Haj is a journey massive in scope that millions upon millions of people undertake year after year from each and every corner of the world. It is also a tremendous display of true devotion to Allah that is unmatched anywhere else in the world. There quite simply is no other journey like it because it leads to the most unique place in the world, Baitullahi Al-Haraam, The Holy House of Allah in Makkah.

It is an answer to a most ancient call and invitation from Ar-Rahmaan, the Most Merciful Himself. You as a visitor will be His guest and the reward you may reap for your trek will be like that which none can provide except Him, Most High is He above all imperfection! Your journey to Makkah is to perform the rites as shown to us by the last of the Messengers of Allah, Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam). These rites began from the time of the father of all prophets and messengers to come after him, Ibraaheem (‘alaihi salaam). It was he who made the call to us in fulfilment of the command of Allah to him, namely to establish the Haj to the Holy House for all human beings.

It is however, only the true believers who answer the call and perform the rites correctly in letter and in spirit and truly benefit from this journey. It is our hope to assist you in fulfilling your noble intention of Haj in the best manner possible according to the most authentic and reliable manner as proven in the life of the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) and his noble companions (radiallaahu anhum ajma’een). It is your duty to find out all that you can in order to perform this religious duty and it is our duty to do our best to help. Take advantage of those around you among the knowledgeable and righteous people to ask about whatever you may need assistance with and they will undoubtedly assist you.

The sun also runs its set course: that is laid down by the will of the Almighty, the All-Knowing. And for the moon We have determined phases until it finally becomes like an old date stalk. Neither the sun can overtake the moon, nor can the night outrun the day. Each floats in its own orbit. And yet another sign for them is that We carry their offspring in laden ships, and that We create things of similar kind for them to ride in. If such be Our will, We may cause them to drown, with none to respond to their cries for help, and then they cannot be saved, unless it be by an act of mercy from Us, leaving them to enjoy life for a while. When they are told: ‘Beware of that which lies before you and behind you, so that you may be graced with His mercy,’ (they pay no heed). (Ya Seen: 36: 38-45)

The surah cites some aspects of what we see in the world around us, referring to signs that we see every day, but we tend to overlook their miraculous nature because long familiarity with them tends to make us take them for granted. It highlights the nature of the sun and the moon, both of which provide clear signs for us to contemplate.

The surah then makes it clear that the system regulating all these great celestial bodies is most accurate, and that this controls its resulting phenomena: “Neither the sun can overtake the moon, nor can the night outrun the day. Each floats in its own orbit.” (Verse 40) Indeed every planet and star has its own orbit, which it follows accurately. Stars and planets are so far apart that the distances separating them are huge. Our planet earth is approximately 93 million miles away from the sun, while the moon is around 240,000 miles away from us. Hardly imaginable as these distances are, they are nothing compared to the distance between our solar system and the nearest star to us outside it, which is estimated to be four light years. We should remember that light travels at a speed of 186,000 miles per second.

Time is money. So goes the most used metaphor for time in the English language. There is some truth in it as time can be used to produce wealth and wasting time may also mean losing opportunities to produce wealth. Yet this metaphor also implies something about the purpose of life itself that we should examine carefully. If a child says that money is candy, he’ll be right in the sense that money can be used to buy candy. But adults will laugh at him because the statement implies that candy is the most important object that money can buy. Similarly “Time is money” implies that money is the most important object in life: One must value time as he or she values money.

If one does a Google search on “how to be smart”, it yields 254,000,000 results in 0.34 seconds, with thousands of tips on how to exercise smart choices in every aspect of life -- from genomes to cars to clothes to kids to votes to money to FTP servers.
 
If one runs the same search on “how to be sincere”, the top links the search engine comes up with, are software consultants and watches that go by the brand name Sincere, and a definition of the word in Merriam Webster’s online dictionary.
 
It’s a clear sign of the times – the world values smart people  more than sincere ones. Well-dressed, well-heeled, well-spoken individuals score more brownie points socially, are more popular and more likely to be successful in whatever they set out to do -- regardless of what they may be like within.
People in the public eye hire image consultants to make them ‘look good’, who monitor everything about the individual’s public persona – the way they speak, the clothes they wear, the food they endorse, the places they are seen at, the causes they espouse.

Muslim enters Paradise through the Mercy and Grace of Allah that He bestows on His servants because nobody’s actions are comparable to or even get close to the reward that Allah Almighty gives.

Still, we are asked to do good deeds during our lifetime. That is why many verses in the Qur’an and Hadiths encourage us to do good deeds and avoid the bad ones so as to enter Paradise. Allah has prepared for His believing servants in Paradise that which no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor anyone imagined, to the extent that even the person who has the least blessings in Paradise will think that he is the most blessed among them.

Abu Sa`id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The lowest of people in status in Paradise will be a man whose face Allah turns away from the Fire towards Paradise, and shows him a tree giving shade. He will say, ‘O Lord, bring me closer to that tree so that I may be in its shade… Then he will enter his house (in Paradise) and his two wives from among Al-Hoor Al-`een (houris) will come in and say to him, ‘Praise be to Allah who brought you to life for us and brought us to life for you.’ Then he will say, ‘No one has been given what I have been given.’" (Reported by Muslim)