In Mecca : Waiting For Zuhr Prayers

A lot of things have been happening so fast that I could not jot them down all at once. Thought to bring my laptop along but snap it in the last minute due to security reasons. People are scared everywhere nowadays and lap top can be a good target to find all sort of reasons to hold you. One thing after raveling through airports in the Arabic countries is that they could pin point you in anytime and give reasons beyond your imagination to hold you off. And when language is unfamiliar to you then you are dead meat in no time.



I was ridiculously stopped for a pen. Somehow I had a pen hidden discretely within my stuff in the bag. I did not notice that stupid pen myself but it came up on the screen and everyone just kinda bit too excited. Anyway,right now we are in the great holy city of Mecca. In the middle of another hot day that can burn your head in an instant. The best clothes to put on would be a jubah ( that long dress) and a head gear. That’s why they have such a cloth in Arabia---it’s so handy and suitable. The heat is just unbearable; but it’s nice and cosy inside the mosque.

People have started to fill up every spot in the praying area, escaping the heat around the Kaabah. But you know people are crazy sometime when there is a group of people still doing the tawaf even under the scorching sun and 43 over degrees. Somethings are unimaginable here in Mecca. Well it was where miracles happened some 1400 years ago. Amazing isn’t it. Here I am doing the rituals that have been going on for thousand of years even before Islam. This place has been the center of spiritual pilgrimage for so long and I am here as well continuing the traditions. Very much thankful to Allah for giving me this opportunity.

Leaving Madinah for Mecca/The Umrah

As we left madinah for Mecca we made a brief stop at Bir Ali for solat and niat. This is the place to solidify the intention for umrah which is the boundary of al haram. Everyone stops here to make a tw0 rakaat solat and does the niat. Met a friend of mine from Dungun, Ust Hussain, who used to be our neighbour in Dungun Terengganu. Before we moved to Sha Alam; small world isn’t it? Thaousands kilometers away from home and we were talking as we were many many years ago when we sued to have our daily chat late in the afternoon, you know, that neighbor-to-neighbor chat routine. The journey continued and we were backed into the bus for another 8-hour long journey to the holy city of Mecca. After the niat at Bir Ali (The Well of Ali) we were officially in the state of ihram (prohibition). During this state people have to follow strict rules….no killing, no cutting and no sex ……until you are done with the Tawaf and saie. The tawaf was okay although the big crowd slowed us down a little bit. The saie was a bit challenging as it was a compete physical test of stamina. Not easy especially when you run barefooted; the feet felt the excruciating pain against the marble floor especially during the ascending and descending of the two hills- Safa and Marwah. Our saie finished around 1 am and we have 3 hours into the Fajr---should we stay or go back to hit the sack? Everyone was very tired after the long journey, however, we decided to stay on.

At The Raudhah

Raudhah is the place to be in the Prophet’s mosque. It was the place where the Prophet used to worship and make prayers during his life with the Companions in Madinah. The place where wishes are granted and prayers answered. The problem is the place is small and cannot accommodate the visitors all at once. So there we shove and push ourselves into the crowd and impatiently wait for an empty space. InsyaALlah if you have the intention to be there, you will be there and there will be a place for you in that little garden. Allah will make it easy for you. He has made easy Alhamdulillah for me to make solat and offer prayers; an opportunity that was difficult to come by before. I have come here with ,my family to visit the Prophet, his family and his Companions, and so far it had been great and we loved it heavenly. In the Raudhah people act and pray in their own free style, asking ALlah for whatever worldly difficulties that they have been facing. I saw in many of them peace and satisfaction after the prayers; as if the burden has lifted from their shoulders. Hoping ALlah heard them well and will answer their prayers. The answer to their prayers would come around eventually as it was to me. The only thing is that you need to confident in your prayers. I mean really confident that the answers to their call will come to them. In fact this is the power of every muslim in handling and tackling their problems. However some of us don’t really bother to use it and have faith in it.

The ambience in and around the Raudhah has brought into reality the history of the Prophet and his companions that we heard over and over again during the kuliah. The life of the Prophet and his Companions seems to be simple yet full of heavenly nur and tranquility of the heavenly garden. As I ponder beyond the modern accessories of the floor, walls and ceiling, I wish to be among the Companions ; listening to the Prophet about the news from the heavens. How I would be intrigued or maybe shocked with the news but later on religiously embrace them in my life. To be among the Companions whom Allah has granted “redha” and heaven for their perseverance to uphold Islam and the prophet. How I wish to meet my Prophet during every prayer that I attended. I long for my beloved prophet and wish to be one day united with him.

