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Lessons from Tawaf of the Ka‘bah and walking between Safa and Marwah

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 14 July 2023

“And when We pointed to Abraham the place of the House, saying: Do not set up any partner with Me, and purify My House for those who make circuits and stand to pray and bow and pros­trate themselves.” — ch. 22, v. 26

وَ اِذۡ بَوَّاۡنَا لِاِبۡرٰہِیۡمَ مَکَانَ الۡبَیۡتِ اَنۡ لَّا تُشۡرِکۡ بِیۡ شَیۡئًا وَّ طَہِّرۡ بَیۡتِیَ لِلطَّآئِفِیۡنَ وَ الۡقَآئِمِیۡنَ وَ الرُّکَّعِ السُّجُوۡدِ ﴿۲۶﴾

“The Safa and the Marwah are truly among the signs of Allah; so whoever makes a pilgrimage to the House or pays a visit (to it), there is no blame on him if he goes round them. And whoever does good spontaneously — surely Allah is Bountiful in rewarding, Knowing.” — ch. 2, v. 158

اِنَّ الصَّفَا وَ الۡمَرۡوَۃَ مِنۡ شَعَآئِرِ اللّٰہِ ۚ فَمَنۡ حَجَّ الۡبَیۡتَ اَوِ اعۡتَمَرَ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَیۡہِ اَنۡ یَّطَّوَّفَ بِہِمَا ؕ وَ مَنۡ تَطَوَّعَ خَیۡرًا ۙ فَاِنَّ اللّٰہَ شَاکِرٌ عَلِیۡمٌ ﴿۱۵۸﴾

These verses relate to the performance of some of the ceremonies of the pilgri­mage to Makkah, which this year took place at the end of June. The first verse mentions the making of circuits around the Ka‘bah. It contains commands given to Abraham, which are also meant for the Holy Prophet Muhammad. It is well known that going around the Ka‘bah, or Ṭawāf, is done as a part of the pilgrimage and also as part of the minor pilgrimage known as ‘Umrah, or the visit. The second verse I recited refers to act of the pilgrim going briskly between the two small hills near the Ka‘bah, known as the Safa and the Marwah. Although this act is called sa‘y, but the word Ṭawāf is used for it as well, here in the Quran and also in Hadith (for example, Bukhari, hadith 1643).

Thinking about the act of making circuits around the Ka‘bah, we may reflect that in the universe around us everywhere we see this kind of motion, where a small object or body goes around a large object or body. The earth is going around the sun, taking one year to go around once. The moon is going around the earth, taking just over 27 days to go around the earth once. You are surprised to hear 27 days? It looks to us from the earth as if the moon takes between 29 and 30 days to go around the earth once. But to us it looks like 29 or 30 days because we ourselves on earth are moving around the sun and our position is changing. As an example, suppose a friend informs you that he is a 27 minute walk from where you are. You walk in his direction for 27 minutes, but you find he is not there because he himself was walking further along slowly, and you have to walk two or three more minutes to reach him. Leaving that point of detail aside, there are also planets which, like the earth, are going around the sun, and many planets have their own moons which go around them. Moreover, in the last sixty years, human beings have developed rockets which can place satellites in orbit around the earth and even around the moon and other planets. Once a satellite is placed in orbit and its engines have given it the required speed, it no longer needs an engine to keep it going round. It goes around by itself, just as there is nothing which is pushing the earth to make it continue to go around the sun, and nothing is pushing the moon to make it continue to go around the earth. You can say that a balance and a harmony has been achieved between the two bodies. The earth is moving at a speed in a direction at a right angle to the sun, like it is trying to pass the sun to one side, but the sun is pulling the earth back towards itself. The net result is that the earth just goes round and round the sun. Neither can the earth get away from the sun and move freely away from it, nor can the sun pull the earth right into itself.

It seems that our circuits of the Ka‘bah represent the same sort of harmony. The pilgrim walks with the Ka‘bah to his or her left. His walking represents what we do in this world for our physical existence and welfare. But Allah pulls us back from becoming completely free to carry on our worldly works, so our walk is not in one direction but it is inclined towards Allah. Of course, Allah only pulls us back if we accept to be pulled towards Him. The bodies in space have no choice. The earth has no choice but to let the sun pull it towards itself and as a result its motion bends to make it go round the sun forever. The moon has no choice but to let the earth pull it towards itself and as a result its motion bends to make it go round the earth forever. We humans, on the other hand, do have the choice whether or not to accept the pull coming from Allah and therefore bend our motion towards Him, while conducting our worldly lives. We are told in the Quran that “to Him submits whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly” (3:83) and “And whoever is in the heavens and the earth makes submission (or performs sajdah) to Allah only, willingly and unwillingly” (13:15). Things in nature, like the sun, the earth and the moon, follow the laws of Allah with no choice and no involvement of their will. Human beings ought to do the same but it is left to their choice and their will.

Allah does not live in the Ka‘bah and we cannot get near Him by going near to the Ka‘bah. The Quran relates the incident that when Moses went to communicate with God, he asked: “My Lord, show me (Yourself) so that I may look at You” (7:143). God told him: “You cannot see Me”. Then God said to him: Look at the mountain, I will project Myself on it, or display My glory on it, and if it remains in its place then you will have seen me. But, the verse says, that when God projected His glory on the mountain the mountain crumbled and Moses fainted. So it is not only that we are unable to see God, but even if God projected Himself on a powerful physical object, to make that object reflect and display the light of God, that object would crumble. God is not present physically inside the Ka‘bah, nor can we see a projection of Him on its walls. The pilgrim is going round the Ka‘bah to express that the direction of his worldly behaviour will always be inclining towards the teachings revealed by the Lord of the Ka‘bah.

It is interesting to note that in the orbiting bodies, such as the earth orbiting the sun, or the moon and the satellites orbiting the earth, if somehow the orbiting object slowed down a lot it would head straight towards the body that it is going round, for example, the earth would head straight towards the sun. And then the orbiting object would be completely destroyed. This does actually happen sometimes with man-made earth satellites which fall back to earth. Likewise, if somehow a person could reach Allah physically in the Ka‘bah, he would be destroyed by the experience. The walk of the pilgrim around the Ka‘bah expresses that we want to live a normal life in this world, but a life in which we turn to Allah all the time.

Then there is the going between the Safa and the Marwah. This appears to be different from a circular movement, since we go straight in one direction, from Safa to Marwah, and then turn round completely and go straight from Marwah to Safa. In the subject known as applied mathematics, also called mechanics, two of the basic types of motions which are studied are circular motion and what is called oscillatory motion. Oscillatory motion is where, like a pendulum, you swing or bounce between two points. You go from one end to the other in a line, stop and come back to the starting point, like on a swing. The walking between Safa and Marwah might express that we should always remain between limits defined by Allah. Abraham’s wife Hajira knew that she had to remain within those limits while searching for water for her and her baby.

Another interpretation can be that the walking between the Safa and the Marwah represents a desire and longing by us to search for knowledge and truth in order to quench our intellectual and spiritual thirst and to feed our next generation with the same life-giving water. Hajira was anxiously running up to one hill, looking all around from it to see if she could spot anything as far as she could see to help her to find water for her and the baby Ishmael, and then she would run across to the other hill and look all around from there. We can learn the lesson that we should run to look for sources of knowledge as far as we can see, so that we may drink of it and give it to our next generation to drink, without which we all die intellectually and spiritually.

So may Allah enable us to learn these and other permanent lessons to apply in our lives, ameen.

 

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