Do Hajj when you’re young before you have kids - the effect can last generations.

Many people make the mistake of doing Hajj when their marriages have seasoned and they have older kids, even though they were financially able to do it before having kids.

The Hajj has a profound impact on their religiosity, and they take their Islam more seriously from this point forward.

Before Hajj, Islam was passive, but now, after Hajj, they have fully committed to following it as best as they can Alhumdulilah.

It changes their life.

This is expected and what we should want out of Hajj, but the problem is there is now a divide between your religious standards and expectations, versus your kids’ standards.

You became religious after Hajj, but now it’s near impossible to retroactively try to make your kids take the Deen more seriously because they are still living Islam the way you “taught” them: as a bystander who just proclaims Islam by mouth with no real action.

That is how your kids saw Islam for years - a passive experience that involves going to Eid prayer twice a year and maybe fasting some days in Ramadan.

For the most part your kids assimilated and drank the secular kool-aid.

After Hajj, you’re praying five times a day and growing your beard, or wearing the hijab, but your kids are smoking weed and going to clubs, scantily clad and you have no control.

It eats you up inside, and you realize you screwed up.

Now let’s say you went to Hajj before having kids.

Your life will still change for the better, and arguably you will be even more religious than when you go as an older man because you will do the Hajj with more energy, zeal, and passion:

1. You will run between Safa and Marwa instead of taking the wheelchair.

2. You will do tawaf with your own two feet instead of a scooter.

3. You will be able to stay in Muzdalifah and follow the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ sleeping out in the open.

4. You can stone the shaytan without having to hire someone to do it on your behalf.

Every act of worship will feel better when you’re younger, and the connection to Allah will be stronger.

Now when you go back home after Hajj with a renewed sense of purpose and passion for Islam, you will start to study and learn more about Islam, and now you’re on a path to be an effective teacher for your children.

You’re a young couple on a mission now, and your children’s faith is going to have a solid bedrock in sha Allah due to your dedication to Allah’s cause.

You now realize that Hajj wasn’t just about changing your life, but the life of your future generations.