In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate. Welcome to the 3rd episode of our special Hajj account.

Abdul Jabbar Mostawfi was going on Hajj pilgrimage. He had a thousand dinars for his travel expenses. His heart was filled with the pleasure to visit the Symbolic House of the Unseen but Omnipresent God. The thought of seeing the holiest of all holy places would never leave his mind for even a single moment. On his way to Hijaz, he travelled through Iraq and reached Kufa. With these same thoughts, he passed through the lanes of Kufa, until he reached a ruin. He saw a woman looking for something in the ruins. The woman saw a dead hen in a corner of the ruins. She quickly concealed it under her cloak and went out of ruins. Abdul Jabbar said to himself: What does this woman do, does she not know that eating dead meat is haram?

Now listen to or read ayah 173 of Surah Baqarah:

“He has forbidden you only carrion, blood, the flesh of the swine, and that which has been offered to other than Allah. But should someone be compelled, without being rebellious or aggressive, there shall be no sin upon him. Indeed Allah is all-forgiving, all-merciful.”

Abdul-Jabbar followed the woman. He said to himself: This woman is surely poor. I have to follow her and see her living. The woman walked through the lanes and entered a house. The woman’s children came to their mother's side and said to her: What did you bring for us; we are dying of hunger?

The woman said in a shameful tone: I have brought you a dead hen.

Abdul Jabbar stood in a corner. When he heard these words, tears rolled down his eyes. He enquired about the woman and her conditions from the neighbors. They said: she is the wife of Abdullah bin Zayd Alawi. Her husband was martyred by the tyrannical governor of Iraq, Hajjaj, and her children became orphans. Her self-respect does not allow her to ask for help from anyone.

Abdul Jabbar said to himself: If you want to make a hajj pilgrimage, this is your Hajj. He knocked at the door of the woman’s house and when she came out he gave her a pouch of gold coins which he was carrying for his travel and Hajj expenses, and without saying a word turned away.

Abdul Jabbar stayed that year in Kufa. When the Hajjis performed the Hajj and came back, some people approached him and greeted him as if they knew him. When Abdul Jabbar approached the caravan of pilgrims a cameleer came forward and greeted him and said, "O Abdul Jabbar, I was looking for you from the day you gave me in Arafat a thousand dinars. Here is your bag of gold coins. The cameleer gave him ten thousand dinars and disappeared.

At that time, Abdul Jabbar heard a voice saying: O Abdul Jabbar, you spent a thousand dinars in the way of God, and God has arranged ten times more of that amount for you by granting you ten thousand dinars, and has created an angel resembling you who will perform the Hajj every year as long as you live, so that you get the reward of the pilgrimage, since a good deed is never lost.

Now listen to or read part of ayah 56 of Surah Yusuf:

“We confer Our mercy on whomever We wish, and We do not waste the reward of the virtuous.”

FK/AS/ME