The Hajj

Today's topic if you know is called the hedge. And we have a very special guest with us today here at Mecca one. Mom's a chucker, who is currently a scholar at the zaytuna Institute in Hayward, California. And he's joining us today to help us on this very important topic. One of our Pillars of Islam, one of the five pillars of Islam, titled the Hajj. And obviously, we know that right now is the HUD season. And without further ado, I'd like to give a warm welcome and Islam Welcome to my mom's a song when they come

to LA, he will borrow cattle, how are you doing? And hamdulillah I cannot complain. I mean, we have

in the wake of the tsunami and the tremendous and just mind boggling devastation that a lot of people in and around the Indian Ocean are dealing with, I think it will be criminal for us to complain about anything. So to say hamdulillah hamdulillah.

I know we have a lot to cover in this short hour, which we have about him though we'll try to get as much as we can. today. As you know, the topic of discussion is the Hajj. And for those of us who are Muslim and some of us who are out there who are non Muslim, if you could please give us a little overview on this fifth pillar of Islam what it entails. So as we know, the Hajj, as you mentioned is one of the fundamental pillars of Islam, our Prophet, he said, amongst other things, peace and blessings of God be upon him. Borneo listener mala hums, Shahada, TN, in a hain la la, in a Mohammed and Rasulullah will karmis Allah, will you take care, or hudgell Beatty was Samia Ramadan. So Islam

is built on five pillars to testify, there's no God, but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish regular prayer, to pay the poor do to make pilgrimage to the house and fast the month of Ramadan. So pilgrimage to the sacred house, the house of God is a duty that all of humanity not just Muslims or to God, Abraham, who was instrumental in building erecting the Kaaba, along with his son his smile. And there's some traditions that even state it was built by Adam Ali Salaam, destroyed and then rebuilt by Abraham and his my, his son. So in any case,

in the court, and we read that God instructed Abraham, whatever then senesi bill Hodge, yet tuna, yet to carry jerilyn while akula dom it in your teen and unqualified Jin army, so he was instructed, proclaim the pilgrimage amongst humanity. So proclaim to humanity that they have a right over them to visit the house of God to visit their creators. House, and not that God lives there, far removed as he from such a thought, but that this was the first house the first edifice erected on the face of the earth, for the worship of one v one true God. So and the attribution of the house to God is to honor and noble, the house. In any case, Abraham, the tradition, or our Islamic tradition, state,

replied, how can I proclaim the call to all of humanity will my voice cannot travel to the far extents of the earth, and it's related that God had the mountains humbled themselves, and the earth was rendered flat in its entirety, and the voice of Abraham carry to every corner of the earth, and everyone alive and everyone to be born from the lineage of those who heard or heard the call. And at that time, those who are destined to respond, their response was sealed, if you will. So, all of humanity has this right to make the pilgrimage and as much

Thumbs, we've been instructed in those rights and there are a reenactment of universal prophetic history universal in the sense they're not just associated with rights that were established by our Prophet Muhammad. Peace and blessings of Almighty God be upon him, rather their reenacting rights associated with the life of Abraham, with the life of his smile of Ishmael, with the life of hotjar.

Hagar as an English rendered, and their struggle to establish themselves in that barren desert, and subsequently, the

traveling between the two hills searching for water, and in the rites we circumambulate, the house, the sacred house, we run between the hills, reenacting the search for water, we actually,

the well of Zamzam that was covered over for a long time in the history of the area, now gives water and we drink of the well, we go out to the Mount of mercy and reenact the journey of Abraham to those precincts. So the entire Hodge is a reenactment of the struggle of our prophetic ancestors or those ancestors of ours, who are prophets. It's a preparation for death, if you will, in the sense that when we die, we leave our home, we leave our possessions, we leave our family members, we leave our wealth, we leave all of our worldly attachments, and Hodge is a reenactment of that journey to the Hereafter, if you will, we leave our homes, we leave our relatives, we leave our friends, we

leave our families, leave our worldly possessions behind. And we go to a far off land. And the old days, sometimes the journey would involve traveling a year or longer to reach the precincts. And then we wrap ourselves men, and two quite garments on sewn garments. And these are very similar to the burial shrouds, that we will wrap ourselves in. And then with no worldly distractions, because we're in a strange place. We're divorced from our family divorced from some familiar surroundings, we give ourselves to God. And this is what happens at our death, we wrap ourselves in our burial shrouds, and our souls are with God. There are no more worldly attachments at that point. And this

is a very powerful experience for us. Because one of the things that oftentimes limits our spiritual progress is that our soul is in familiar environments. And those familiar environs tie our sold soul to this world, and the chaining of our soul to the world to that which it is familiar with, that which it has become accustomed to, in many instances limits our spiritual progress and growth. So when we're at the Hajj in that unfamiliar environment, the spiritual realities of that are in existence, and that oftentimes you are oblivious to manifest themselves to us. So it's a very, very powerful experience, and there are other it's the greatest show of human brotherhood on Earth. Now,

there might be gatherings that are larger.

