I was making my first tawaf upon arrival at Makkah. There was a heavy crowed of people which was increasing, it appeared, at every minute. Often, the crush of people was so much that people’s chests and backs were touching one another. At that state, my right foot stepped on something sharp on the floor of the Ka’ba. I thought of removing this harmful object as it was undoubtedly causing discomfort to thousands of people who were stepping on it.
Bending to pick it up was impossible. So I decided to carry it by dragging my feet. I pressed my foot on it hard against the marble floor, and kept dragging my foot without lifting my foot. A few times, I almost lost it as pressure of people made it quite hard to maintain my hold on it. Also, the object sometimes would get stuck between the marble joints and the cracks on them. In those cases, I applied extra pressure on the foot to get it out of the cracks. After dragging it nearly half a circle around the Ka’ba, I finally brought myself away from the crush to a place where bending no longer posed a risk of falling on the ground. There, I quickly picked it up. It was a broken piece of bangle made of glass that women wear. I wondered how many thousands of people stepped on this piece and got hurt. I thought of the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (p) where he said:
“to remove a harmful thing from the way is also sadaqa." [Bukhari]
How about removing a harmful object from the floor of the Ka’ba that is trodden by millions of people? I felt joy at my heart that I was able to remove it, thought it was difficult to do so. I then raised my hands to the heaven with that piece of bangle in between the fingers of my right hand:
Ya Allah! If this act has been pleasing to you, then please accept my hajj as “hajj mabroor”.
One small act, and what a big expectation in return! While making the du’a, I knew that this transaction is not a balanced one. By doing a small thing, which I am obligated to do anyway, I asked for the ultimate prize from Allah (swt) that one can expect. I, therefore, added:
Ya Allah! You are the Lord of unlimited bounties and Your bounties never decrease; therefore, please grant my wish and accept my hajj.
During my Tawaf al Ifadah about a week later, I remained particularly conscious about removing further harmful objects from the floor of the Ka’ba should I step on any. I in fact did step on and remove another object. This time, it was a piece of metal.
One can only imagine that during the crush of people, bangels get broken and things fall off from people’s pockets.
>> Next: Hajj Sequel 4: The Old Man and the Ka’ba
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