Ground Zero

I think Fajar jamma’h was about to finish when we reached our place in Makkah. I can tell this because there was a mosque (Masjid-e-Hijra) right opposite our hotel. The road this masjid and our hotel was located at, was also called Shahrah-e-Hijra (Hijra Road) as this was the route taken by the Prophet (SAW) while migrating from Makkah to Madinah. We left our bus, collected our baggage, and gathered in hotel reception. There we were to be handed over room-keys, and I was a bit amazed to see that the keys were digital. We were also introduced to a Mufti sb, whom we saw earlier in the bus as well, when we stopped at Muaa’lam‘s office. He worked for the maktab we were registered with. He was a Pakistani guy though. He first gave us a short lecture on the rituals of Umrah, which we were to perform in a while. Yup, after you reach Haram sharif, the first thing we were supposed to do was Umrah, because that is what we did niyyat for, when we are doing Hajj-e-Tammatu’, which most of the hajjis from Pakistan/outside-world do. After performing Umrah, we were to be free from Ihram restrictions.

Khair he explained the details, which we’ll see in a bit, and offered his services to lead us through Umrah if we make it to the same place in 30-35 mins. It was a good offer indeed, as most of us were first-timers, and even after reading the Hajj books, which I hardly read 1 or 2, it was something new, and we wanted to do it right the first time off-course. Being led by a Mufti sb at such a time, was no less than a blessing, I thought. The time he gave us was to freshen up ourselves, and offer Fajar.

Our room was at 15th floor if I remember correctly. It was a small studio room, with 3 single beds, a chest of drawers, a TV, a small fridge, a cooker, a sink, a kitchen shelf, and a washroom. As it was 3 of us, so the room was a good fit bed-  wise, but a bit smaller, size-wise. But we were conent with We took quick showers, and prepared for salah.

After salah, we quickly headed for hotel reception to catch Mufti sb, who was waiting for the group to complete. In a while all of us, 17 to be exact, were there.  Our group was a sub-group of a larger group of 150 people. Rest of the group had already reached there almost 13 days before us. Mufti sb advised us to stay together, which is one of the near-to-impossible things , as we would see later. Our GL sb (group leader), was also with us, and he was telling us different signs on the way to Masjid to remember our way back, as its a common problem for people to get lost in such a big gathering, especially with the elderly. One most important bit was, if you are lost, come back to Masjid-e-Harram. Call somebody from the group organizers, and they will reach you, as it was nearly impossible to track somebody on the road in such a crowd.

Mufti sb also advised us to keep our eyes on the ground after entering Masjid-e-Harram, and dont lookup, untill you reach a place where you can see Khana-e-Kaa’ba clearly. As, he said, when you look at the Kaa’ba for the first time, during that first look, whatever Duaa’ you make, it is accepted. So you should be at a place where you can see Kaa’ba clearly and conviniently, as then you can prolong your first look and make more duaa’s. We were told to make our first Duaa’ as “O Allah! Please accept all of my duaa’s” , so that after that whatever duaa’ you make, it is accepted. I dont doubt the intention of the person who was telling us this, but I thought of it as cheating with Allah   (na’uz billah)

Mufti sb said he would guide us through the corridors of Masjid as we’d be walking with our eyes on ground. So he did. After walking for a couple of minutes, he told us to stop and that Kaa’ba was in our clear sight now and we should look up.

Lo & behold! It was just there, right in front of our eyes. The house for which we have always been saying, “Munh taraf Khana Kaa’ba sharif ke” (facing towards Khana Kaa’ba sharif), was there in front of us. We were at ground zero. It is a life-time moment, believe me. And Kaa’ba has such a mesmerizing effect that, for a moment, we almost forgot where we are. And the moment you get your senses back, you burst into tears. I can’t describe it here, as words cannot do justice to the feeling you get at that time, and everybody has a different experience. But yes you forget to cheat Allah (na’uzbillah )

After duaa, we headed for Tawwaf i.e. making 7 rounds around Kaa’ba. It was a really good time, after Fajar i.e., to do Tawwaf, as it wasn’t hot yet, and there weren’t many people around. Well there was quite a good number of people around, but the definition for “many” changes at that time

We were heading towards the starting point for Tawwaf, in line with Hajar-e-Aswad, and it is marked with a vertical green light on the other end, when I  realized that Mufti sb and rest of our group is nowhere to be seen  It was only 5 of us there, my family, and 2 other aunties from a family we became friends with during our journey from Jeddah to Makkah. So much for staying together. Khair luckily, one of aunties had been for Umrah 2-3 times before this, so she knew most of the details. So she led us into Tawwaf.

