Al-Hajj 22:27

The third command given to Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) was أَذِّن فِي النَّاسِ بِالْحَجِّ (Announce among people about the obligation of Hajj - 22:2'7). Ibn Abi Hatim has related from Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ that when Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) was commanded by Allah to make this proclamation, he submitted that the place where he stood was an uninhabited desolate plane with nobody to hear the proclamation whereas he lacked the means to convey it to the populated areas. Allah Ta’ ala then told him that he was required only to make the proclamation and the responsibility for conveying it to the four corners of the world rested with Himself, that is Allah Ta’ ala. Thereupon Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) stood at مقام ابراھیم (Station of Ibrahim) and made the proclamation and Allah Ta’ ala magnified his voice so that it was heard all round the earth. It is also related that he made the proclamation from the top of the mount Abu Qubais (جبل أبی قبَیس). He put his fingers in his ears, turned his face in four directions and called out "0 people! Allah has established His House and made it obligatory upon you to make pilgrimage to it. So obey the command of your Lord."

It is also mentioned in this narration that Allah Ta’ ala so decreed that the announcement was heard miraculously all over the world, not only by the people living then, but also by all those yet to be born upto the Day of Resurrection. And all those who are destined to perform the pilgrimage responded to the call with the words اللَّھُمَّ لَبَّیک لَبَّیک . Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ says that the Talbiyah during the pilgrimage has its origin in this response to the call of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) . (Qurtubi, Mazhari)

Further on, the verse describes the tradition which has been established for all times as a result of the proclamation of Sayyidna Ibrahim namely يَأْتُوكَ رِ‌جَالًا وَعَلَىٰ كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ‌ يَأْتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ (22:28) meaning that people will come to Baitullah from the four corners of the earth, some on foot and others on their mounts, which will become lean because of the long distances traversed by them. From that remote time until today, though thousands of years have elapsed, people come to Baitullah to perform pilgrimage, just as they did in the earliest times. All the prophets who came after Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) and their followers strictly observed this tradition. During the long period of ignorance after Sayyidna ` Isa' (علیہ السلام) ، the Arabs, even though they lapsed into the evils of idolatry, yet they continued to perform very faithfully all the rituals of the pilgrimage precisely as they had inherited them from the time of Sayyidna Ibrahim (علیہ السلام) .