I don't know of any, but I'm sure some of the listeners can mention maybe the gathering of pilgrims at St. Peter's Basilica

for Christmas or Easter. But at the Hajj, not only are two or 3 million individuals gathered, but they represent literally

and fairly equal proportions. Every single race and ethnic group on the face of this earth. There are Muslims who come from China. Chinese Muslims are not Turkish Muslims, or turkey are Muslims of Turkish, lineage and descent living in the western part of China, but from

The Mandarin Chinese and other indigenous Chinese groups Vietnamese Muslims, Cambodian Muslims, Japanese Muslims, Filipino Muslims, Malay Muslims, Indonesian Muslims, and all the tribal and ethnic groups represented in those areas, Bengali Muslims, Pakistani Muslims, Indian Muslims Sri Lankan Muslim Mauldin is Muslims from Mauritius, from Madagascar from Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, South Africa, Central Africa, from Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon's meaning Ghana, Senegal, Gambia and everywhere in between North Africa, from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, all Muslims from all of these places, all of the tribal groups that are represented

races, ethnic groups, from the Arabian Peninsula from Qatar from the United Arab Emirates from our men from Yemen, north and south, from Iraq from Kuwait from Iran, from the Central Asian republics from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, from Tashkent, bokhara, Samarkand, and all of these areas Turkmenistan, Russia itself, Poland, Ukraine.

All of these areas there are Muslims they're both near Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Turkey, Muslims coming from Europe, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Scandinavian, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Great Britain, Ireland, the United States, Canada, South America, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Trinidad, Barbados, Aruba, naevus, Puerto Rico, Cuba and everywhere in between Muslims gather at Mecca during the Hajj in one brotherhood one sisterhood, reenacting a common set of rights. This is a powerful, powerful, powerful experience. And I could go on but I'm sure you have other questions. I'm gonna we're actually here today with the moms aide, talking about

the hedge and we're gonna take a short break and we'll be back here on macro one so keep listening when people will message one life mecho 11111 to help support macro on radio or to bring macro one radio to your city please visit us on the web at www dot macco one.org that's www.me ca o n e dot o rG mecho 1111. Well, Salaam Alaikum. This is Michael Wolf, author and filmmaker. And I just wanted to remind you that we're listening to Mecca one radio now. If you think you've seen your last moon you think you've seen the last sun. You think you may have taken your last walk on the beach? You're wrong. You'll have many more moons many more sons many more walks on the beach and every Thursday

you can tune in to Mecca one as well. mecho 1111102 Billahi min ash shaytani r rajim Bismillah Khan Rahim in the name of God the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious Welcome back to Mecca. One right here on this station 90.5 FM k s. j s. We've been here with our guest speaker and mom's a chucker from the zaytuna Institute talking about the hedge. And we went over a little overview of the hedge and the significance of it to Muslims all over the world. We've actually entered right now the first 10 days of dual hedger, if you could tell us a little bit about the virtues of this time that we've entered right now, right these days and even many Muslims, I think are unaware of the magnitude and

significance of these days. Our Prophet he said in one of his traditions related by me I best mela be pleased with him and his father who both were companions mehman am anomala sila houfy. Had a Habu Allah, been heavy am Jani am ash carlu your Rasul Allah well al Jihad with Isabella color well Jihad will feasability illa Illa Rajan cottage have enough see he will marry he from lm yada Jia min daddy cabbie shade. So and this

Tradition is rigorously authenticated, related by Mmm, elbow chhabi. So, the prophet said, in this tradition, if we can endeavor to render it into English, there are no days of the year in which righteous deeds done during them are more beloved to a law than these days referring to the first 10 days of the ledger. They said, not even struggling in the way of a law on messenger of Allah, he said, not even struggling in the way of a law on the Word of God, except for one type of struggle. And that is the struggle of a man who goes forth with his life and his wealth, and returns with neither. So a man who loses his life, and all of his wealth struggling in the way of God. Only that

action generally speaking is better than its reward than the deeds done during these days. So this is a tremendous opportunity that God has opened up for us to do tremendous good for our soul to store up a treasure of good deeds to be waiting for us, when we move on to the next life, so we should not neglect the magnitude of these days. Now, amongst the

things that magnify them further is that Allah, tala swears by these days and Allah in the Quran only swears by things of tremendous significance and import. So he says, Well, sajer Well, Al and ash, I swear by the dawn, and by the 10 nights, and these are the 10 nights of these first 10 days of the ledger.

