I have been waiting all week to see the beginning of Hajj 1429. Finally, it has begun in earnest. The Hujjaaj have begun their trek to the plains of Arafat, where they will beg forgiveness and bounties from Allah. All 3 million of them are on the move, all in a state of ihram, all with one destination, one purpose, and 3 million different experiences. May Allah accept their pilgrimmage, and may He invite us all back there the next time around, ameen.

Want to watch this marvel of humanity and spirituality? Saudi TV 2 is showing it all and so is al Majd TV. Enjoy!

The Hajj season is upon us, and this year I have not heard of many of our acquaintances heading off for Hajj. I guess the fact that Hajj is no longer in the vacation period of the Gregorian must have a lot to do with that. It’s rather difficult for working people to arrange a few weeks off from work and/or school, so it’s understandable.

Today is the 2nd of Dhul Hijjah for us (well, for those of us who go by local moon-sighting). The month of Dhul Hijjah is one of the more blessed months of the Islamic year, as explained by this Hadith:

Narrated Ibn Abbas, the Prophet (saw) said, “No good deeds done on other days are superior to those done on these (first ten days of Dhul Hijjah).” Then some companions of the Prophet said, “Not even Jihad?” He replied, “Not even Jihad, except that of a man who does it by putting himself and his property in danger (for Allah’s sake) and does not return with any of those things,”

(Sahih Bukhari, vol.2, #86)

So, this is our other chance, outside of Ramadaan, to nourish our spiritual selves with extra fertilizer. One thing I would like to do is resurrect my x365-themed posts…but with a more informative twist. InshaAllah, I would like to use the x365 idea to highlight a story from a different sahabi each day. In this way, perhaps I could learn a ton of new things, and also refresh my memory on the things I should be remembering.

We’re fasting the first 9 days of Dhul Hijjah. I am already a tad hungry, and it’s 1:50 pm…three more hours to go. I think I’m making pesto pasta for dinner…mmmm, there goes my stomach, grumbling loudly in approval.

I must say that Hajj season always fills me with different feelings each year. Sometimes, I am filled with jealousy that I am not there. Sometimes, I am filled with awe at the fact that I was once twice there. Sometimes, I am filled with complete sadness to think that it may very well be a really long time before I will be there again. This year, I am totally over-joyed that another 2.5 million Muslims are experiencing what I experienced, albeit in their own unique ways. The feeling of jealousy is quite a bit muted…more, I am filled with happiness that I know exactly what they are going through. I guess, for some odd reason, I am in a mood where I enjoy the feeling of connected-ness to other parts of the Muslim world. Hajj Mabruk to them all, and I hope every single one of you reading this will one day experience the most beautiful Hajj possible. It’s the one thing that changes you from deep inside, and there is really no greater beauty in this life.

So, where are they now? What are they doing? The pilgrims of our beautiful Ummah are done with their day at Arafat, their day of pleading for Allah’s forgiveness, mercy and blessings, their day of contemplating that they will all come back here at least one more time, on the Final Day. Some are already at Mina, at the Jamaraat…others are still making their way out of Muzdhalifah. As they prepare for their days of pelting the shaytaan, the rest of us get ready to commemorate the sacrifices of Ibrahim and Isma’il alayhimussSalaam. SubhanAllah walhamdulillah. I hope you all have an absolutely awesome Eid al-’Adha, where-ever you are, whatever you will be doing, and whoever you are with.

Eid Mubarak, Eid Sa’eed, Happy Eid!

Note: Picture not at all mine, click on it for the source.

So little did we know.

We did not know which door we had entered the Haram from. But we figured that Jabal Kaabah would not be too hard to find. Sooo little did we know. Well, we circled the Haram a couple times before realizing that we were completely, utterly, and hopelessly lost. We ventured first down one street, then another. Nothing looked familiar. Makkah at night and Makkah during the day are two different cities. During the day, the streets are filled to capacity with humanity. With buses. With water trucks. With shops full of colorful hijabs waving in the air. None of the streets we ventured upon looked like the one that led us on our unique path to the Baitullah. We eventually hailed a taxi driver, a young Bedouin man with sharp features standing out startlingly against his kaffiyeh, to drive us to Jabal Ka’bah. He took us to the same street we were on five minutes before, and said: “This is Jabal Ka’abah, this is where it ends. Thats it.” There we stood in the middle of the street, wondering, peering this way and that. Wondering why the apartment building did not materialize itself. There were others who were equally as lost as we were. I remember an elderly Afghani coming up to my father and asking him for directions to someplace. Talk about the blind leading the blind! Obviously, we could not help him, and he was all alone. Separated from his group and/or family. We gave thanks to Allah that at least we were all together.

