by Aijaz Manzoor
In the words of Imam Ghazali, “Hajj is the perfection of Islam. “Ding.”
How to negotiate What is the validity of faith and its relationship to the transcendent in what philosopher Charles Taylor aptly described as a “secular age”—an age in which non-belief, or anti-belief, has become not only an alternative mode of existence but also a personal preference that cannot be denied, protected, and respected?
How can a metaphysics of meaning defined solely by its relationship to absolute reality be understood in an era when “encountering God” outside of a defined private space can be exposed to accusations of disturbing the secular ethos of a public sphere characterized by a “distancing” from faith and the practices that accompany it?
In an age of metaphysical and spiritual poverty and limited epistemological insight, how can the rituals of faith communicate their fundamental essence and importance without being accused of nothing more than the fanatical preservation and adherence to meaningless practices?
Practice Hajj Firmly Rooted The ritual is manifold in the theological, political and metaphysical realms of Islamic terminology, but dogmatic insistence on any particular aspect in elucidating its meaning reduces it either to a theological essence incompatible with any philosophical construction, or to sporadic political excitement that robs it of its inexhaustible potential for spiritual exaltation and excellence.
Unfortunately, prominent Muslim discourse on the Hajj and its significance tends to oscillate between these two extreme positions, neither of which ultimately fails to convey the true essence of the practice. As the Hajj is a practice associated with the Prophet Ibrahim, the father of most Semitic religions, the usual Islamic theological discourse does not go beyond describing the Hajj as a commemoration of the “great trial” that God put Ibrahim through by demanding the sacrifice of his beloved son Ismail, or as a fearful and voluntary escape from the bitter memories of the seemingly irreparable political misfortunes of the Muslim world, treating it as the largest transcendental political complex on earth in Islamist interpretive discourse on Islam.
Aesthetics is the innate human tendency towards beauty (Jamal) In any way, Hajj or Hajj It is simply the legal expression of a relationship defined by some command of law. A necessary presence Reportedly Accidental existence Mere submission? But the larger question is whether the Islamic faith is in any way accommodating to human aesthetic desires. For those who see Islam as a “doctrified faith” like Judaism, or as a faith with a pedantic, legalistic orientation and polemics, the only possible relationship between Islam and aesthetics is one of permanent incompatibility and hostility.
Unlike the “Faith of Love,” Islam demands strict formalistic dogma and ritualistic obedience from its followers, but such obedience is part of a larger divine plan for the realization of human aesthetic aspirations, the ritual of the hajj forming the culmination of the realization of such aspirations.
In the words of Imam Ghazali, “Hajj is The completion of Islam “Ding.” This concept of perfection of the Imam is based entirely on the clear passage of the Quran: “This Day I have perfected for you your religion, completed My blessings upon you, and confirmed for you Islam as a religion.”Al-Qur’an (5:3) Perfection in any sphere of human life cannot be achieved without aesthetics being an essential element. Every Islamic ritual is Salat, Zakat, Ramadan, Playing a vital role in the completion process DingThe rituals of Hajj are distinctive in that they enable believers to go beyond universality and morality and understand the actual source of all beauty and beauty.
Seeing the hippopotamus is nothing less than an aesthetic experience; it is an experience of seeing the way we see God, and it is simply beautiful. The hippopotamus is, in the words of Martin Lings, “a symbol of the center of our being,” and facing the hippopotamus represents an experience of “reintegrating our fragmented, finite, individual selves into the infinite God Himself,” that is, embracing the beauty of God.
But to experience Hajj The aesthetic experience of God calls man to become a “knight of faith” when he does not simply give up on the world, but understands that true faith lies in believing in contradictions and impossibilities, like Ibrahim, who believed that God demanded that he sacrifice his son, but at the same time believed that God would not let him sacrifice his son.
It arises when we understand that we have an absolute duty to God. In fulfilling that duty, there is, in Kierkegaard’s words, a “teleological suspension of ethics,” a situation in which “we do not determine our relationship to the universal through our relationship to the absolute, but rather we determine our relationship to the universal through our relationship to the absolute.”
In the words of Maulana Manazir Ahsan Gilani, “the quest for eternal and absolute beauty is the essence of the hajj.” But the achievement of such a quest depends on a larger requirement: absolute obligation to God, absolute faith in Him. A chance confrontation.
(The author is an Assistant Professor and teaches Political Science at Government Degree College (Women), Pulwama. Ideas are personal.)
