In the name of Allah Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Prayer is Islams cure for heedlessness and its cure for excessive worldly desires is to spend in Allah cause. Fasting controls physical desires and requirements and Hajj-the Pilgrimage, is the comprehensive and collective core for all these spiritual
ailments, It embraces the essence of all the modes of worship; tawaaf-circumambulation of the Kaaba is actually prayer itself, a fair amount of money needs to he spent for the journey and as in fasting, one has to impose certain restrictions on oneself in the state of ihram. Leaving behind the comforts of home
is in any case, Hijrah-migration and Hajj in its entirety is a practical exercise in I jihaad, the struggle against Satan and the self. Hajj is obligatory for every person I who has the means to perform it and the physical fitness for the journey, irrespective of his family or business responsibilities. Allah tells us in the Quran:
The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Makkah full of blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings. In it are signs manifest; (for example) the Station of Abraham; whoever enters it attains security; pilgrimage thereto is a duty men owe to Allah, those who can afford the journey; but/f any deny faith Allah stands not in need of any of his creatures.”(3:96-97)
There can be nothing more destructive for a person than Allah declaring Himself free of any connection to him. Those people who, despite the necessary means, put off the performance of Hajj, year after year, on some pretext or other should worry about the state of their Eemaan.