Imam Khomeini’s exerted tireless effort and sacred struggle on the way to the actualization of revival of religious thought and rituals.
Imam Khomeini undertook serious efforts to revive “the Hajj Pilgrimage” in circumstances of the contemporary Muslim world. He explained its underlying philosophies, lessons, messages and societal and political effects and how these all could be implemented in current era.
He explained the Hajj pilgrimage’s philosophy and its effects by citing from basic Islamic sources such as Quran and Sunnah.
Imam stressed that the colonial powers and their handpicked stooges in the Muslim-inhabited states have launched a smear campaign to distort the real objectives of Hajj. They have systematically spread superstitions around the issue.
Imam Khomeini pointed out that one of the afflictions that have always threatened Islamic societies throughout history is the perceptions and interpretations which don’t conform the spirit of Islam.
In this arena, the ill-wishers have spread interpretations that do not conform to the reality of the Hajj pilgrimage and its promotion and propagation among the mass of people.
From Imam Khomeini's thinking, one of the major duties of Muslims is to find out what the reality of Hajj pilgrimage is and why they must expend a part of their material and spiritual capacities to uphold it.
Imam Khomeini through his historic messages highlighted that Muslims must be aware the social, political and cultural perspectives of the Hajj as well.
For an instance, they must know that what has the Hajj pilgrimage got to do with how one must live and in what manner one must engage in sacred struggle and in what manner one must stand up to the world of capitalism and communism?
What has the Hajj pilgrimage got to do with securing the rights of Muslims and the downtrodden from the oppressors! What has the Hajj pilgrimage got to do with finding solutions to the mental and physical pressures exerted on Muslims?
What has the Hajj pilgrimage got to do with Muslims having to assert themselves as a great force?
According to Imam’s dynamic thought, colonial powers want the Hajj pilgrimage by the Muslims to remain solely a sightseeing trip for viewing the ‘Kiblah’ and the city of Medina.
It is as if Islam requires that a huge number of people should make the Hajj pilgrimage every year in order to enjoy, entertain and amuse themselves, return to their respective countries with a hoard of sightings of buildings and people, and make purchases of desired goods!
From Imam Khomeini’s view, these erroneous and incorrect interpretations have been put forward by two groups and continue to persist.
What the uniformed individuals or biased analyst have so far sketched as the philosophy of the Hajj pilgrimage is that it is a collective act of worship and a pilgrimage-cum-sightseeing journey.
The first group, the uninformed: these are uninformed Muslims in Islamic communities who because of lack of necessary understanding and knowledge, define and confine the Hajj pilgrimage to affairs of sightseeing and pilgrimage. Lack of knowledge and ignorance of these individuals prevents them from understanding the Hajj pilgrimage’s philosophy and its societal and political impact alongside its ideological and spiritual objectives.
The second group are biased analysts who attempt to practice the Hajj pilgrimage philosophy for reasons of economic, financial and political interests. Considering the fact that the righteous Hajj pilgrimage causes this group either to forsake its interests and aspirations or not to realize it in a desired and prolific manner, they interpret this great act of worship according to their own factional whims and fancies.
These erroneous interpretations cause the realities, teachings and Gnostic knowledge of this act of worship to be mingled with ignorance, inertia and superstition, and to lag behind in terms of fructification and ability to create change.
Unfortunately, this act of worship is sometimes regarded as a sightseeing trip, whereas it should gather all Muslims in the form of a massive Islamic congregation at a single location to realize worthy social and political outcomes.