A Reflection on Sacred Space, Egoity and the Self by Sayyid Amjad H. Shah Naqavi

Traditionally, when making the pilgrimage (ḥajj) to the Kaʿbah, the intention was to arrive in a sacred space and behold in a state of deference; in other words, to keep one’s glance upon the House of God as an act of worship. When departing, it is an ethical necessity for the worshipper not to turn one’s back on the Kaʿbah, once again out of deference for the sacred space. These same intentions and postures, and the meaning and importance thereof, apply equally to those travelling to visit (ziyārah) the shrines of the infallible Imāms of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them. Such places must be sites not for the self, but for the due worship owed to God, or the due deference owed those in whose presence we arrive.

In the Holy Shrines, a great effort is made by both pilgrims and ushers to protect the sacred atmosphere. Far too often, however, we see some people arrive at the Kaʿbah or a shrine, and immediately turn their backs upon the site in order to take a selfie, video call friends or family, or broadcast themselves to a watching public via social media. Such actions are shaped by egotism (anāniyyah) and egoity (inniyyah) and are deeply opposed to the proper conduct of the true pilgrim. Indeed, we may further note that inniyyah is a homograph for unniyyah, the Arabicisation of the Greek είναι (‘to be’), which refers in gnosis (ʿirfān) to the realisation of existence as permanent. Anāniyyah, meanwhile, refers also to the reality to which everything else is added. The problem of egotism and egoity, then, poses questions regarding what it means to be in a sacred space, questions regarding what is fleeting and what is permanent, and, above all, questions about the relationship between the self and the sacred.

The primacy of the ‘I’ in the culture of today – most egregiously evinced in the name of the ‘iPhone’ – has destroyed sacred space. People walk in the rituals of ḥajj, broadcasting themselves in the name of tablīgh. Yet these self-appointed ‘preachers’ understand nothing of what it means to be in a state of ritual worship. The behaviour of these individuals not only destroys the very essence of the ḥajj and the ziyārah – indeed, it mars any prayer or supplication made with an intention of egotism and egoity – but also the deference that is essential to any act of pilgrimage or supplication. In this way, riyāʾ creeps in and destroys the acts of worship and renders them null insofar as fiqh is concerned.

For these ‘preachers’ or self-promoters, the Kaʿbah becomes not a sacred space but rather a prop in a story wherein they are the protagonist. As our sage Hādī Sabzavārī, may God sanctify his soul, wrote in his Sharḥ al-Asmāʾ wa Sharḥ Duʿāʾ al-Jawshan al-Kabīr, which we have translated as The Grand Armour:

And it is known that, after arriving at the Kaʿbah of Intent (kaʿbat al-murād), to be become occupied with the water-skin (al-mazād) would be an evil consequence of the deed (wabāl), and the arrival is not only [to be] facilitated in tongue (lisānan), but in state (ḥalan), in degree (muqāman), in knowledge (ʿilman), in essence (ʿaynan), and in reality (ḥaqqan).

This passage sums up our argument most eloquently. It is a must for the pilgrim not to become distracted by baggage of any sort, for that would spoil ‘the arrival’ and presence before the Kaʿbah or the Holy Shrine. For this standing, be it before the Kaʿbah or a sacred shrine, must be a standing ‘in state (ḥalan), in degree (muqāman), in knowledge (ʿilman), in essence (ʿaynan), and in reality (ḥaqqan)’ – and not a standing in egotism (anāniyyah) and egoity (inniyyah).

Alas, nowadays, no distinction remains for these individuals between sacred space and profane space. For them, such spaces have become stages for the self, arenas for egotism, and veils of vanity. The vast majority of pilgrims arrive having yearned to be there and to be fully present, in order to venerate these sacred spaces. If there is no relief from such external intrusions in sacred spaces, the pilgrim should muster the art of khalwah (seclusion) despite being in a maḥfil (assembly).