And the strongest opinions. Another of the strongest opinion, rather, another thing that caught our attention to the virtues of these days is that these days contain the day of RF and the ninth of the ledger. And they contain what's referred to as your Manohar, or the day of sacrifice the 10th of the ledger, both of these days are of tremendous importance, especially the ninth of the ledger, the ninth of the ledger, is the only that day, individual day that the reward for fasting this day. And it's a voluntary fast, but we encourage all Muslims to undertake this fast is that it atone for the sins of the previous and the coming year.

And those are the lesser sins that the servant commits this year.

This day is also sworn by in several different places in the court. And so for example, many of the extra jets mentioned that the verse in locker n was similar to that elbow rouge will Yeoman our old was sure he didn't want my showed. So the witness and that which is witness, the showerhead is the knife of the hedgerow, Yama, Lada. And according to the strongest opinions, and the mesh hold is the day of Juma share hit one the mesh hood and last year, these two days actually coincided with each other. And I think we mentioned this at the time also.

There are other places where these days are mentioned, we have a lawful am maloom at

the ATM Malou met the well known days are these 10 days of the ledger.

So there are many, many references to these days. The wolf badger well, Al and Asher was Shafi will wet, the sheffey mentioned in the this verse is your melodica. So there there are many, many, many indications as to the import of these days. So it's very virtuous to fast these days and especially so for the ninth of the hedger the day,

that's identified as the day of artifacts especially virtuous, the fast the ninth of the hedger, the 10th, is forbidden to fast because that's the day of aid for those of us who have not gone on the pilgrimage, but the entire 10 have the virtue. So again, these are very, very significant days. There are many many indications of their significant

Against I'll mention one other and concerning the day of artifact. This is the day where a lot of Tyler liberates more people from the Hellfire than any other day. And those people liberated from the Hellfire, all of them deserve to be punished. And they're liberated. And the day they're rivals, this is the last night of Ramadan. And it said that it will fit there is a celebration of those who have been liberated from the Hellfire during Ramadan, and evil aha is a celebration for those who have been liberated from the Hellfire on the day of artha. So this is a blessed time. It's a time that whose sanctity we should elevate and exalt as Muslims is a time we should not be negligent.

It's a time for us to turn away from our worldly pursuits. So the core ends that we put on the shelves, the last night of Ramadan, let's take those core ends off the shelves. Let's reattach ourselves to the core end. And let's renew our enthusiasm for the vicar and four night prayer. Let's try to stay up some of these nights in worship. And again is the reward for this for these acts during these days are greater than the reward for similar acts done at any other time of the year. So these are just some things related to the these first 10 days of the hedger, which is our color hair. So should we ask the whole 10 days or is it last the first nine and especially the ninth, the

10th, as we mentioned for us who haven't gone on the hajus forbidden to fast because it's a and the evil odd ha the three days following which are called a Yama, Tashi, and it will fit on these five days, for the Muslim is forbidden to fast.

What are some virtues of performing the hajj, the virtues of the Hajj and the struggle involve, of course, the greatest virtues that there atonement for the sins of the servant. And that in and of itself, is the import of that is unmentionable, because everything that we do in this world

and everything we pursue in this world, no matter what it brings to us, in terms of worldly compensation, and renumeration, if it brings us wealth, if it brings us gold, if it brings us homes, beach homes and mountain chalets and or chateaus, or yachts, cars,

whatever compensation if we leave this world, carrying the burden of our sins,

then nothing in this world was worth it.

And if we leave this world, and we have no worldly possessions, we don't have any cars. We don't have any homes, neither in the mountains nor on the beach, nor even in the neighborhood across town. And we don't have large bank accounts and we have no safe deposit boxes filled with golden silver and precious jewels. We have none of that. But if we leave this world with our sins forgiven, then that's the greatest thing we can ask for. So the acceptable Hajj is an atonement for the sins of the servant. What is the recommended age one should perform the Hajj or when does it become incumbent even on a person to perform the Hajj at the age of puberty, the one Muslim who doesn't have sound

intellect, having reached the age of purity, who has the means it's incumbent for that individual to make the Hajj and the Shafi school is not incumbent to do it right away, but it becomes an obligation that's binding on the individual at that point.

