Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 205
205 husband or children, the love of relations and friends and fellow beings, the love of place or country, the love of truth and righteousness, and finally the love of God ⎯ all are based on emotion and are the most powerful incentives for action and conduct. The pilgrimage is a highly emotional experience. When a person makes up his mind to go on pilgrimage, and leaves his home for that purpose, his heart and mind are captured by a deep emotion. He is leaving all to whom he is deeply attached, and in the vast majority of cases is venturing forth into strange lands hitherto known to him only through report and rumour, for a spot which has, since early in the course of human history, been the scene of the manifestation of God’s beneficence and God’s love for His righteous servants. By responding to the call of God, laying aside all other preoccupations, deferring all other claims upon him, renouncing such comfort and loving association as constitute his joy and happiness, journeying to the barren valley where, under God’s direction, Abraham left his wife and son so that a center might be established for God’s true worship, and by taking part in that worship, the pilgrim hopes that he may himself be inspired with that spirit which inspired Abraham and Ishmael, and, later, the Prophet as well as numerous other righteous servants of God; and he hopes that he may ultimately be counted among those who are blessed with the love