Today is Eid-el-Kabir day. So, let me start by wishing all Muslims Eid Mubarak! Eid-el-Kabir is a key aspect of Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, which is the fifth pillar of Islam. Eid-el-Kabir is also called Eid-al-Adha and Greater Bairam, but the name that I find most graphic is the Yoruba one, “Iléyá” (‘Let’s go back home.’). It captures Prophet Ibrahim’s directive to his son Ismail to stand up for the merciful journey back home, after the divine reward for their faithfulness. The Islamic account is that Prophet Ibrahim prayed fervently to Allah to bless him with a child, and Allah answered his prayers by giving him Ismail. Years later, he had a dream in which he was commanded to sacrifice the child to Allah. He told his son about this grim test of faith. According to Chapter 37, Verse 102 of the Qur’an, Ismail responded: “O, my dear father! Do as you are commanded by God. You shall find me, if God so wills, one of the patient.”
Ibrahim then took Ismail to the place at which the command was to be obeyed, and Ismail lay down submissively, awaiting his end. Seeing their unshaking faith, just before Ibrahim could slaughter Ismail, Allah replaced the son with a ram. The concept of Iléyá therefore encompasses the instruction to Ismail to stand up for the journey back home due to the happy turn of events, and the feasting which follows is in appreciation of the mercy of Allah. The slaughtering of rams during the festival is also in remembrance and appreciation of the fact that, but for the divine favour, Muslims would have been slaughtering their firstborns in worship of Allah.
Eid-el-Kabir starts from the 10th day of Dhul-Hijjah, the 12th and last month of the Islamic calendar, which corresponds to today, 16th June, 2024. The festival comes up on the day after the congregation of pilgrims on the plains of Arafah, re-enacting, in a sense, the day of judgement, especially with all pilgrims on Hajj in white, supplicating fervently for Allah’s mercy in all aspects of their life. As a scholar on TikTok @tawbahreminders puts it, “On the day of Arafah. Are you looking for a job? That is the day. Are you having health issues? That is the day. Are you having problems at home? That is the day to beg Allah. Are you looking to have a child …? That is the day. You’re having in-laws issues? That is the day. You’re having a lot of debt? That is the day. … The Prophet of Allah [Peace be upon him] said: ‘The best of dua is the dua done on the day of Arafah.”
At late afternoon on this day, pilgrims begin to move towards Musdalifah where they sleep for the night, before heading back to Mina and Kaaba to perform the remaining rites of the pilgrimage. And it was here at Musdalifah that I had my first major culture shock, when I performed Hajj in 2009. I did not know that we would have to sleep in the open and on rough ground; and it was not even as if the sleeping space was ample. I had to squeeze myself between those who were already sleeping and didn’t have enough room to fully stretch my legs. Amazingly, I slept soundly.
The performance of Hajj is multiply significant. First, it constitutes responding to Allah’s call as found in Chapter 22, Verse 27 of the Qur’an which says: “And proclaim to the people the Hajj [pilgrimage]; they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel; they will come from every distant pass.” Second, wearing only two pieces of simple, seamless white clothes, known as ihram, by male pilgrims, symbolises humility, divestment from vanity, and equality before Allah. Third, tawaf – circling the Kaaba, the black cube-shaped structure in the middle of the Grand Mosque in Mecca seven times – appreciates the building of that structure for the worship of Allah by Ibrahim and his son Ismail. The circumambulation is an exercise requiring physical strength and mental acuity.
Fourth, walking and briefly running between the hills of Safa and Marwa commemorate the inimitable motherly care by Hajar, the mother of Ismail, and her unflinching hope in the mercy of Allah by going through immense pain in search of water, back and forth, for her thirsty child, in a terrain in which ordinarily the hope of finding it was slim. As her reward, the well of zamzam was revealed to her. The message here is that even when you seem to be overwhelmed by problems, don’t give up, keep trudging, and believe that Allah’s grace will come. Fifth, staying in tents in Mina symbolises humility, and the ritual throwing of small stones at a concrete wall signifies the conscious desire to distance oneself from evil. Sixth, converging on the plains of Arafah symbolises the consciousness of death and faith in the mercy and benevolence of Allah. Seventh, sleeping without accustomed comfort in Musdalifah represents humility, shedding vanity and sacrificing physically for the sake of Allah.
In addition to being a religious, spiritual, and social event where you strengthen old relationships and establish new ones, Hajj has a tourist dimension. We visited the site of the Battle of Uhud, at which the enemies of Islam fought to annihilate the young religion and at which the Prophet and his companions suffered significant casualties, but prevented the fall of Medina or the capture of the Prophet. We also visited the graves of Prophet Muhammad and his companions in acknowledgement of their efforts in the preservation of the faith at great cost.
