Taasbih's and jewellery every thing is availale in these small side stalls
The Hilton Hotel just outside the Haram
8th June 2007We left New Delhi in an Air India plane to Saudi.Now instead of leaving directly to Jeddah as it was supposed to "our good friends" in Air India decided to stop in Lucknow which they were supposed to have done earlier and left us to sweat in the plane for just about an hour and a half.Very caring and kind of them if i may add..As we were landing in Jeddah the landing was "bumpier" than usual and our captain announced that due to a technical error it would take about 5-10 minutes longer. Fast forward 1 hour and we were still in about the same situation then we heard some machines and saw what appeared to be some tow trucks and then our plane was literally dragged across the tarmac to the place where it was supposed to be. We were later to discover that it had been an emergency landing and that our plane had been experiencing some problems with its landing gear...hmmm...Alhamdullillah-All Praise be to God we survived.
When we entered the airport and stood in the passport/immigration line a very pleasent thing happened.We were standing at the back of the line and then suddenly one of the immigration officers pointed at my mother and said"Ya Ummi-which in arabic means O my Mother" and asked her and then us together as a family to go to the front of the line leaving everybody behind us and those in front of us ... wishing that they has brought their families as well.
Once we cleared the immigration and got our baggage we were greeted at the airport by 2 of my uncles and they then dropped us of at one of my uncle's house.Sounds confusing don't worry its meant to be!
Prayed my Maghrib at the King Saud mosque which is a beautiful mosque and is named after the founder of Saudi Arabia.
9th June 2007Today went for my first Umrah(well first.. excluding the one that i did when i was three). Men when they do the Umrah or the Hajj have to do it wearing an ihram which is basically twowhite pieces of cloth which are drapped around one's body and we are not allowed to wear any cloth that is woven.We started out from Jeddah to Makkah wearing our ihrams. The Journey itself from Jeddah to Makkah is about an hour however after having to register and completeing all the neccesary protocol it takes about 2 hours.
We then entered the Haram(which is the compound that encloses the Kaabah and the Holy mosque) from the King Abdul Aziz Gate. After moving a few steps in front i gotmy first real sight of the Kaabah which was huge. Once one sights the Kaabah for the first time it is said that Inshallah-God Willing whatever one asks for it will be granted.The Kaabah is much bigger in real life than one can imagine ...it is about 30 feet high.
After praying our Asr prayer we commenced our tawaaf which is a circulation of the Kaabah and 1 tawaaf is equal to 7 rounds of the kaabah in each round one reads a different doa or prayer.At the end of the tawaaf we are required to pray two rakka's of prayer.
After tawaaf it was time for Maghrib,after praying Maghrib we then started on our Saee which i a 7 time to and fro from two points known as Safa and Marwa. This is in accordance with what Hajar(may Allah be pleased with her) the second wife of the Prophet Abraham(a.s.) did when she was looking for water for her littlr infant son the prophet Ismail(a.s).After completion of the Saee both men and Women are required to cut a small portion of their hair or for men to shave it off is also an option after which two rakaats are prayed in thanks to Allah(s.w.t.).
It was about 10 pm when we finished our first Umrah and by the time we go back home it was 12 midnight and we got to sleep at about a am in the morining. Needless to say we were thoroughly exhausted.
10th June 2007Today at about 4pm we started out for Makkah we did not go earlier as it was supposed to be very hot before that time.This time Uncle no. 3 dropped us off at Makkah.We did our second Umrah althrough it was more tiring than before probably because the previous day's exerions.I tried to kiss the Hajri Aswad (black stone) however there was so much justling and pushing and shoving by everyone that i decided to try some other time when it was less crowded althorugh i have not seen it less crowded for the line for the Hajri Aswad.We came back at about 12 minight to the hotel room with a bit of cough and sleepy eyes.
At about 4 15 am in the morning my Mum woke us up for Fajr prayer which was to be prayed in the Haram seeing as how we were in Makkah and so close to the Haram.After some tossing in bed I woke up and cam down from the Hotel room expecting to see a few people on the streets as it was 4 in the morning but my my suprise the streets were lined with crowds of people heading to the Haram for Fajr prayer. This was somehing that I was to see through my stay in Makkah every time there was a prayer it would be as if the whole of Makkah turned out for prayer Mashallah-By the will of God.At the fajr time there were easily tens of thousands of people and when i reached the Haram i had to pray on the Marble floor and standing next to me were thousands of people all awake before the cracka' dawn with one purpose one aim all praying to one God. It was truly awe inspiring.
Out of the many facsinating things that i saw in Makkah was that there were people of every colour , every nationality every shape, size and social status all standing together each indistinguishable in the above mentioned categories next to each other and it wouldn't matter who was standing next to you whether it was a prince or a pauper,every one was equal in front of God.
Today i saw an arab boy he must have been about 11 or 12 and he was standing on top of his cart and he was shouting "pach riyal! pach riyal!" apparently Urdu is one of the main languages spoken in Makkah.Anytime that i would get lost in the Haram i would just go one the workers and speak in Urdu and ask for directions even the arabs working in the Haram were shouting directions in Urdu.
11th June 2007Did not do Umrah today however did tawaaf and was lucky enough by God's grace to manage to stand at the doors of the Kaabah(Muntazil) and make Doa there as we decided to do the tawaaf in the afternoon as there were less people due to the heat which was hot but not very hot.I was actually very blessed to be able to make supplication or doa at the doors of the Kaabah as it is normally very crowded and hence extremely difficult to reach there let alone be able to stand there for as long as i was able to do so alhamdullillah-All praise is to God.There was stone sla which i was able to grab and it is supposed to be one of the best places to be able to make doa in the Haram.We came back to Jeddah the next day .
Will be leaving for Madinah tomorrow inshAllah.
