Sahih al-Bukhari — Hadith 1521
Narrated by Abu Hurairah
مَنْ حَجَّ لِلَّهِ فَلَمْ يَرْفُثْ وَلَمْ يَفْسُقْ رَجَعَ كَيَوْمِ وَلَدَتْهُ أُمُّهُ
Translation
The Prophet said: 'Whoever performs Hajj for Allah's pleasure and does not have sexual relations with his wife, and does not do evil or sins, then he will return after Hajj free from all sins as if he were born anew.'
Commentary
This hadith describes the Hajj pilgrimage as a complete spiritual rebirth. The phrase 'as if born anew' (literally: 'as the day his mother bore him') means a total erasure of past sins — not a metaphorical cleansing but a complete reset. The conditions are significant: the Hajj must be performed sincerely for God's sake, and the pilgrim must maintain moral discipline throughout. This promise of total renewal makes Hajj unique among the Five Pillars as a once-in-a-lifetime act of transformative power.