So and to just emphasize the point, it is an extremely erroneous and dangerous idea to think, oh, I'll delay the Hajj until I'm old, old people go to Hajj. So when I'm old and I've wasted my energy, and my youth in the vigor of youth on rebellion against the law when

I'm Oh Lalo bayla at that point and at that time, I'll go to the Hajj. I'll start praying in the masjid with the congregation, I'll start petting my cat. Tomorrow is promised to no one.

And there's nothing in the teachings of Islam, as we mentioned that indicate Hajj is an obligation for elderly people only. So this is a very, very wrong way of looking at one of the most important pillars of our religion.

Could you tell us a little bit about the Qurbani or sacrifice that goes along with the performing of the Hajj, one of the rights that we

commemorate during the days of Hajj is the sacrifice of Abraham. So again, this is mentioned in the core n, that, and in the Bible, we say the son who was to be sacrificed with his smile. And

our as Muslims understanding of the biblical account

confirms that in that Abraham was ordered to sacrifice his only son. And the only time he had an only son was the firstborn, who was his my. And Isaac was born subsequently, to sorrow and his smile being born to hug her. And in the Bible, it says, and some might say, well, his smile was not a legitimate son, so his only legitimate son, but even in the biblical narration, we read and the exact wording are very close. And Sarah gave her maiden handmade, handmade in hajer, to Abraham to be his wife. That's the exact wording in the Bible. So he was she was his legitimate wife and his marine are Ishmael was his legitimate son. And that's who we believe, as Muslims, was the order to

sacrifice. Now, this was a tremendous test of his faith, because it occurred at an age right when he was at the age where a father can begin to impart some of the lessons he's learned in life to his son. So the Quran says the wording in the Quran falam Bella gamma Messiah, when he was reached the age when he was able to go around with them. So now he can take him on his trips and take him hunting and

spend private moments with him and his intellect is mature enough to begin to understand and comprehend the many lessons Abraham has the teach him right at that point, was really getting ready to have a very deep relationship with his son. He's told to sacrifice him and being obedient and the story. The Quranic narration of the story is very beautiful. For a number of reasons. One of the reasons is that it imparts several lessons to us as families that are very valuable. So in the Quranic narration, we mentioned for lemma, Balarama Messiah, college, Kalia boonie, in the RR filmen, m nd as bowel care found for meta Tara set edgy duni color certegy duni inshallah, and asabe

urien. So,

Abraham said to his mind,

I've seen in my dream that I, I've been shown in my dream I've seen in my dream, that I'm to sacrifice you, what do you think about that? So he consulted his child. Now, even though this was an order that he's received and his his dream from God. So it's not a light matter. It's not something

that's negotiable. Despite that, he had consultation with his son. And this is something we should endeavor to introduce into our family, our children, we shouldn't just impose orders on them. Rather, we should consult them and recognize their maturing minds, and the fact that we want them and their adulthood to carry the spirit of consultation which is a very important part of this num embouchure rabbanim. Their affairs are based on mutual consultation

In between them. So he consulted his son. This is a very valuable lesson. Now the son having heard this very disturbing news, he didn't respond by saying, for example, Dad, I'm too young to die. Why me?

and pitch a fit now, Eve Rahim. He's seen in his dream God has communicated with him. How would this have weighed on his heart? Knowing this is something I have to do, God has told me, I have to do this. But my son is crying and he doesn't want to give his life and but what did he say? Allah? Yeah, Alma took more of father do that which you've been commanded to do. So taggi dooney insha, Allah menos sabi lien, you will find me If God so wills amongst those who are patient, what a beautiful response, a beautiful response. And this is a very valuable lesson for the young people. And these days and time,

for whatever reasons. Many times young people don't think about the burdens that their parents are dealing with. And don't think about some of the challenges their parents are facing, and don't look for ways to make things easier for their parents. So in the spirit of Hajj, and in the spirit of his smile, who was willing to give his life and to patiently persevere, with the difficulties involved in that decision. So this is a very, very valuable lesson for the young people, just as Abraham consulting his son, in the matter is a very important lesson for the adults. So in any case, once his faith was shown and demonstrated, God substituted a ram for his smile. So his smile was spared,

and around was sacrificed. So in reenacting this particular event, which is a very monumental event, in the spiritual history of humanity, we sacrifice at this time on the 10th of the ledger, which is hence called the day of sacrifice, Yeoman. Now, would you say that this was the ultimate sacrifice? I would not say the ultimate sacrifice, but I would certainly say a very big sacrifice, I think the ultimate sacrifice is usually refers to a person's willingness to sacrifice their own life. But it was a tremendous sacrifice, and in a sense, and a sense. So this answer I gave initially, this is at the realm of the physical, at the realm of the spiritual, it was the ultimate sacrifice, because

