97. " therein are clear signs, the standing place of abraham,
and whoever enters it is secure;
and pilgrimage to the house is a duty upon mankind for allah,
who can afford the journey to it; and anyone who disbelieves, then verily
allah is self-sufficiently independent of the worlds."

commentary:
mecca and ka`bah is an exhibition of allah's power and signs. its
history is full of memories and incidents, so that contemplating on them
can be giving a lesson and serving as an admonition. in its structure,
abraham works as a builder and ishmael as a worker. the forces of
'abraha equipped with elephants, do not succeed to ruin it and are
abolished by birds of ababeel. at the time of h¤ad¤rat ali's birth (a.s.), its
wall opens for her mother and lets her enter inside to bring a child who,
not very late in future, takes the idols of the ka`bah down. balal, an
abyssinian negro slave, in front of the astonished eyes of the nobles of
mecca, stands upon it and shouts the prayer call. and, finally, there will
come a day when the witness of allah leans against its wall and
announces the delivery of human kind and invites the people of the world
to islam.

yes, mecca is a divine safe city where any one enters into is in
peace. when a person arrives inside the sacred mosque, even the person
is a murderer, no one can molest him. the only action that can be done
against him is to straiten the circumstances for him so that the person
himself be forced to come out.

the station of abraham is located beside the ka`bah. according to
the islamic literature, the station of abraham is the same stone that was
under the feet of abraham (a.s.) when he was building the ka`bah and
promoting its walls, on which the trace of his foot has remained. this
stone with its foot trace, which has existed from centuries before christ
(a.s.) and moses (a.s.), and with all those changes that happened to ka`bah
and its surroundings as a result of invasions, floods, and destructions, is one
of the signs of the power of allah.

allah (s.w.t.) calls people to pilgrimage. the arabic term `hajj'
means: ` intention accompanied with movement', while the arabic word
/mahajjah/, from the same root, is called to a straight way which leads a
person to the destination.

this word, in islamic terminology, is applied for the intention of
going to the sacred house and performing its concerning rites.

yes, ka`bah is the site of manifestation of the signs and power of
allah, where the monotheists, the lovers of divine unity, gather together
after passing from hard high mountains and dry, plantless deserts in order
to say /labbayk/.

explanations:
1. in the sacred house, there are many clear signs: (the sign of
holiness and spirituality, the sign of spiritual trance which recalls the divine
memories of all prophets, from adam (a.s.) upon the last prophet,
muhammad mustafa (p.b.u.h.), and that it had been the place where
prophets circumambulated, and the direction of all prayers that pray toward
it. ...) "

" therein are clear signs, the standing place of abraham,..."

2. it is of the privileges of islam that it has assigned a region of the
earth as a safe region where all the oppressed of the world can announce
their call.

"... and whoever enters it is secure;... "

3. responsibility and doing duty is decreed upon a person as much
as the capability of the person allows, (whether from the point of financial
ability or physical ability or security), and capability is the proper condition
of hajj.

"... and pilgrimage to the house is a duty upon mankind for allah,
who can afford the journey to it; ..."

4. denial of hajj and its abandonment is infidelity.

"... and anyone who disbelieves,..."

it is cited in the book entitled: ` man layah¤d¤uruhul-faghih', vol. 4,
p. 368 that once the prophet of islam (p.b.u.h.) told had¤rat ali (a.s.):

" the abandoner of hajj is infidel when he is capable."

and whoever delay it a day after another until the one dies, it is as if
he has died like a jew or a christian.

5. going to pilgrimage is an acceptance and answering to the
invitation of abraham (a.s.), since it was the command of allah to him to
follow:
" and proclaim among people the pilgrimage." 1 the first rite of the
pilgrimage of the sacred house is the change of clothing accompanied with
saying ` labbayk ', which means:
o' lord! i came.

6. the result of performing the commands of allah will surely
return to the person himself, else allah does not need any thing.

"... then verily allah is self-sufficiently independent of the worlds."

7. this verse is the only verse in which the obligatoriness of hajj
pilgrimage for those who are capable is stated. it means that whoever has
physical and financial capacity, it is necessary for the one to perform hajj
pilgrimage. the rest of the ordinances of pilgrimage are stated in the
books of sacred rites of the pilgrimage by the jurisprudents.

8. the person who is capable and ought to go to pilgrimage, has
more duties to do
(than others).

9. allah invites to pilgrimage but he does not stoop to a favor.

"... and pilgrimage to the house is a duty upon mankind for allah, ... and
anyone who disbelieves, then verily allah is self-sufficiently independent of the
worlds."

10. obligatory things are a kind of duty upon the believers.

"... and pilgrimage to the house is a duty upon mankind for allah, ..."

11. allah is an absolute self-sufficient.

"... verily allah is self-sufficiently independent of the worlds."


1 the qur'an, sura al-hajj, no. 22, verse 27.