Hajj, Symbol of Unity and Islamic Might

The divine religion of Islam appeared in the form of a
complete religious culture from the very beginning of its emergence. It
succeeded to establish a society with Islamic identity and an Islamic government
under the leadership of the Messenger of Allah and in the shortest possible time
it prepared the grounds for its spread across the globe.

A cursory look at the early years of the development of
Islam shows that the main divine mission of the Prophet (PBUH) was to implement
the Islamic culture and ideas and establish a religious society in order to lead
human beings towards felicity and perfection. As the founder of the Islamic
culture and religious, and given human-oriented nature of Islam,

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the Prophet (PBUH) of Allah based his endeavors and struggles on cultural
activities and by relying on the principle of the call, he tried to guide the
people directly or indirectly (dispatch of representatives to other
territories).

The history of human civilization shows that propagation
of a new culture, particularly a new religious culture and advocacy of a new
method of life, which calls for fundamental changes in the principles and
pillars of the previous culture and civilization does not recognize the
traditional power structures of the society, always faces certain problems and
the first followers normally endure lots of hardship, particularly inflicted on
them by the power-wielders, who found their interests endangered by the new
religion.

The incessant struggles of the Prophet (PBUH) and his
companions for the propagation and introduction of Islam as well as the
establishment of the first bases of the Muslim communities and finally the
establishment of the first Islamic society and Islamic government along with the
hardships and difficulties they endured in this way bear eloquent testimony to
this very fact.

At this stage we witness that the efforts of the holy
Prophet (PBUH) and his companions for the establishment of the first perfect
government structure (Islamic government) bears fruit. However, with the passage
of time and as we go farther from the time of the departure of the Prophet
(PBUH), the government systems in the Islamic territories gradually become alien
to the religious government and get closer to monarchical dictatorial systems.
Also simultaneous with the decline and deterioration of the Abbasid dynasty and
emergence of local governments which did not enjoy any religious legitimacy
(they were neither based on Imamate of Shiism nor were they attributed to the
Quraish " legitimacy in Sunnite school)

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and hence the Islamic society and Muslim scholars started putting the legitimacy
of the government into question and the ruling sultan was considered as an
oppressor and usurper of the rulership in the Islamic world.

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By isolating and distorting the Islamic teachings,
isolating the Muslim thinkers from amongst the masses and interpreting the
religion to justify their own interests, the despotic rulers tried to
consolidate the pillars of their rule and in the process presented a distorted
image of religion to the society. However, by enduring hardships, the veracious
Muslim thinkers and scholars tried to preserve the Islamic sources and spread
Islamic teachings. Commenting on the role of the veracious ulema of Islam in
preserving the perimeters of the religious principles, Imam Khomeini states:

“If the dear ulema were not there, it would not be clear
what would have been presented to the people today as the Quranic sciences,
Islam and the Household of the Prophet (PBUT). The collection and preservation
of the Quranic sciences and the sayings and traditions of the honorable Prophet
and the precept of the infallible Imams; as well as their record and
preservation at a time when … the sultans and oppressors had mobilized all
resources to eliminate them was not an easy task.”

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In the contemporary era too the invading Western
governments and some ruling systems spread a poisonous atmosphere

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against the Islamic world and level charges and accusations against Islam by
relying no their propaganda means. They also try to inculcate the idea that the
main reason for backwardness and shortages in the Islamic world is the people’s
commitment to religious principles. Therefore the committed Muslim scholars and
thinkers, particularly Imam Khomeini, shouldered a heavy responsibility. They
had to purify the principles of religion and eliminate superstitions in order to
revive religious thought and hence launched their cultural, propagation struggle
in order to introduce genuine Islamic culture and thought. They therefore had to
innovate new value-based intellectual concepts.

Among the most important, profound concepts which was
created and whose theoretical elaboration left an outstanding impact on the
beliefs of the Muslims and made them realize the need for return to religious
principles was genuine Mohammedan Islam which was introduced by the greatest and
most pious disciple of the school of Islam, Imam Khomeini, that indeed
introduced a new meaning of Islam to the world.

In this approach, Islam has been introduced as an
anti-arrogance school which rejects all manifestations of oppression and
tyranny, supports all the disinherited and oppressed peoples of the world,
preserves independence, rejects any kind of dependence, and safeguards such
human rights as freedom and social justice.

Without any doubt in the light of such an image of Islam,
all religious principles and decrees find a clear meaning, the rust of
superstition is wiped out from religious principles, and the clear image of
Jamiat un Nabi " the utopia of the Muslim in all stages of the Islamic
civilization " becomes clearly visible.

Among the Islamic decrees, which underwent a change in the
light of the introduction of sociopolitical thought of genuine Mohammedan Islam,
was Hajj ritual. Imam Khomeini introduced Abrahamic Hajj instead of the
“American Hajj”, which in effect transformed Hajj ceremonies from mere
ritualistic ceremonies to a political-ritualistic ceremony. Thus the Hajj
occasion became a platform for the expression of the message of the oppressed
and wretched of the world and a manifestation of the Islamic unity, cry of
deliverance from the pagans and the arrogant camp and ultimately a platform for
the demonstration of the power of the Islamic world in confronting the camp of
arrogance.