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The origin of the Pilgrimage to Makkah (Ḥajj)

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 22 May 2026

“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. And proclaim to mankind the Pilgrimage: they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every remote path.” — ch. 22, Al-Ḥajj, v. 26–27

وَ اِذۡ بَوَّاۡنَا لِاِبۡرٰہِیۡمَ مَکَانَ الۡبَیۡتِ اَنۡ لَّا تُشۡرِکۡ بِیۡ شَیۡئًا وَّ طَہِّرۡ بَیۡتِیَ لِلطَّآئِفِیۡنَ وَ الۡقَآئِمِیۡنَ وَ الرُّکَّعِ السُّجُوۡدِ ﴿۲۶﴾ وَ اَذِّنۡ فِی النَّاسِ بِالۡحَجِّ  یَاۡتُوۡکَ  رِجَالًا وَّ عَلٰی کُلِّ ضَامِرٍ یَّاۡتِیۡنَ مِنۡ کُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِیۡقٍ ﴿ۙ۲۷﴾

As an institution Ḥajj, or the pilgrimage to Makkah, existed before the advent of Islam from very ancient times. The belief that the territory around Makkah is sacred, and that the Ka‘bah is the centre of a pilgrimage, existed since long ago. There is no record showing that this belief was introduced at any time within known history. Among the Arabs before Islam, the Ka‘bah was known by the name Bait Allah or House of God, and they believed that no enemy could destroy it. All the main features and ceremonies of the pilgrimage in Islam existed before the coming of the Prophet Muhammad. They were based on the practice of the prophet Abraham, who lived about 2500 years earlier.

However, by the time the Prophet Muhammad appeared, his people had added various idol-worshipping practices to it. Idols had been placed in the Ka‘bah and at other important places of the Ḥajj around it. The Ka‘bah itself had within it 360 idols which were worshipped. I may add that the Ka‘bah or its Black Stone were never worshipped by the Arab idol-worshippers, but only the idols placed within it. Another wrong practice among them was that some tribes considered themselves as too high to mix with others during the pilgrimage.

Even before Islam had made the pilgrimage as a duty of Muslims, and reformed the wrong practices associated with it, the Quran recognized the sacredness of Makkah and that the pilgrimage to it was a practice established by Abraham. While the Holy Prophet was still at Makkah, he was told in his revelation to say to people:

“I am commanded only to serve the Lord of this city, Who has made it sacred, and to Him belong all things.” (27:91)

The Quran also says that Abraham had prayed to God as follows:

“My Lord, make this city secure, and save me and my sons from worshipping idols” (14:35)

and:

“Our Lord, I have settled a part of my offspring in a valley unproductive of fruit near Your Sacred House, our Lord, that they may keep up prayer; so make the hearts of some people yearn towards them, and provide them with fruits; perhaps they may be grateful.” (14:37)

This refers to Abraham settling his older son Ishmael at the location of the Ka‘bah, along with his mother Hagar or Hajira.

The reason I have mentioned these points is that critics of Islam allege that it was only after the Holy Prophet had migrated to Madinah, and then won the battle of Badr, that he began to look forward to conquering Makkah. They claim that in order to create a basis for his conquest he thought of declaring Makkah as a sacred city and a place of pilgrimage. These critics are the people who think that the Holy Prophet Muhammad made up the teachings of Islam himself and he added to these teachings anything which served his purpose of gaining rule and conquest in Arabia. However, we can see that the pilgrimage had been declared a part of Islam while the Holy Prophet was still at Makkah, very shortly before his departure for Madinah. At that time the Quran already contained the two verses that I quoted at the beginning of this khutba. These verses tell us that Allah commanded Abraham to establish the Ka‘bah as a place of worship for mankind where people would come to purify themselves, make circuits of the House, and pray by standing, bowing and prostrating.

The second of these two verses is:

“And proclaim to mankind the Pilgrimage: they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, coming from every remote path.”

This command was originally addressed to Abraham, and it was again addressed to the Holy Prophet Muhammad because he was re-establishing the pilgrimage in the form that Abraham had originally done. These words contain a great prophecy that Makkah will become the centre to which people will come for pilgrimage. It was announced just at the time when the Holy Prophet was being driven out of Makkah by his enemies, and they were now the only masters of the place. It was a time when any chance of Makkah becoming a Muslim centre was completely lost because Muslims had been forced to leave it and seek to shelter elsewhere in a state of helplessness. So, at a time when Muslims themselves were in danger of being entirely destroyed, a great prophecy was announced in the strongest words that Islam will spread to all countries of the world, and Makkah will become the universal centre to which pilgrims from all nations will come. Today everyone on earth can see that prophecy fulfilled with their own eyes if they watch the scenes from the Ḥajj in the news media.

