A Christian writer named "Venusen" writes about the Hajj of Christians:
"Arab lexicographers have interpreted Hajj as "intention", and this is the same as the meaning of Hajj in the eyes of (Christians). Moreover, its idiomatic meaning is the same as in the Arabic word "mustlah", and it seems that the substance and meaning of this word in the Semitic words of the North and South are the same as "to circumambulate and go around". (1)
In the distorted Bible, there is no word called Hajj, but only mentions festivals in which they celebrate and rejoice, and they mention God the Father and God the Son (Christ), who, in their belief, is composed of the "divine spirit" and "human creation". Therefore, Christianity is polytheistic and their religion cannot be called monotheistic, but rather dualism or trinity dominates their beliefs.
The place where God the Son was born is considered one of their holy places. The place where they believe Jesus was crucified is their other holy place. Wherever Jesus prayed or he or his mother, the Virgin Mary, appeared, it has been given the title of holy. In short: every place or every time, where this appearance and manifestation has been manifested or with whomever he has met, has become a subject of holiness and a place of pilgrimage and annual ceremonies, and each has been declared a feast day by the Gospel. In any case, what is seen in Christianity is not something that existed in the early religion of Jesus. (2)
Regarding the Hajj and the early religion of Christianity, it can be said that Jesus (peace be upon him) was also among the prophets who responded to the call of Abraham, the friend of God (peace be upon him). When he gave the order of God to perform Hajj.
Jesus (peace be upon him) was one of the most determined prophets and he knew that the call of Abraham was universal and not specific to a particular law, but rather included all heavenly religions and all prophets and messengers and was a general duty for all those entrusted with it.
As the narrations are used, all prophets came to perform Hajj to the House of God. These narrations, which were narrated from the Holy Prophet and the Imams (peace be upon them), emphasize that Jesus, the son of Mary, the Spirit of God, came to the honorable Kaaba and performed Hajj to the House of God. It is narrated from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that he said: By the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad (peace be upon him), the son of Maryam passed through the pass of Ruha while raising his voice to say Labaik and set out for Hajj or Umrah, or both. (3)
And it is narrated from Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "Jesus, son of Maryam, passed through the pages of Ruha while saying: Labaik! Your servant and the son of Your slave girl! Labaik." (4)
About the time of the pilgrimage of the prophets, including Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him), to the Ancient House. Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Rida (peace be upon him) says: “The time of Hajj was the ten days of Dhul-Hijjah… and those prophets are: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jesus, Moses and Muhammad (peace be upon them) and other prophets who performed Hajj to the House of God during this period of time, and this became the Sunnah for their descendants until the Day of Judgment.” (5) Thus, the Hajj of Jesus, who is one of the most powerful prophets, cannot be opposed to the Hajj of other prophets or to the fact that he and his followers chose Jerusalem or another place for their Hajj.
Hajj In the Jewish religion, the Jews engage in various forms of pilgrimage, and for this purpose they travel to various places. Each sect has chosen a special path for itself, and on special holidays, they perform the pilgrimage to those places, and they perform the ceremony with their own religion, teachings, beliefs, and special commands and prohibitions.
The idea of Hajj is not new for the Jews, but has a long history. Those Jews who followed the religion of Abraham (peace be upon them) performed the pilgrimage to the Sacred House of God, and those who were from the Semitic tribes performed the pilgrimage to temples, shrines, buildings, relics, and graves of the dead (6) where they performed the Hajj ceremony. It seems that the Jewish Hajj was a religious duty that the Torah made obligatory upon them.
We read in one of the writings: “The pilgrimage to one of the temples is an ancient Semitic custom, which is even mentioned as a religious duty in the older parts of the Pentateuch. In the “Exodus,” chapter twenty-three, paragraph fourteen, it is stated: “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me,” and in the thirty-third verse of the thirty-fourth chapter it is stated: “Three times in the year all men shall appear before the great God, the God of Israel.” And in the Arabian lands there were also many places where ceremonies such as the presence at Arafat were performed.” (7) On each of the three feasts, Jewish sects performed the pilgrimage to certain places. On the day of "Istighfar" (Eid al-Mazal) (8), they would perform Hajj to Mount Sinai, and on the day of "Passover" they would go to Bayt al-Maqdis, and on the days of "Esther" and "Eid al-Baran" and... to other places.
However, from research and examination in the Torah, we do not find a specific place where Hajj is mentioned as a divine command from the mouth of their prophet, Hazrat Moses (peace be upon him). And the question is: Did God not make Hajj to a specific place obligatory for the Jews, or did the narrators and writers of the religious texts of the Torah omit it, or did they distort it, as is well-known among the Jewish people who distorted the Torah?!
This is because the places of Hajj have become numerous and the Jews would travel to different places on annual holidays, and they called each place of worship "Bayt" which was the place where their Hajj was held at different times. For example, in "Beit al-Maqdis" "Beit El" "Beit Avon" which was near Beit El and "Beit Asl" in Judah and "Beit Hur" near Jerusalem and "Beit Hajin" in the birthplace of Jesus - peace be upon him - in "Bethlehem" and "Beit Hashta" and other houses whose number is long and we can refer to the Holy Bible in the New and Old Testaments where it is recorded.
Regarding the time of the Jewish pilgrimage, "Dr. Hassan Zaza" writes: "The times in which they perform the pilgrimage coincide with their festivals and these are three times:
- Passover, which occurs in the spring and lasts seven days and begins on the fifteenth day of Nisan in the Jewish calendar.
- "Harvest Festival" or "Weeks" (Shabu'ot) which lasts one day and coincides with the sixth day of the month of Sivan in the Jewish calendar which is in early summer (June).
- "Eid Dhul-Hijjah" (Sarakut), which lasts for eight days and falls in the fall and begins on the fifteenth day of the Jewish month of "Tishreen". The three seasons mentioned are called the three Eids, during which Hajj is recommended and is accompanied by many charities. (9)
The Hajj of Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) It is necessary and appropriate to know how Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) performed Hajj.
When we follow the news, narrations and hadiths from the noble Sunnah, we will see that Moses, the pious, performed Hajj to the ancient House of Allah, like the previous prophets, performed Tawaf and recited Talbiyah, in the same way that his fathers and forefathers, who were messengers of truth and followers of heavenly commands, performed Hajj.
This is something that the narrations of the Prophets' Hajj emphasize, and we will mention a few:
Ibn Abbas said: "We were in the presence of the Messenger of God - may God bless him and grant him peace - and we were traveling the distance between Mecca and Medina when we came to a valley. The Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - said: What is the name of this valley? They replied: "The Wadi Azraq." He said: "It is as if I see Moses (peace be upon him) passing through this valley with long hair, with his fingers in his ears and reciting the Talbiyah of Hajj, and his voice was like the voice of the Hajj of Mecca and the Kaaba." (10)
It is also narrated from Hazrat Abu Ja'far al-Baqir (peace be upon him) that he said: "Moses ibn Imran (peace be upon him) passed through the Ruha'a Pass with a group of seventy prophets for the purpose of Hajj, while he said: "To your Lord, your servant, is your servant." (11)
It is also narrated from the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) that: "Moses (peace be upon him) entered the state of Ihram from the desert of Egypt and passed through the Al-Safahiyah of Ruha'a in the state of Ihram. He was riding a camel whose harness was made of date leaves, and he was wearing two white garments, reciting the Talbiyah, and the mountains surrounded him. They would accompany him in the Talbiyah.”(12)
It is also narrated from Imam Sadiq (a.s.) that he said: “The Prophet Moses (a.s.) passed through the sheets of the Spirits and rode on a red-haired camel whose reins were made of date leaves and he wore two short (white) robes and said: Labbayk, ya Karim Labbayk.”(13)
Footnotes:
- Islamic Encyclopedia, Orientalists Group 7: 304.
- (Because the religion that he himself brought was a monotheistic religion, but Christianity is not based on monotheism. Everything that is sanctified is based on its attribution to the person of Christ, not to the God of Christ.)
- Musnad Ahmad, with a slight difference, vol. 2, pp. 240, 272, and 290.
- Allama Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, Dar Ihya al-Turat al-Arabi, Beirut, vol. 99, p. 185 and Kafi, vol. 4, p. 213, chapter Hajj al-Anbiya. . .
- Ibid. and Wasa’il al-Shi’ah, Hurr Amili, Muhammad. Wasa’il al-Shi’ah, Qom, Aal al-Bayt Institute, 1409 AH, vol. 11, p. 274.
- An article with this title in issue 39 of the quarterly magazine “Miqa