You start with Hajar-e-Aswad on your left, and the green light on your right, and start moving anti-clock wise around Kaa’ba. Before starting you are supposed to kiss Hajar-e-Aswad, and say specific words to praise Allah, but as kissing Hajar-e-Aswad is not possible in such a crowd, you can point your hands towards it, and kiss your hands instead. This is called Isti’laam. And you are supposed to do this before starting all the 7 rounds i.e. at the end of every round.

During Tawaaf, the closer you are to Kaa’ba, the lesser distance you have to walk. So ideally you should do Tawwaf as close to Kaa’ba as possible, which you can do in normall days. But there is another factor to this equation; the closer you are to Kaa’ba, the more pushing you get to tolerate, particulary during Hajj days, it can be seriously dangerous, specially for elderly.

… to be continued …

The Hajj Convoy – continued …

We hardly sat for a while, after I was done with Ihram and stuff, that boarding for our flight started. It was a Saudi Airline flight. We waited for a while to let the qeue at departure gate shorten. Once it was a bit less crowded, we left our seats. Got down to the airport, boarded the bus, got off, and boarded the plane. Now was the time for final goodbyes to the family, some of whom were still outside in the airport parking, and some were already on their way back home. We were air borne after a while.

The flight went smooth. I had GL of another group travelling in the same plane sitting beside me, so had the oppurtunity of learning few more things on my way. He was a very nice guy from Peshawar. We talked about the package price of his group and that of ours as well

I knew, so far, only one person from my own group, Dr. sb, who was a senior citizen, and a very nice person. I would meet rest of my group at Jeddah airport. I mean I have seen them in a couple of group meetings before hand, but didn’t had the oppurtunity to introduce ourselves. I had met GL sb off course.

The only worrying thing that happened during flight was that I used a wet-towel given by the cabin staff, which was smelling lemon, only to realize later on that we are not allowed to use anything with a fragrence while in Ihram. GL sb sitting beside me, assured me that its not a big problem, as I didnt do it knowingly, and will take a while to get used to with Ihram restrictions. Although I should do some sadqa to cover for this. I will come to these restrictions in detail in my next post. I hurridly updated my mother & sis, to not to use the towel. Also you need to be aware of the Meeqat if you havent done neeyat yet. As you cannot cross Meeqat without neeyat for Hajj or Umrah. I will come to this in detail in my next post. When the plane is about to cross Meeqat, there is an announcement well before time.

Saudi Airline’s food was good, I think it was lamb with rice for dinner

We reached Jeddah International Airport a little before 9′o clock at night. We were then driven to Hajj Terminal, which was quite far from Jeddah International. We were checked for vaccinations we had in Pakistan in the first waiting lounge of Hajj Terminal. Then, after a while, we were called for immigration control for passport check, which was a bit unusual, as it normally takes 1-3 hrs before this call, whereas we had been there for no more than 30-40 mins. Anway, good for us.

We were standing at the end of a qeue, when we were called to the front to form a new qeue as next counter was opened. You can imagine how happy we would be at that moment :) The immigration officer was a nice guy, and I even tried to speak Arabic with him , using whatever remained in my mind from the Arabic course I did some 3 months ago. After collecting our baggage, we put our passports in our bags, only to get them out again before getting out of the baggage area. After getting out, we were about to put them back in, when we were asked again for passports. They pasted some stuff inside the passports, and showed us the way to Pakistan’s waiting area at the Hajj Terminal. It had seperate waiting areas for different countries. Pakistan’s area had 4 sections named, Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar & Quetta. On our way to the waiting area, we had to show our passport at least 3 more times, and we completely dismissed the idea of putting the passports in any bag or stuff We were better off with them being in our hands.