It was also prophesied in the Bible that this would happen. The prophet Isaiah, who appeared among the Jews about 1400 years before the Holy Prophet Muhammad, foretold to his people:

“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it.” (Isaiah, 2:2)

Being the “highest” and “raised above the hills” does not mean physical height. It means, of course, being the highest in dignity and honour in the hearts of mankind, and being well-known in the world.

Isaiah had also prophesied that God said to him, not only about his nation, the Jews, but also about all nations that if they serve God and love His name:

“I will bring (them) to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. … For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah, 56:7)

The Quran has a verse saying:

“And when We made the House a resort for mankind and a (place of) security, and (saying): Take the Place of Abraham for a place of prayer. And We commanded Abraham and Ishmael, saying: Purify My House for those who visit (it) and those who abide (in it) for devotion and those who bow down (and) those who prostrate themselves.” (2:125)

The prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled in that there would be a house of God to which people from all nations come to pay homage and pray.

Another prophecy in the Bible relates to what is called the Black Stone at one corner of the Ka‘bah, the Ḥajar al-Aswad. In making circuits around the Ka‘bah the pilgrims attempt to get near it to kiss or touch it, while those who are unable to reach it make a sign to point towards it. In the Bible, in the book of the Psalms of David, known in the Quran as the Zabūr of the prophet Dawood, it is written:

“The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner-stone.” (Psalms, 118:22)

According to the Bible, Ishmael, the older son of Abraham, was rejected by him and he separated his son from himself by leaving him in the desert. The accepted son was Isaac, and because of his acceptance by God so many great prophets were raised from his descendants; for example, Joseph, Moses, David and Solomon. No such line of prophets arose from among the descendants of Ishmael. This statement in the Psalms of David was a prophecy that the last and greatest Prophet, the “chief corner-stone” of the building of prophethood, would arise from the descendants of Ishmael.

When Jesus appeared among the Jews, some centuries after David, he quoted these words of David and repeated this prophecy. He said to them:

“Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.…’ … Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” (Matthew, 21:42, 43)

Jesus meant that, after him, no more prophets would appear among the Israelites, among whom numerous prophets had appeared before, but that prophethood would be transferred to the nation which had been the “rejected stone”.

This meaning is confirmed by a most authentic hadith in which the Holy Prophet Muhammad said:

“My example and the example of the prophets before me is the example of a man who built a house and he made it very good and very beautiful with the exception of a stone in the corner, so people began to go round it and to wonder at it and to say, Why has not this stone been placed? He (the Prophet) said: I am this stone and I am khātam al-nabiyyīn.” (Bukhari, hadith 3535)

The Holy Prophet has stated here that Allah built a building made of prophets as its stones, but He left an empty space where the corner-stone would be. Since prophets had stopped appearing among the descendants of Abraham through his son Isaac, namely, the Israelite nation, people were wondering why this last stone had not been placed. Then God brought it from the descendants of Abraham through his son Ishmael, the family-line which people believed had been rejected. The Holy Prophet is that corner-stone who completed that building and after him there is no space left for another prophet in the building of prophethood. This is the belief held by the Lahore Ahmadiyya, and was also the belief of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement.

Critics of Islam allege that the practice of kissing the Black Stone comes from a practice of the idol-worshipping Arabs before Islam which Islam has incorporated into its own acts of worship. But in fact the Black Stone stands there only as a symbol and reminder of the prophecy of David and Jesus that, among those descendants of Abraham who were considered as rejected, one would arise to become the corner-stone and head of the Kingdom of God.

The words “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner-stone” may also contain a prophecy about the future of Islam. The religion, Islam, which the builders of modern Western civilisation rejected, as being inferior, primitive, and unsuitable for modern times, may go on to become the chief corner-stone of world civilisation. So the kissing of the Black Stone might be an expression of joy that Islam will become an accepted religion, if we strive to present its true picture to the world. This was the mission with which Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad arose, and it has been the mission of the Lahore Ahmadiyya since its founding in May 1914.

Let us pray that the forthcoming Ḥajj may go safely for all the pilgrims and they may benefit from it, not as a ritual, but in the real sense as required by Islam, ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk