The Mysteries of the Pilgrimage

In the Mysteries of the Pilgrimage (Kitab asrar al-hajj), book 7 of the forty books of the Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya' 'ulum al-din), Abu hamid al-Ghazali discusses the fundamentals and inner meanings of the pilgrimage, including its pillars, preconditions, and obligations. The book begins with an introduction on the merits of the pilgrimage and its rewards. Al-Ghazali explains the Qur'anic statement announcing the pilgrimage: And proclaim to the people the pilgrimage; they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel; they will come from every distant pass— that they may witness benefits for themselves and mention the name of God on known days over what He has provided for them of [sacrificial] animals. So eat of them and feed the miserable and poor [22:27– 28]. In chapter 1, al-Ghazali enumerates the merits and the profound significance of Mecca and Medina, the sacred mosque, the black stone, and the Ka'ba. In the next chapter, he explains the outward actions, from the beginning of the journey until the return home. In the concluding chapter, he details the rules of conduct and inward practices, lessons to be gained, reflections and insights regarding their mysteries, and its inner meaning, from the beginning of the pilgrimage to its end. By symbolically linking the actions of the pilgrimage to events of daily life, al-Ghazali ultimately reveals its true meaning. Abu hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111) was a leading scholar, jurist, and theologian of the golden age of Islam, and he remains its truest advocate in modern times. As a teacher of both inward and outward faith, he recorded these practical teachings in his forty-book compendium of Islamic knowledge.