Abraham was willing to sacrifice the desires of his soul, out of the Spirit, of willingness to obey and subordinate those desires, to the commandments of God. And this is something spiritually, this is one of the greatest test and we live in the day of the ego.

We live in the day of the ego where everything is me, me, me, and no one seemingly is willing to sacrifice for any other higher purpose. And I think this is one reason why are we have such strife in the families, we have such strife in the marriages, we have such strife in the world in general, it's me, my me, my mind. I have three

people that I'm interested in, so no one can say, I'm egotistical. One might ask, Who are those three? Me, myself and I. So in that sense, we could probably say it was the ultimate sacrifice, because it's very difficult to give up and to literally slaughter

the the egoistic drives, the impulses of the soul, the the urgings, the urges to satiate our carnal lusts, and desires, increasingly an unrestrained and wild fashion. So, in that sense, I guess you could say it was the ultimate sacrifice.

If we look around in history, and even if I look around, you know, in our community that I've seen, that the Hajj has been

tremendous impact on a person's life. If we look at the life of Malcolm X, and how he was growing up, and the different avenues and turns and twists his life took. And then also, if we take into account his journey to the hij, how do you say that transformed his life? I think it was a very deep transforming experience for Malcolm X. And I don't think anyone who has read his autobiography can deny that. The impact of it is that first of all, he was coming from America. And he was coming from an America that was still deeply entrenched in the thralls, of racism.

And the Civil Rights Act was recently passed, Jim Crow was still being in the process. Jim Crow, apartheid in America, for those who are unaware, was still in the process of being dismantled. He saw his father, he didn't an eyewitness, but he lived to see his father brutally murdered by white supremacy. He saw his own aspirations to be a lawyer, denied and crushed

by the white school teacher who told him, he would be better suited preparing for life as a janitor, or someone working with his hands. So and then he saw the street life of America, and all of the negativity involved in that. He saw the prison life in America, and all the racism and negativity that's involved in that. And then he was, gave himself very sincerely to a movement, but a movement that was, to a large extent, our response to the racism that was so deeply rooted in American society at the time, and I think the vestiges of that racism, enduring. And in fact, I think we see the real entrenchment, the beginnings of the real entrenchment of racism in America. In any case,

that's a story for another day. But he came through a movement, the Nation of Islam, that was segregationist that was predicated on a reverse racist agenda of black supremacy. And White inferiority, the black man is the supreme man, the Asiatic black man, and the white man is the devil. So this sort of reverse racism, this program and movement had a very deep and profound effect on the life of Malcolm now coming through all of that through the childhood, seeing his father killed by white supremacy, seeing his mother, literally driven insane by the stress that was generated by that brutal murder, but also by the pressures of a racist system and racist social

workers. So he lived through that experience, and he saw his mother gradually break down and lose her mind. And he went through all the negativity that we mentioned. And then he came through the racist movement. Then after that, he goes to Mecca.

And when he goes to Mecca, he sees all of these races, as we mentioned at the outset, from every corner of the earth, coming together and total brotherhood,

total harmony, no hostilities, no fights, no violence,

complete brotherhood. This is overwhelming, considering his background. Now, Malcolm was not a naive person who was very well educated. There are some who say well, his letters from Mecca that expressed his amazement at what he saw in Mecca, they weren't sincere because he knew perfectly well racism existed in the Muslim world in some quarters, etc. I think this is a misunderstanding of why the Hajj was so powerful the Hajj is not a reflection of what humanity is, because those people will go back to some societies where there is color and race based prejudice, or even outright racism

but the hij more than any other demonstrate

On the face of this earth, is a demonstration of what humanity can be. So I think it was the realization of the human potential. And the realization that is the Lamb that had brought all of these people together and had