There was a building whose arches looked totally familiar…and we knew we were close. It was really only a matter of time. By this time it was 10:30 am. A full 24 hours in Ihraam clothing. Needing a shower. Exhausted from a good 10 hours of walking: tawaaf, sa’iee, wandering around Makkah. We decided we would look for a half hour more…and then throw in the towel, head back to the Haram. After all, what better place to be lost and ask Allah’s help?

Half an hour later, we were still lost. Went back to the Haram Shareef, made fresh wudhu, and planted ourselves in front of the Ka’abah. Prayed, cried, made du’aa. Were seriously scared we would never find our “home.” After Dhuhr, we sat on the steps of the Haram, and fell asleep, while the cleaners washed the already gleaming marble floors. For Asr salaah, us women again got separated from our father. After Asr, we waited for him to come back. 10 minutes go by. 15. 20. 30 minutes…and no sign of daddy. Big time panic. We looked at each other and had nothing to say. For women to be speechless, that is saying something. Wished for our brothers, who we had left behind at home, to be with us–to be lost with us, and yet enjoying the marvels of Haram. Then, all of a sudden, father ambles into the Haram, with a jubilant grin on his face. In fresh clothes. His own clothes.

Obviously, he had found the apartment. He said it was only a matter of making one more turn. He said that for a whole hour, from 9:30 to 10:30, we had been only 5 minutes from the apartment. So close…yet so far away. He took us back to the apartment, and we were like “What if we get lost again. Did he really find it?” Delirious is the only way to describe my own state of mind at the time. We made notes of little landmarks along the way. When we got to the building, we made sure to make a note of the obscure sign on the side of the building which proclaimed its exact location. And wondered how, but how! did we miss it? How could we have been so close, yet overlooked that one tiny little turn?!

Its like everything else in life. The truth can be staring you in the face, but if Allah does not want you to see it, you won’t. You will wander like a blind person…until that time when you will appreciate Allah’s Mercy most. There is nothing like the comfort of a nice shower. Your own clothes, whether they are gleamingly new or old rags. And there is nothing like Makkah.

The hujjaaj are now returning to their homes, their loved ones, their jobs. Getting back into the grind of real life (because lets face it, Hajj is the one journey of the heart and soul that it is difficult to return from), and recounting for us all their funny, strange, uplifting, harrowing, and life-changing experiences. The friend who got told his tales of getting lost resurrected our memories of how our first day in Makkah went…

We went to Makkah by bus, from Madinah, leaving slightly before noon, and arriving at about 8 pm. We settled into our apartment, grabbed a bite to eat, and since we were in Ihram, decided to head over to the Haram Shareef for our Tawwaaf and Sa’iee. All we knew about our apartment was what the man who sub-let it to us said: that it is in Jabal Kaaba. No street name, no street number. Just Jabal Kaaba.

Off we went, on the 1 km walk to the Haram, which was really quite easier than we thought it would be. Walking the quiet winding, hilly streets of Makkah at 11pm was utterly divine–it literally felt like we were walking in the footsteps of the Ashaab Kareem, not to mention our Nabi. How magical and fantastic, wallahi. MashaAllah walhamdulillah. We entered the Haram from one of the many, many doors, neglecting to note the door number. Walked and walked in this brightly lit masjid that felt like we were on another plane. Muslims, men, women, children, most in Ihram, everywhere. Some on their way out of the Haram after completing their Tawaaf, with faces shining with joy and noor. SubhanAllah. We arrived finally at the heart of the Haram: in front of the Ka’aba. All I can say is that I was stunned absolutely senseless. There it was…sitting there…waiting for us. ME! A hopeless sinner! Who surely doesn’t deserve this miracle! With that gleaming halo circling it. SubhanAllah. We proceeded to make duaa, and then do our Tawaaf.

