Sharia (sharia—the sacred law) comprises twelve qualities that encompass the attributes of iman (faith); ... (Of these) the fifth is hajj, which is kamāl (perfection) ... (Küt, II, 140)
There are two kinds of hajj: hajj in absence (ghayba) and hajj in presence (ḥuḍūr). One who is in a state of absence in Mecca is as if he were at home. For this absence is not a preferable absence. One who is in a state of presence at home is like one who is present at the Kaʿba. Yet this presence, too, is not a preferable state of presence. Hajj is a mujahada (striving) undertaken for the unveiling of mushāhada (direct witnessing), but mujahada is not the cause (ʿilla) of mushāhada, only its means (sabab). The means has little effect upon the realities (maʿānī). The aim of hajj is not to see the House of God (bayt Allāh), but for the unveiling of mushāhada. (Hujwīrī, 394–395)
In hajj, the qalb (the heart) ascends to the station of detachment from the nafs (the lower self), the nafs is removed from its desires, and all attachments (other than Allah) are annihilated. In summary, the secret in all these is to purify from mā siwā Allāh (all that is other than Allah), to turn one's himma (spiritual aspiration) toward the Real (al-Ḥaqq), to abandon every beloved other than Him, to fast without seeing the fast as fasting, and to perform hajj in the realm of mushāhada. Thus, this third field belongs to the gaze of one who looks toward ihsan (spiritual excellence). (Ravza, 196)