Now we had to wait for the buses. You can only board the bus of your serving office (Maktab Al Khidmah). We were told that it can take hours. And it did, but not much. I think our bus arrived in less than 2 hrs. After the bus came, our Maktab number was announced and we qeued for bus. And guess what? yes right, passports again. We were taken to our bus in a line-formation, and at the bus’ door, we were asked for the passports one last time, not to be returned at all this time. Yes, they will keep your passport. Your passport will travel with you wherever you go, but it will not be in your possession, rather in bus driver’s possession, who will submit it to the registration office of the city you are entering, e.g. Makkah or Madinah.

In the bus we were treated with water, juice & biscuits, apparently by the Saudi goverment. It was a 3-4 hrs journey. When we reached our place in Makkah, it was Fajjar time.

And this was the end of our first journey from Islamabad to Makkah.

The Hajj Convoy

As I said earlier, I will try to publish the details of my Hajj journey on this blog in the form of a Hajj Diary. I will try to be as frequent as I can, so as you guys can keep things in sequence. This is the first post for the diary.

A convoy it was, indeed, at least for me. It was 4 vehicles with at least 4 people each. Nearby family has all come to see us off for the big journey. We left home in an orderly manner, but only untill the first crossing. Everybody then took their preferred route to airport, thinking theirs is the fastest. So much for a united family And it was near Fatima Jinnah Park, when at least 3 of us crossed each other’s ways, and moved together towards the airport. The 4th one had already reached there, and was waiting for us.

The first thing I did after reaching airport was to check with our group leader, if he has reached or not. He was somewhere nearby. The second thing I did was to check with him again , and he confirmed that he has reached. We exchanged good wishes with the family, along with some sentimental scenes, and headed towards “International Departures”. Yes you are right, we kept waving hands to the family, who would stay there till the time we are no more visible, may be after that as well, for a while.

The first adventure of the journey met us right on the first counter, when we presented our baggage to Anti Norcotics staff, for investigation. As the bags were locked, the uniformed guy asked us to unlock it. We started searching for the keys. We searched in all the hand-bags, but there were no keys to be found. Giving him an embarassing look, I started the search all over with same results, and gave him another embarassing look. Giving up, I asked him to break the locks, as we probably have forgotten the keys at home. On this my mother told the guy, “We are going for Hajj. What would we take with us that concerns you.” Lo & behold! the guy smiled, and said we can go, and asked for prayers at Haramain Sharifain. Yes, we got through without checking My mother’s face was worth watching at this moment, as she was delighted to see the Barkat of the sacred journey already pouring in

Khair, we checked in and got through immigration stuff. As we reached waiting lounge of Islamabad International, it was a scene to be watched. It was white all over. People moving around in Ihram, getting ready, offering Nafals … the Hajj journey had started there.

I would share a tip here, if you plan to go for Hajj next time. I was told this by my group leader (whom we will call GL from now on). Dont do neeyat, untill the plane has left the ground. You can put on Ihram, offer Nawafil, but dont do neeyat. As if your flight got delayed for some reason, or God forbid, cancelled at the eleventh hour, you are now in Ihram, and have to abide by all the restrictions of Ihram. GL was telling that once a group’s flight got delayed by 1 day, and the people returned to their homes in Ihram. Once you have done neeyat, you can’t take Ihram off, unless you have fulfilled your neeyat of Hajj or Umrah. So be careful.

I hadn’t changed yet, so got aside in the men’s prayer area and got myself into 2 white sheets. Dont give me strange looks, everybody was changing there :S Once I got into the white sheets, it felt a bit different.

… to be continued …

 

Hello guys

Alhamdulillah I had a great trip to Haramain Sharifain. Now I am back to business. I came back from Saudia Arabia last Tuesday, to Islamabad, and flew back to London this Sunday, with Monday in office. My apologies to everybody in Pakistan, as I couldn’t talk to anybody. It was harldy 3-4 days in Pakistan, and those were all filled with guests.

Anyway, I took a lot of pictures, will share those with you. I have a lot to tell as well

I will try to get back to Tareeqat as well, starting from the point where we left.

Please remember me in your prayers.