initiated the rights that all of these pilgrims were reenacting. That is lamb that had the power to do that, and to bring these people together, and in many of their societies to break down the sort of racism, deep racism that existed in this country. That's what impressed Malcolm is seeing the potential of Islam and the potential of humanity, as it was embodied at the pilgrimage at the Hajj, a thing, that's what had such a profound impact on him, coming from the racism of America, and coming from the personal history that he was bringing with him. So I think it's the the impact was overwhelming. And it's beautiful to read some of those letters from Mecca, where you're expressed,

how powerful that that brotherhood that he saw lived there, and his expression that if Islam could bring these people together, in harmony, that perhaps Islam could solve the race problem in America. And I think this is one of the greatest challenges for Muslims, for Islam has brought Muslims to this country from every corner of the earth. And Islam has brought white Americans and African Americans and Latino Americans to Islam. So we have a microcosm of the universal brotherhood as the Muslim community in this country, I think it is imperative for us to build on that brotherhood to eliminate any of the barriers that prevent us from actualizing, the potential that that brotherhood

represents. And I think if we can do that we can have a tremendous impact on this country, in terms of addressing the lingering problems of racism. And I think it's clear to anyone, when we see the nature of many of the developments in this country, that racism is still alive and well in American society. And I think Islam can definitely address that. And that's a big challenge for us. And the Hajj should remind us of the magnitude of that challenge, and the the rich potential that Islam has in terms of its ability to bring us together, what would your advice be for those of us who are planning to go to the hedge? And also what would your advice be, for those of us who inshallah, when

we returned from Hajj, what kind of intentions or what we should try to bring inside our lives. I would say for those planning to go to Hajj.

Make sure that, as they say, You are right with God, you're going to visit God's house, and you're leaving behind all of your worldly business, and attachments. Leave those behind before you physically leave. In other words, get the attachment of your heart to those things. Get that out of your heart, even before you go on the journey. And I think if you can do that, the experience will be all the more powerful, deeper and richer. As for those who returned from the Hajj, I think it is very, very important to carry the the lesson of brotherhood that you learned and experienced with you carry the lesson of humility, that you learned in the sense that at the Hodge, there are no big

eyes and little use, everyone is wearing the same white garment. Everyone is reenacting the same going through participating in the same rituals with no exceptions, the king, the popper, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, everyone. So I think this humility, where you don't see yourself over people, and one of the beautiful traditions of our Prophet, peace and blessings of lobby upon them. I've been ordered to encourage you to humble yourself so that no one arrogates himself over the other side had we humble ourselves. So when we come back, let us leave any arrogance that we might have taken with us. Let us leave it behind us. Let us come back and humble

ourselves. Put our hands in

The hands of our brothers and sisters and and get busy and bringing the positivity of Islam to this country and to our Muslim communities. We're in need of a lot of the positivity of Islam because sometimes our communities can become bogged down in a lot of negativity. On the ledges aka la Hara, we reached the point of our show being ending. So I'd like to thank my guest speaker and mom's a shocker for spending some of his day with us here at Mecca, one Jazakallah hair, and we hope that you can be on the show again, Sue me, and I'll make it easy for all of us, shall I just a short like 20 seconds? Well, for those of us who are planning and those of us who are on their way to the

hedge, you just pray that Allah gives you an acceptable Hajj, and may He make your running between the hills of Safa and Mandala. Bless it, and may He return you safely to your families with renewed spiritual insight and energy. And may He bless us all, whoever we are, in whatever faith to realize, the greater human brotherhood that connects all of us. Because as as we said at the outset, Abraham made the call for the pilgrimage to all of humanity, wherever then senesi bill Hodge proclaimed the Hajj to all of humanity, and not to the Muslims alone. So as a human family, especially in these days of strike, may we realize that human potential, and that human commonality that unites us and

collectively get about the work of making this world a better place because they're disturbing trends. 35 million people dying of AIDS in Africa within the next five years, possibly ecological disaster, greenhouse effect, the Ross ice shelf and an article that's cemented to the ocean floor.

For the first time in recorded history, water is beginning to work its way under that I show if the Ross ice shelf breaks off, and then all of that ice melts. The tsunami what happened that's nothing compared to the impact of that and all of that global warming, the annual the Eskimos, their whole way of life is threatened by global warming, and the melting of the polar ice cap. So there are a lot of disturbing things happening in this world. And to address these issues is going to take a collective human effort, not one religion, one faith, a human effort, so the call of the Hajj was made to all of humanity. Let us respond in the spirit of brotherhood and commitment to higher

principles to get about making the work of making this world a better place for all of us, and more importantly for our children. For example, up here you've been listening to macro one and watching macro one. We appreciate your comments and questions at macro one.org when people will message when life's illegal

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