After Asr Prayers

The sun was still burning my face; pinching every inch of the exposed skin. I pace through the crowd to the open door of the mosque as if I was invited to a big party. Like someone is waiting for me inside the mosque; indeed it was. The prophet was there and so were the Companions like Abu Bakr and Umar. The crowd was huge but I did not care as I was used to it ; feeling very welcome indeed. After the Asr prayer met a friend of mine from Dungun and his family. As I was speaking to him my eyes spied a small place there in the mosqye where the crowd gathered for doa and solat. I heard about this place—an elevated platform where the Companions used to gather with the prophet. They were called as-Suffah such as Abu Hurairah (rd) and the like. I approached the place and checked it out just to make sure. I finally found the place I’ve been looking for. Awesome. I immediately got a space and offered a prayer. I brought myself to the time of the Companions who used to gather to listen to the Prophet after the ‘Asr prayer; exactly the time I was there.

On The Way To Jeddah via doha

Departed KLIA with an Airbus330 to Doha at about 3.35 am. The aircraft was very comfortable with personal TV screens and big comfortable seat. By about an hour into the flight a snack was served – chicken curry pie; still hot and steamy. Tried to spent time reading some materials that I brought along but my eyes were quickly tired in the low light. I was tired and still hungry even after that delicious snack so sleeping was really not an option. This trip is a bit different from the others; that I hated so much because of the endless discomfort and big-ass hassle, due to the fact that I wanted it to be right, comfortable and meaningful to me as well as others. That would mean to control myself to be calm all the time, avoid anxiety and enjoy every bit of the way. Furthermore so that this is an umrah trip that you are supposed to cleanse your thought, clear your mind and focus on the devotion to Allah. So far I am good alhamdulillah. Doing prayers on the flight was very tricky but my kids and I managed to do that quite alright. A bit strange when people looking at you---is he doing the solah?---were muslim themselves. I was not fanatic or whatever, I just wanted to do my solat, it’s my routine. The very basic of human right. And the people who supposedly understand our life were the ones making the world so small and constricted. No freedom if you can’t do what you want to do.. But these days I just did not care anymore what people say --- I am too old to wait for the answers of the many what-if questions that I frequently so many years ago. What if people say this, what if people say that and so on. So tired of that.

The trip to Doha took about 7 hours. We left at 3.35 am and arrived at 5.50 am. So that should be about a little bit over two hours. Well that’s the beauty of time zones. When we cross the time zone backwards we are like letting the time flies past us without actually doing anything. If we were to stay in Doha we have saved that time tremendously. That’s a bit of interesting stuff in time traveling; it extends the secret of life itself. What about if you travel so fast backwards or forwards, would you enter into different time/life altogether. How about traveling in parallel time space but in different dimensions. Is there exist a world parallel to us ? what about alam barzakh?....aaaah so many questions!

We arrived in Doha early morning and the sun was already bright and the sky was sunny . The temperature was sizzling 89F already and there are people living here in the middle of seemingly nowhere, unbelievable. The airport buses greeted us at the end of the staircase. These Doha buses were very stylish, big, quiet and strangely fast. We had a few of these in Subang airport not so long ago. Wonder what happen to those buses? I did not mind riding in one of these to work. So comfortable. How come they are not using them as commercial buses? In the US those are the buses that we rode during our college days to go everywhere. I guess they must be expensive because for me that is the style of modern living; LRT is another one. Buzzing around town in an lRT is supposed to be fast and comfortable but I guess it isn't anymore is it? People should be the center of civilization not the technology. AAhhh....That’s a good topic for an article, isn’t it?

The security check in Doha was so chaotic. I was held up for a pen hidden inside my business card pad. It came on the screen and a security alert was called for. They finally settled that my pen was not a bullet and will not harm anyone in the airport---what a piece of crap! So they let me go for my 7-hour transit. It’s okay they gave me breakfast and lunch. So no complain. Doha airport is a nice little airport; it seems big but useful space for passengers is only a two-storey building no bigger than an airport in Pengkalan Chepa. The rest is a huge field with borders as far as your eyes can ever see. A unique feature about Doha airport is that it has a “Quiet Room” for everyone. Yes it is labeled like that. This room is where people go and catch up with their sleep before the next flight. There is also a mosque; large and very comfortable. So no excuse for missing your prayers guys.

We left the terminal in a bus at around 1 pm under a soaring heat. It was so damn hot that I just could not believe people do live here. The flight to Jeddah took about 1hr 30mins. It was a nice journey in a Boeing aircraft. Traveling nowadays seems to be a lot comfortable than before. The landing was a bit bumpy but it was not that bad. We arrived there before ‘Asr. The immigration was smooth and swift, nothing exaggerating as we had in Doha. They did have a health screening but very subtle and fast. Our bags were there already and we were out about 40 mins later. The weather in Jeddah was not that hot; quite nice actually. Before long we were approached by a Bangla cleaner selling a prepaid. Ironically we were told about this and recommended by the a Ustaz to get one—75 riyals. Not a bad business because he got advertisement going on thousand of miles away. So we got a couple of those for our communication need. It is always strange to see Saudi authority handles passports. They bundled up all of them together and took them away without any explanation, leaving us speechless and wondering; why do they take away our passports? Anyway that’s the procedure and everyone just as stunned as me to see our precious traveling document being taken away like a stack of useless theme park pass books.

Before dark we embarked on another 8-hour long journey by bus to Madinah---the place where it all began.