The Kabah is Empty…but are our hearts?
Surah Tawba (Repentance): Vereses 18–19
The mosques of Allah are only to be maintained by those who believe in Allah and the Last Day and establish prayer and give zakah and do not fear except Allah, for it is expected that those will be of the [rightly] guided. Have you made the providing of water for the pilgrim and the maintenance of al-Masjid al-Haram equal to [the deeds of] one who believes in Allah and the Last Day and strives in the path (sabil) of Allah ? They are not equal in the sight of Allah . And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people.
Thus, the Quraysh were formalists. They safeguarded the outward while leaving off the inward essence.
Of all details why did Allah mention providing water to pilgrims? Perhaps because, in the heat of the desert, water is the most essential element. It is the life principle. Hence, why Allah likens rain to revelation. In a similar vein, the great sages of the Islamic tradition likened dhikr to drawing water from a well (wird). The remembrance of Allah in all its forms is to our spirit as water is to the body.
The Quraysh, however, quench the spiritual thirst of others, but forget their own hydration. In serving others out of a subtle arrogance, they fool themselves into thinking they are righteous. They do not sit for a moment to reflect on their inward reality — that is why Allah probes them. The more engrossed we are in the dross of the dunya, the easier it is to overlook our thirst. The stiller we are, the more we crave for water.
What about the point of preserving the mosque? To preserve a building in a desert is no easy task. If left alone, the House is bound to succumb to the elements. But the Quraysh forgot to tend to the Kabah within: their hearts. In their consumption with outward forms, they left their inward derelict. They forgot that, ultimately, all souls must make a pilgrimage to their own kabah. Perhaps that is the path (sabil) that those who believe in Allah are striving in: the path to the heart, to its reclamation from the arrogance of our egos — the most subtle idol.
