Answer
Wa`alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
As Hajj purifies pilgrims from sins, a believer should do his/her best to preserve this pure state through being consistent on good deeds like dhikr, Quran, prayer, duaa and work for Islam and dawahو keeping good company and using time wisely are very important.
In responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
Hajj, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the hadith, purifies sins and makes a person like a newborn and thus closer to Allah.
It is, therefore, important for pilgrims to try their best to preserve this pure state as best they can.
Here are a few tips to help them achieve this:
1- Try to be consistent in dhikr (remembrance of Allah), for dhikr helps us to come closer to the Lord and repels Satan.
2- Remain steadfast in performing salah (ritual Prayers) and other religious duties.
3- Read and ponder on the Quran on a daily basis.
4- Keep company with righteous Muslims.
5- Occupy time in good deeds as much as possible.
6- Pray to Allah to make your heart steadfast in obeying Him in the manner of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) by using the followingdu`aa’(supplication):
Allaahumma yaa muqalliba al-quloobi thabbit qalbee `alaa ta`atika.
(O Allah! You are the twister of hearts! Make my heart firm on obedience to You!).
Moreover, Sheikh Muhammad Iqbal Nadvi, Imam of Calgary Mosque, Alberta, Canada, and Former Professor at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, states:
We need to understand that Hajj is a preparation for our mission of Islam because the pilgrim starts his or her Hajj with repeating the slogan of “labayk,” which means “I am here to listen and obey.”
So, the Hajj training is supposed to train us to carry this mission of Islam when we are back. One sign of an accepted Hajj—a mabrur Hajj— is that a person after Hajj becomes more caring about the Hereafter and less interested in the pleasures of this life.
Here, I can suggest the following tips for enhancing our iman (faith) after Hajj:
1- Keep away from the haram (forbidden) because after Hajj a person should start a new life that is supposed to be clean.
2- Carry the message of Islam by inviting people to it and showing a good example.
3- Be regular in performing your daily Prayers and being committed to the mosque.
4- Increase your number of good deeds and ask Allah to accept them.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.