Hajj is of great benefit and for well-being for all people of the world, be they Muslim or not. As Quran calls all human being to gain benefits from Hajj.
“And proclaim the Hajj to all the people: they will come to you … from distant places, that they may witness the benefits for them.” (Quran Surah al-Hajj 22: 28)
One of the significant benefit of hajj is peace building. Hajj rituals, moreover, convey messages of peace: peace with oneself, peace among Muslims, peace with non-Muslims, and peace with the environment and with nature.
Hajj teaches a Muslim to live in peace with his fellow Muslim brothers and sisters irrespective of their different views or races.
It has been reported that the Hajj promotes “harmony among ethnic groups and Islamic sects and leads to more favourable attitudes toward women, including greater acceptance of female education and employment.”
And while the report recognizes that some observers have assumed that the pilgrimage serves to isolate Muslims from non-Muslims, the study concluded that, though the Hajj increases unity among Muslims, it doesn’t foster “antipathy toward non-Muslims.”
The period fixed for Hajj, Dhul Hijjah, is a sacred months in which launching wars and fighting is prohibited. This is to maintain and promote peace in the world.
When the pilgrim puts off his normal clothes and wears the clothes of iharm, he then remembers that one day he will leave this world with nothing, and that what counts are only good deeds.
Millions of Muslims—with different backgrounds, languages, races, and juristic schools—offer Hajj, facing a single Kaaba, performing the same rituals, and wearing similar clothes.
A pilgrim should not harm any living thing, and is not allowed to quarrel or fight with anything or anyone. The state of ihram teaches a Muslim to be peaceful and forgiving, in spite of being inevitably pushed and shoved by some of the millions of people around him.
The pilgrim at Hajj meets and peacefully deals with people from different languages, ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, and schools; so he trains himself to accept plurality and diversity. He will be open to live in peace and co-exist with people of different faiths and cooperate with them for the betterment of their community and the whole world.
It is prohibited at Hajj for a Muslim, while in the state of ihram, to hunt, hurt, injure or kill a free animal, including domesticated animals, and whether it is hunted for eating or not. It is absolutely prohibited to hunt in the Haram even if the hunter is not in the state of ihram.
It is also impermissible for any person to cut or pull out from roots, trees, plants or other kinds of vegetation including thorny bushes, etc., growing in the sacred precincts of Makkah.
On returning back home, a Muslim will be well trained on how to live in peace with members of his community who may differ with him in juristic opinions, language, race, etc.
A Muslim will be peaceful towards all his neighbuors, friends, co-workers, and members of the community.
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