This is why hajj is a mandatory worship that must be performed in all urgency.
When one completes his pilgrimage, all past mistakes are purged, including transgression of others’ rights. One becomes as pure as a newborn. The Rasul of Allah (saw) says to doubt whether your sins have been forgiven after your pilgrimage is the biggest sin of all.
Is it not absurd to miss such an opportunity? Especially when the time of death is unknown, is it not rational to become cleansed and purified from all negative energies and to not pass on to the life after death with such burdens?
As to the spiritual component of pilgrimage, even if for a very short time, you wear a shroud to symbolize being stripped of all worldly and material values and dive into the infinite values of higher matter.[1] To become stripped of the identity and swim without an ego in the ocean of infinite consciousness. To see the face of Allah at the Kaaba and converse with the beloved…!
As for fasting and giving alms…
Fasting is a special requisite to enable the experience of one’s angelic state. It is a profound blessing. It is to allow you to recognize that you are essentially a being independent of food, drink, sex, ill thoughts and ill speech. Only 29 days in 365 days! It is to help you realize that you are not your body, but a being of consciousness consisting of angelic properties.
Paying alms (zakat), on the other hand, is based on the understanding that it is He who is present in every iota of existence, and thus to share with them at least one-fortieth of your wealth…
Here is the simplest explanation of Islam taught in the Quran by the Rasul of Allah (saw) who says, “Ease and facilitate do not harden, cause to love not hate”…[2]
Having outlined what the Quran requests of us, as taught by the Rasul (saw) let us now have a look at the concept of sin and what repentance means.
The sin of the ego has enclosed you like mountains
You seek the forgiver while unaware of your sins
(Niyazi Mısri)