Carrying a New Responsibility
Hassan Adawi, Arab News Staff

In their newly gained status as “Hajis”, pilgrims begin
their journey home after completing the stoning in Mina,
the last most important ritual of Haj. (AN photo by Essam
Al-Ghalib)

MINA, 4 February 2004 — Forty-two-year-old Aminu Dayyabu is
a teacher in Nigeria’s Katsina state. Basking in the bright
morning sun in the tent city on the last day of Haj, he was
relaxed and exuded an air of spirituality.

“Ever since I came back from the plain of Arafat, I have
been in a state of excitement. So many people wearing the
same clothes, reciting the same talbiyah, doing the same
thing, imploring the same God, crying their hearts out.
Unbelievable!” Aminu said.

“This is my first Haj and I had no idea how powerful these
symbols of Islam were. We saw on television what happens
during Haj but television does not give you any idea about
what actually happens on the ground. The reality is totally
different. It is when we come here that we realize how
fragile and insignificant we are. Just one speck on the
vast earth,” he said.

Aminu counts himself lucky in that “not many people in my
country can afford to undertake this journey but when it
comes to faith, we are the equal of any other Muslim. I
will be treated like a celebrity when I go back to my
village. I will have a new status. Every step that I take
from now will be looked at. There will be great pressure on
me not to go astray. And then those in my village will come
to me with all their problems. Everybody will go by what I
say. That is how it is in my country. Haj puts a big
responsibility on us.”

Aminu is saddened by the divisions that wrack the Muslim
Ummah, the community of believers. “I can’t understand why
we don’t unite to take on our enemies. Remember the fable
of a father with four sons. United we stand divided we
fall, and we are suffering. Our contribution to the 21st
century is minimal or, let me say, non-existent. What have
we given the world? We have not even projected the correct
image of Islam. We are a quarrelsome community and once
every year we come together in Haj to renew our faith. But
there is more to Haj. The message of Haj is unity. Not only
on the plain of Arafat but beyond it as well.”







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