And prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) transmitted in the context of the hadiths in the chapter on the obligation of Hajj and its virtue: “From Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said:

The Prophet (ﷺ) was asked: "Which deed is the best?" He (ﷺ) replied, "Faith in Allah and His Messenger." Then he was asked: "What is next?" He replied, "Jihad (holy fighting) in the Cause of Allah." Then he was asked, "What is after that?" He (ﷺ) replied, "Hajj Mabrur (an accepted pilgrimage)."

سئل النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أي العمل أفضل قال: إيمان بالله ورسوله، قيل: ثم ماذا؟ قال: الجهاد في سبيل الله، قيل: ثم ماذا؟ قال: حج مبرور

Riyad as-Salihin 1273

Agreed upon. And from him (may Allah be pleased with him), he said:

He reported God’s messenger as saying, “If anyone performs the pilgrimage for God’s sake without talking immodestly or acting wickedly, he will return [free from sin] as on the day his mother bore him.” Bukhari and Muslim.

سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: من حج فلم يرفث ولم يفسق رجع كيوم ولدته أمه

Mishkat al-Masabih 2507

Agreed upon. And from him, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

An Umra is an expiation for the sins committed between it and the next, and Hajj which is accepted will receive no other reward than Paradise.

العمرة إلى العمرة كفارة لما بينهما والحج المبرور ليس له جزاء إلا الجنة

Sahih Muslim 1349a

Agreed upon. And from 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her), she said:

I said, “O Messenger of Allah, we see that jihad is the best deed, so should we not fight?” He said: “But the best jihad is an accepted Hajj.”

قلت يا رسول الله نرى الجهاد أفضل العمل أفلا نجاهد؟ فقال: لكن أفضل الجهاد حج مبرور

Narrated by al-Bukhari. And from her, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

There is no day when God sets free more servants from Hell than the Day of 'Arafa.

ما من يوم أكثر من أن يعتق الله فيه عبدًا من النار من يوم عرفة

Sahih Muslim 1348

Narrated by Muslim. And from Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

An 'Umrah in Ramadan is equivalent to a Hajj—or a Hajj with me.

عمرة في رمضان تعدل حجة أو حجة معي

Sahih Ibn Khuzaymah 7:538

Agreed upon”.

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
These hadiths were mentioned by al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) in his book *Riyad al-Salihin* in the chapter on the obligation of Hajj and its virtue. They indicate several matters. The first matter is that an accepted Hajj is in the third rank among the best deeds. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was asked: So, an accepted Hajj is one in which several matters converge. The first is that it be sincere for Allah, meaning that nothing drives a person to perform Hajj except seeking the pleasure of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and drawing near to Him (Glorified and Exalted is He). He does not seek showing off or fame, nor does he want people to say, “So-and-so performed Hajj,” but he seeks only the Face of Allah. The second is that the Hajj be performed in the manner of the Hajj of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), meaning that a person follows the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in it as much as he is able. The third is that it be from lawful wealth, not forbidden wealth, meaning it is not from usury or interest, nor from deception, nor from gambling, nor from any other type of forbidden earnings, but rather from lawful wealth. For this reason, some of them said: “If you perform Hajj with wealth whose origin is illicit, you have not performed Hajj, but rather the caravan has performed Hajj”, meaning the camels. As for you, you have not performed Hajj. Why? Because your wealth is forbidden. The fourth is that one must avoid lewdness, sin, and argumentation, based on the saying of Allah the Exalted: One must avoid lewdness, which is intercourse and its causes, and one must avoid sin, whether by speech, such as forbidden speech like backbiting, talebearing, and lying, or by action, such as looking at women and the like. One must have avoided lewdness and sin in it. Argumentation and contention among people during Hajj greatly diminish the Hajj, except for argumentation intended to establish the truth and refute falsehood, for that is obligatory. If an innovator comes and argues, and a person is in the state of ihram, he does not leave him alone but argues with him and clarifies the truth, because Allah the Exalted commanded that: But argumentation at the water source, where they compete over who goes first, or at the stoning of the pillars, or in the circumambulation, or the like of that, all of this is among the things that diminish the Hajj. So one must leave off argumentation. An accepted Hajj has no reward except Paradise. “As if he were born on the day his mother bore him” means: he returns from sins pure, with no sins upon him, as if he were born on the day his mother bore him. And in the hadith of 'A'ishah, in which she asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): This is with regard to women, so the jihad of women is Hajj. As for men, jihad in the path of Allah is better than Hajj, except for the obligatory Hajj, which is better than jihad in the path of Allah, because the obligatory Hajj is a pillar of Islam. And in these hadiths, generally, there is evidence that deeds differ in rank according to the doer. In the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, which is the first in our lesson today, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And in the hadith of Ibn Mas'ud, he asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): So each person is addressed with what is appropriate for his condition. And as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the man who said, “Advise me,” he said: He said, “Advise me.” He said: He said, “Advise me.” He said: He did not say, “I advise you to fear Allah and do good deeds,” because what is appropriate for this man’s condition is to be advised to leave off anger, because he is one who gets angry. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) addresses every person with what is appropriate for his condition. And this is known by following the general evidences in the Shari'ah and clarifying the ranks of deeds. And success is from Allah.