The Hajj of our Hearts
A Global Conference for the 2020 Hajj in Quarantine
As 2020 continues to unfold the Center for Global Muslim Life is creating conversations using technology to bring Muslim communities together and to research our rapidly changing world. We have joined with LaunchGood who has more than 12,000 people taking part in their Dhul Hijjah Challenge to create this 10 day program, the Hajj of our Hearts - Impacting the World in the 10 Most Blessed Days of the Year.
In the vast tradition of Islam, the idea of migration (Hijra) is thought of in two primary ways. The first is as the Prophet Muhammads ﷺ hijrah from Mecca to Medina, which marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. Despite this being the most well known Hijra, the most important migration for each of our lives is our Hijra to Allah. This is a life long journey with many great milestones that can be seen as making up the steps along this path, our birth, our childhood, our maturation, and full responsibility within the pillars of Islam that marks the beginning of our spiritual journey in the path of our faith, the growth of our families through marriage and children, and the decline of our families through the realities of death. Of all these milestones in this migration to Allah through the struggles of this worldly life as a Muslim, one of the greatest of these realities is the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. A journey of a lifetime that each soul yearns to take and a reality that many people may never get to experience.
This year our world has changed in ways that many of us could have never expected with this global pandemic that has taken the lives of our family members, of our friends, of our beloved scholars, and medical professional frontliners around the world. For most of us for the first time in our lives we have not prayed in congregation or experienced the sweetness of Jummah prayer, or even entered a Mosque in months. So this year, those who had planned for years to go on Hajj have had to submit to the will of Allah that this is not possible as Hajj is closed to everyone outside of Saudi Arabia.
Many have stated that this past Ramadan was the greatest Ramadan of their lives, as each of us were within our quarantine, our forced khalwa (retreat) from our daily busyness that comes with most Ramadans. As we reflect on Hajj this year, the reality is we still have these blessed days of Dhul Hijjah, which Allah has told us are the 10 most blessed days of the years. How do we journey to Allah in these days and have the Hajj of our Hearts as we pray for healing and transformation in our world. In reflecting on this we have partnered with LaunchGood to create a global convening about this idea of the Hajj of our Hearts. Check out the schedule for the ten day program below.
