How do you know whether Allah accepted your Haj or not?

A friend of mine wrote a post in which he remembered with bitterness when a friend of his declared that his Haj was not accepted by Allah because he worked in a bank those days. It reminded me an instance when a relative of mine, while on his way out from a mosque, was stopped by a gentleman who said, ‘Your prayer was not accepted. Your trouser (length) was below your ankles.’ My relative replied, ‘Did you hear a (divine) voice?’

One of my brother’s friends knows A R Rahman personally and hosts him whenever he visits Makkah. He told that A R Rahman is so pious that he sits in the mosque alone for hours, thanking Allah for all the blessing that has been showed on him. To take another example, a colleague told me that his relative, who worked in newspaper office in Jeddah, saw Lucky Ali visiting the office. He could not recognize him first, but soon after recognizing in him he sat down to chat with him. He asked Lucky Ali why he would not give up singing, as music is haram. Lucky Ali said, ‘We had no choice. We were born as part of the entertainment industry, and got in this business. You live in the holy land, so invoke Allah that He finds a better source of income for me.’ Hearing this, I could recall piety of Lucky Ali as some text on his first album cover was dedicated to Allah, which I saw in my teenage.

We can comment on what is right and wrong, what is halaal and haram, if it has been agreed upon by scholars, but we do not have an authority to comment whether good deeds are accepted by Allah or not, because only Allah knows it for sure. Allah mentions in several verses in Quran that no good deeds are wasted. Not only this, we learn from the hadith that even unbelievers get the rewards of good deeds in this world. How else can Allah be thankful, knowledgeable and just if He doesn’t repay a good deed with goodness? For example, He says:

[004:124] And whoever does righteous good deeds, male or female, and is a (true) believer [in the Oneness of Allâh (Muslim)], such will enter Paradise and not the least injustice, even to the size of a Naqîra (speck on the back of a date stone), will be done to them.

[004:173] So, as for those who believed (in the Oneness of Allâh – Islâmic Monotheism) and did deeds of righteousness, He will give them their (due) rewards – and more out of His bounty.

[055:060] Is there any reward for good other than good?

[099:007] So, whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant) shall see it.

The only thing that can make a difference in the way the good deeds are received by Allah is the intention of the person while doing the deeds. If a person seeks worldly glory through his charity, he will get the glory, but another who seeks to please Allah through his charity may not get the glory, but will certainly get better rewards in the Hereafter. Similarly, a good word spoken out of humility and genuine warmth in heart will please Allah, but if it was spoken out of cunningness or sycophancy, it will get the results what were intended, i.e. pleasing a man.

I believe, if anyone can judge whether a worship was accepted or not, it can be the person himself. If he feels the satisfaction after the worship, he can be content that it was accepted. A scholar was asked, How will a person know whether Haj was accepted or not? He replied, ‘Only Allah knows whether Haj was accepted or not. But, we can say that if it brings any change in your character and habits, you can be assured that Allah accepted it, but instead of any change, you go on doing the things the same way as before, you cannot be sure whether it was accepted or not.’

I know from personal references, that there are some people from India and Pakistan who earn their livelihood from illegal means (not just unislamic, but illegal) and they would visit Makkah every few years, ‘to make their car zero meter’ as one of my relatives termed it. What good is Haj for them if they return to the same business, which is haram and despicable from all kinds of wisdom. There are some who make it a business to come to Makkah every year, and escape after performing Haj or Umra and work illegally or beg on streets. On the other hand, most of the Muslim government employees in India or Pakistan, who have earned their livelihood on halaal means, which is government salary, look up to their retirement when they get a major amount so that they can perform Haj with this income. If we go by statistics, this income has part interest which has accrued over years, and part of this income should be haram, but, Allah will look at their intentions and their situation, whether they had a choice or not, and He is certainly shakirun aleem (The thankful, and Knowledgeable)

As the topic mostly relates to Haj and foolish commentary of people, without much knowledge, I will relate another instance. One of my wife’s aunts said that a religious person told her that a woman’s Haj is only acceptable if she does it from her own income, which means if her husband paid for her Haj, it will be rejected. I rejected this notion as rubbish because a woman uses the income of her husband as her own in all spheres, not just Haj. If we go by this logic, even her food is haram if she did not earn it. I gave her a counter argument, ‘During the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) most of the women did not work, and Muslim women around the world hardly worked till a few decades ago, this means that they could not perform Haj at all.’

As the topic goes on commentary of people without much knowledge, I would relate another instance. I sat in with my friends in India and one of my friend’s uncles came and sat among us. Some people, who grow beard as they age, feel compelled that they should give some advice in religion, even if they did not read much of religious text, so he gave one: ‘Jumaa prayer should only be performed in in a village if there are no proper roads and street lights.’ I replied, ‘During the times of the Prophet (peace be upon him) there were no roads and no street lights, so people could not offer Jumaa prayers at all, right?’