence in this world will become like an arboreal, animate and animal life (birds, tree, cat…) communicating with you. Example: When you ask the tree to come to you, the tree will understand and come. That will be to the degree that you develop your human side here; prepare yourself for a higher degree of existence.
In the hereafter, it is as if the human body will become like the soul and the soul will become like something upgraded/higher. What type? We don’t know. That is why we cannot imagine the hereafter.
- We can only say that the spirit cannot be restricted to this universe only, neither can we say that we will become Absolute. We are not God! We are created beings!
- In the new creation, I must experience my life conditions according to my reality here i.e. a created being together with a kind of physical form.
While I am on earth and my spirit is operating in my body, I have to pray with my body and turn to the representation of tawhid to remember Him and the journey of life will be towards the qibla/destination, which is the home of my soul, tawhid represented on earth as Ka’ba where Abraham established tawhid.
- We must practice hajj for this purpose.
We must go on hajj, however, nowadays, these concepts of hajj have faded away. One can only make hajj alone; it is hard to accompany someone else spiritually. The body is there with others but everyone’s understanding, and experience of hajj is different. There may be some people that share the same spiritual connection as far as the understanding of the meaning of hajj pertaining to my existence is concerned. However, as far as my spirit is concerned, a 3-day practice of hajj seems short but to experience the meaning of hajj is worth one’s whole life.
Question: What does the 7 times rotation around the Ka’ba represent?
The numbers (5, 7, 9 or more) are the jurisprudence (fiqh) side of religion and we should in no way spoil that. Your destination is tawhid. Your body turns to Ka’ba all your life because you are on your journey to Ka’ba, every prayer is the step to reach the climax of tawhid. Turn around the belief in tawhid again and again towards your destination. It is as if I am tying up this understanding, making another knot saying that I am not going to get out of tawhid in my life, just keep it always upright, make another knot, turn around and make yet another knot.
- It is a confirmation over and over again: “I will not forget tawhid.
- Tawhid must be the center of my life; I will not get out of tawhid”.
While you are reciting the prayer in the circumambulation, your intention must be that I am promising repeatedly: “I am promising my God that I am not going to ignore the truth of tawhid in my life. I am requesting to please make me plan my life according to this concept of the message of Tawhid, just like your messenger Abraham (puh) who performed the worship of You in this place as a representation for later generations. So, I have received this message through the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and I am revitalizing it and strengthening it as much as possible for me.”
- It is as if you are making your covenant with God and making your signature under tawhid about your relationship with God by turning around Ka’ba, making tawaf.
Physical form of any worship such as hajj and prayer, giving charity or zakat must be necessary. And so, when God sends a poor needy person to you, God sends it to you to show you how to practice tawhid physically by giving zakat: The real owner of this property is God alone, not nature or accident.
- Everything is physically practiced!
If you conclude that I belong to the Absolute Being and I am satisfied with this understanding, my feelings are at peace with this understanding and my boss is this Absolute Eternal Being that I conclude (belief), that is securing the inner peace (amniya).
- When I say this in my understanding, I must also say it with my tongue (lailaha illahu). Just like I eat some fruit to experience the taste, I need to express my understanding with words. If I don’t say it with my tongue I will not be performing my duty as a complete human being. On the practical side, I will not be recognized as a believer in God and may not be treated by Islamic jurisprudence in this world as a member of the believers’ community.
We should not separate belief from its physical performance/practice/good deeds (‘amal). Anything that I declare must be physically experienced as well. Praying with the body and joining the community/congregation in physical form is the practical side of one’s belief. It does not diminish the value of your spiritual experiences.
- Making the covenant/testimony/shahada again and again that you believe in One God and confirming it again and again means the circumambulation (tawaf) of Ka’ba in physical form. That is why we go to hajj and make tawaf.
- All these rituals are a matter of training one’s spirit.
Finally, I have to be conscious of what I am doing while praying or performing any act of worship. The very last command of God to practice (in physical form) is the hajj. It is the climax of my worship, the physical performance of my belief in this world. That is why hajj is only mandated once in your life i.e. you can reach the highest point only once in your life. However, the five daily prayers are the training to get to the highest point (hajj) in our daily life by practicing from sunrise to sunset.
- We must repeat, reconfirm belief in tawhid (keeping the covenant with God alive) at all times.