The unshakeable hope of a ḥaji

Mālik bin Dīnār رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه was a reputed saint, brimful with love for Allah and His Messenger. He once recalled:

Allah honoured me with the privilege of performing ḥajj consecutively for 14 years. For every year I went to Makkah, I beheld a man grasping the Kaʿbah’s door. Whenever he recited talbiyyah (لَبَّيْك اَللّٰھُمَّ لَبَّيْك), a voice would echo from the unseen, لَا لَبَّيْك (your talbiyyah is not accepted). After witnessing this for 14 years, I finally asked, “O dervish! Are you unable to hear? Can you not hear the sound of لَا لَبَّيْك?”

The man issued a response drenched in love and devotion. “O shaykh”, he exclaimed, “These are but 14 years. If I were to live for fourteen thousand years, and لَا لَبَّيْك was said to me a thousand times a day instead of once a year, I shall still not leave nor lift my head from this door. It is here I shall stay.”   

As I conversed with him, a piece of paper fell from the sky and landed upon his chest. He took hold of it and handed it to me. It read, “O Mālik bin Dīnār! You distance My slave from Me. Do you believe I have not accepted the 14 ḥajj he performed? The matter is not as such. I have accepted the ḥajj of every pilgrim during this time, simply due to the blessings of his cries.”^[1]

O those who love Allah’s Messenger! The days of ḥajj draw near. There are many who have received the good news that they are the fortunate ones blessed with the opportunity to make ḥajj this year. They are now busy preparing for this, whilst others are already set to depart. Flights