Then to Mount Safa, located inside the magnificently enormous Baitullah, to do our Sai’ee. By the time we finished tracing the footsteps of Hajra Alayhis Salaam, it was almost time for Fajr, about 5 am. So of course we stayed at the Haram, in that state of exhilirated exhaustion for Fajr. Our first Fajr in Makkah. Sheikh Humaid led the prayer, and I can almost hear his voice ringing in my brain. MashaAllah! After salaah, we waited a bit for the crowd to diminish so that we could make our way back to our apartment with ease.

So little did we know.

(I did not intend to write this part…but it just happened, and its too late for me to write the part I meant to tell you all. Besides, its kind of too long already. Tomorrow inshaAllah.)

On a personal familial level, Eid al Adha was wonderful. We got to spend an entire day doing something a little bit different: we went to the zoo–rather than seeing animals being qurbanied, we instead saw them lazing about, living it up. We made lots of cookies, biryani, etc to take with us, and will have quite a bit leftover for guests tomorrow, inshallah.

However…the prelude to Eid was the worst that I think I have ever experienced. The reason being, of course, the execution of Saddam Hussein. I was, like quite a few of you I am sure, absolutely shocked and appalled that they would choose such holy days in the Islamic calendar to do this. What will the long-term impact of this bizarre decision be? Did anybody foresee that this would make Saddam Hussein go down in Islamic history as a martyr? Because that is what is already happening: reading around on the forums, you can easily find anecdotal evidence of this.

All in all, this event caused our Islamic holy days to be severely tainted. But if there is one thing to be learned, its that having “La illaaha illallah, Muhammad al Rasulallah” in our hearts and on our tongues can really be incredibly fortifying and peace-inducing.

With a lot of friends having gone for Hajj, and watching the Hajj coverage, naturally it puts us back there and we can’t help but keep talking about the memories. I thought I’d share a entertaining, yet slightly freaky story from during our Hajj.

It was after ‘Isha on the 11th Dhul Hajj, and we were still in Makkah, trying to find ourselves a way out. The taxi cabs either were too full or they were over charging. We finally got a Nigerian driver who we bargained down slightly, agreed that he’ll be taking us only and no other passengers and we were happily on our way back to Mina. Or so we thought. Ten minutes later, we see the Masjid al Haram minarats again. Err, we’re supposed to be going to Mina, and I see the Haram again? He stops along the way to tell people his price for taking them to Mina, and we’re sitting in the back seriously baffled wondering if he missed the fact that we agreed to be his only passengers! We spend several more minutes driving around Makkah in circles, and then he decides…he wants some tea and a sandwhich! With his sandwhich in his hand, he drives down a street, and lo and behold! Its a checkpoint! They make him pull over, and now we really panick. They start asking him for his iqaamah (Saudi residency permit) papers, and he gives them a blank look. They ask him who are the passengers? He turns around and stares at us like…wow…who are these people and why are they in my car?! At that point the police officers start really yelling at him, and we get really freaked, what are they going to do to us?! What does he say to try to stop the yelling? He says that “They are my family!” LOL…not that we would have minded being African…but we aren’t!!! My oldest brother is sitting there going, “okay maybe the girls next to me can pass for his relatives, seeing as how they are covered in black, so perhaps he got seriously confused, but how did he confuse me?!” Not too surprisingly the police aren’t impressed with his theory, and they open the back door, calmly telling us we can get out. We get down and stare at the scene between the driver and the police officer for a few minutes more before heading down our way.

Crazy things like that only would happen during Hajj. Thats what makes Hajj so interesting, and I suppose stressful for some.

Generally when I video record anything during Hajj, it comes out nasty because of the bandwidth problems KACST faces.  Alhamdulillah this year was different.  For the first time I saw the Kiswa being changed, and got to video it as the new Kiswa rolled down.  It is truly spectacular.

My Eid gift to you all.

Eid Mubarak and kul 3am wa antum bikhayr!  I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Eid.

We were sitting here watching the purposeful exodus of Hajjis going from Mina to Arafaat, and its made me so nostalgic. I wish I were there. It feels like that is the only place I was and could sustain being good for a meaningful period of time.Its so absolutely beautiful. Its as though Hajj, the complete focus on Allah, is the entire reason we were created. Its absolutely the most peaceful I have ever been. Its literally so beautiful it makes me want to cry! I wonder if there is anything that will ever give me the kind of contentment and happiness I had when we were there? And the funny thing is that I am more aware of that past contentment now than when we were there. Then, I was just so absolutely overwhelmed by it all…

(Photos from Esam’s Flickr)