So, Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, said, “The first thing we have to do when we go to Ka`bah to perform Hajj, `Umrah, or prayer, is to give our salām to the Holy Ka`bah, saying, “As-salāmu `alayka, yā Ka`abatullah! As- salāmu `alayka, yā Hajar al-Aswad! As-salāmu `alayka, yā Baytullah!” As we said before, Awlīyāullāh hear a response coming back, saying, “Wa `alayka ‘s-salām, yā `Abd Allah!” Where is that salām coming from? It is coming from the House of Allah (swt) and from Hajar al-Aswad.
Grandshaykh ق said, “Receiving a salām from the Holy Ka`bah is not like receiving a salām from you and me. Even if you do not hear it, Awlīyāullāh hear, so you must still give it. Whether you hear or not, Ka`bah will answer you, an answer coming from Heavens, carrying all power of Jannah with it!”
Bayt al-Ma`mūr is the Heavenly Ka`bah in the Fourth Heaven where the Prophet (s) prayed when he went to Isrā’ wa ‘l-Mi`rāj on the 27th of Rajab. That salām is coming from there! That means, you have already been put in the Fourth Heaven; you have established the first step in Heaven. That is why the Fifth Pillar of Islam, Hajj, is very important, not because you go there to go up and down from Makkah to `Arafat, but there are secrets that have been carried along all the way. One of these secrets is that Allah (swt) wants to give those who go for Hajj or `Umrah or to pray there to be established in the Fourth Heaven! Allah’s Mercy is big and huge. That is why, it is a fard, an obligation, to speak with the Holy Ka`bah and say, “As-salāmu `alayka, yā Ka`batullah!”
Some people who don’t know ask, “Why are you talking to it? It doesn’t hear or speak.” When Sayyīdinā `Umar (r) was kissing the Black Stone, the Happy Stone, he said, “You don’t give harm or benefit. If I didn’t see the Prophet (s) kissing you, I would never kiss you.” Today people are dying to kiss the Black Stone. What did Sayyīdinā `Ali (r) respond to Sayyīdinā `Umar (r), as reported by Ibn `Asakir (r)? He said, “Don’t say that, yā `Umar! That stone is going to witness for you on Judgment Day that you made the Shahadah there.” And Sayyīdinā `Umar (r) said, “Sayyīdinā `Ali (r) saved me in two places in my life,” and that was one of them. So, knowledge changes in different times and places, and you have to keep looking at Hajar al-Aswad or to the Ka`bah when praying there.
[Excerpted from the newly published book: Makkan Openings: A Pilgrim’s Guide to Divine Secrets]
