Claims and Teachings - Ahmad The Promised Messiah and Mahdi — Page 294
294 Holy Prophet, a sad contrast is brought to light, There is nothing in the world which is dearer to a man than, his own life, but the companions willingly sacrificed their lives for the sake of God. They had also wives and children to look after, but they loved to sacrifice themselves and everything they had in the way of God. The fifth pillar of the Muslim faith is the pilgrimage to /- Mecca. The pilgrimage represents the last stage for the spiri- tual wayfarer. In the highest stage of spiritual advancement the spiritual wayfarer has all his lower connections entirely cut off and he is completely engrossed with Divine love. The true lover finds his highest satisfaction in sacrificing his very heart and soul for the beloved one's sake, and the circuit round the house of God is an emblem or external manifestation of it. Cor- responding to the Divine temple on earth, there is. a Divine temple on heaven and a circuit round the temple on earth is useless unless a circuit is made round the heavenly temple also- The pilgrim who makes a circuit round the Ka'ba takes off all his clothes and wears only one garment, but the spiritual pil- grim throws of all his superficial garments and comes into Di- vine presence with a heart quite naked because it has been freed from every trammel. The pilgrim shows by the external act of making circuit round the Ka'ba that" the fire* of Divine love has been kindled within his heart, and like the true lover he makes circuits round the house of his beloved one. He shows in fact that he has lost his own will and completely surrender it to that of his beloved Master and that he has sacrificed all his interests for His sake. Such is the true meaning of the Hajj or pilgrimage in the Islamic law, and everybody who undertakes to go on a pilgrimage should bear in rnind that unless he realizes the full significance of the pilgrimage and unless