Imam and Khatib at the Grand Mosque Sheikh Saud Al-Shoraim urged the pilgrims to thank Allah for making their journey, their stay and the performance of Haj rites easy and safe compared to the hardships and hazards Haj pilgrims had to face in the past.

“If anyone had told our ancestors about the safety, amenities and ease at the present Haj they would have said he is imagining things,” Al-Shoriam said in his Friday sermon at the Grand Mosque yesterday.

The sheikh reminded the estimated crowd of 1 million worshippers who filled the mosque and its squares, that despite all the modern amenities the Haj is a form of worship that requires a lot of physical and financial sacrifices. “The Haj is a test for a Muslim to prove whether he is patient. Further, he is prohibited to do a lot of things during the period of Haj permitted at other times,” the sheikh said.

“A believing heart is polished and illuminated when it establishes close connection with the Almighty in the course of Haj. The pilgrim reaffirms his sincere belief in Allah’s tawhid (oneness) by repeatedly chanting the talbiyah (wordings recited the moment a pilgrim sets out on his journey to Makkah and it means that he is going for Haj solely in answer to Allah’s call and that there is no partner to Allah and that all blessings and the ultimate kingdom is His),” the khatib continued.

The primary aim of the Haj pilgrimage is to establish and maintain the remembrance of Allah by chanting ceaselessly words of His glorification and greatness at varying occasions of Haj.