Hajj also shows the example of leadership that is forward-looking and constantly thinking of infrastructural and logistical renewal. In 2010, modern train services were introduced to ferry pilgrims from the Kaaba to Arafah and back. This year, the construction of high-rise buildings has commenced to replace the tents in which pilgrims stay in Mina with comfortable modern accommodation. Moreover, an 11 June, 2024 report by GulfNews.com states: “Some 251 large electric vehicles are set for operation during the current Islamic Hajj pilgrimage season in Saudi Arabia to help the elderly and physically challenged worshippers perform the ritual circumambulation of the Holy Kaaba … [T]he round-the-clock service will also assist the pilgrims in easily performing the ritual S’ai between the hills of Safa and Marwa.”
In those days, some pilgrims used to walk to and back from Hajj and it could take very many months. It is believed that a significant part of the blacks in Sudan were those sub-Saharan Africans who made the journey on foot, but could not return home or were attracted enough by Sudan to stay back in the country. As children, oblivious of all the physical strains, stress and rigour involved in performing Hajj, we used to look forward to gifts of dried or fried Mecca meat (ram or camel), Mecca fruit (dabinu or dates), Mecca (i.e., zamzam) water and small camera-like toys from which pictures of different aspects of Hajj could be seen.
Many popular Yoruba musicians have documented their pilgrimage to Mecca in their music in remarkable detail. Examples are Haruna Isola, Ayinla Omowura and Sikiru Ayinde Barrister. The sacredness with which Hajj was held in those days was shown in Sikiru Ayinde Barrister’s narration of his unpalatable experience when it was rumoured that, after having performed Hajj and returned home, he was seen following a masquerade. In the passionate account in his 1975 music album Volume 6, titled “Ori mi ewo ni n se”, the police arrested him on account of the rumour, and he was released only after police investigations revealed that the allegation was false.
The essence of this story is that, in those days, confusionist conduct was not tolerated. You were to choose either to be an Egungun worshipper or a Muslim. Once you had freely made your choice, you were to stick with it, and avoid any ambivalence that could engender mischief. This principle is represented in the Yoruba proverb, “Tí o bá maa jé òsákálá, kí o jé òsákálá; tí o bá maa jé òsokolo kí o jé òsokolo; òsàkàlànsokolo ni ò ye omo ènìyàn.” (‘If you want to be òsákálá, clearly be òsákálá; if you want to be òsokolo, clearly be òsokolo; it’s being òsákálá and òsokolo at the same time that’s unbefitting of an honest person.’) That is, if you want to be known for one thing, keep to that rather than mischievously swapping or mixing identities.
The very high level of social control which made Ayinde Barrister’s arrest possible is reminiscent of legendary Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew’s 1986 account of how Singapore became a prosperous country through stern discipline. In the speech placed on YouTube on 15 September, 2023, he said: “I am accused often of interfering in the private lives of citizens. … I believe as Singaporeans become more Westernised in their values and attitudes, they believe they got to have all the rights and privileges. I said, right. This is a new phase: give them the option; you decide; you make up your mind. You exercise the choice, you pay the price. And I say without the slightest remorse that … we would not have made the economic progress if we had not intervened on very personal matters: who your neighbour is; how you live; the noise you make; how you spit or where you spit; or what language you use. Had we not done that and done it effectively, we would not be here today.”
Interestingly, Hajj rites manifest significant gender-equity. The Kaaba was built by Ibrahim and his son for the worship of Allah, and pilgrims circumambulate it as part of Hajj rites. Ibrahim and Ismail also demonstrated unparalleled faithfulness to Allah, and this is celebrated in Eid-el- Kabir. Correspondingly, Hajar’s compassionate physical exertion for the sake of her child and her uncommon hope in the benevolence of Allah is celebrated in the movement between Safa and Marwa.
It is believed that when a person performs the pilgrimage properly, they would be as sinless and pure as when they were born. It is accordingly believed that within forty days of a pilgrim’s return home, the prayers they say for others would be especially efficacious.
As Nigerians celebrate Eid-el-Kabir today, our leaders should, like Ibrahim, obey the dictates of good governance; and the followers should, like Ismail, repose confidence in and collaborate with the leadership in their efforts to create a more livable society. And even as the nation’s problems appear to be intractable, we all should, like Hajar, keep hope alive and take to heart the injunction of Chapter 39, Verse 53 of the Qur’an: “Despair not of the mercy of Allah.”
