I'm back!

Salaam everyone,

I'M BACK!!!!

YAY!!!

I went away for Umrah and then when I came back I got so busy with a exams that I didn't get a chance to update my blog. But now, I'm back and ready to tell you all about my trip.

Allhumdulillah we had such an amazing seven days but it was way too short and the time just flew by. I still remember the feeling inside when I first saw the Kaaba, it was nervousness mixed with excitement and pure shock. I couldn't comprehend I was standing in front of the object we spend our whole life praying towards, I couldn't believe the sheer number of people that were there despite the heat. People from all over the world, every colour and race were all there together. We all stood together five times a day to pray and worship our Allah, the sensation of many thousands of Muslims congregated together to pray was extraordinary. I was most amazed by the fact that no matter what time of day it was the Masjid Al-Haram was buzzing with people, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day people were performing tawaf around the Kaaba except during salah time.
I saw so many elderly people who were struggling to walk but still performed Umrah, it was purely due to love of Allah SWT that they managed to complete their Umrah.

Unfortunately we didn't have much time in Mecca only four days including a day of travelling so didn't get to do much sight seeing, but it was also partly the fact that all of us wanted to sit in front of the Kaaba all day long.

I thought it would be good for you all to read Mr M's account of Umrah seeing as he was able to put his feelings in a much better way.

I wish I could describe the feeling of seeing the Haram Sharif for the first time. No pictures, no videos or anyone's description can really show the majesty and the beauty of standing before the house of Allah. We arrived in Jeddah at about 10.30pm, and went to Mecca straight away. We dropped our things off and went straight to do Umrah. This was at about 2am! I wasn't expecting the mosque to be very busy at this time of the morning but as I came to learn Mecca is forever busy, every minute and every second of the day and night there are thousands upon thousands of people engaged in worship, it is a miracle in itself. We had put on our Ihrams at home and made our intentions on the plane.

They say the prayers you make when you first lay eyes on the Kaaba are always answered, so I kept my eyes down as we left the hotel, although the Mosque is MASSIVE, and so beautiful, its like a dream!  (it was only a short walk from the hotel to the mosque) I did not want to see the Kabbah until I was in front of it, so we walked all the way around to Baab e Salam - the gate we should enter for Umrah, and walked down some stairs and then up some stairs. All the while I am planning what duas to say, and saying "Labayk Alahummah Labayk...." At the top of the stairs I looked up and there it was, the Kabba before my eyes, and the emotion welled up inside me, I cant explain it but I could not stop crying, and I forgot my duas for a moment, but then I started praying for everyone I could think of, for all of my family, their health, kinship,success in this life and the akhira, baraqah in everything we do, all my friends,the Muslim Ummah and all those suffering around the world and finally anyone and everyone else I could think of. Once we had prayed to our hearts content we decided to move on and start our Umrah. We needed to perform tawaf which was the circling of the Kaaba seven times starting from the Hajer e Aswad (the black stone.) From here we proceeded to pray two nafls just behind the Maqaam E Ibrahim, there was such a rush as people wanted to get as close as possible. We then moved onto perform Saeey, this is the walking/ running between the two mountains Safa and Marwah.

I shaved my head after the first day  and i looked like an egg! the top of my head was so white I looked so funny, but at this point you just don't care how you look. I guess the 2 key words are 'detachment' and 'tranquility'. You have complete detachment from duniya and it is so liberating, you don't think about anything in the world, any problems, troubles, strife, issues, news, family, friends. you pray for these things but you don't worry about them or ponder over them too much and its such a liberating feeling. You don't even realise if you have not eaten all day, and most amazingly you don't realise you have not been sleeping. Allah SWT gives you the strength to just keep on going  day and night, I think we slept about 4 hours a day maximum. It was inspiring to see so many people of different ages and races coming together like this. It is a miracle and a testament to the Truth of Islam. Tranquillity in the prayer was another beauiful thing. To have that khushuwa in your Salah that the Prophet PBUH said was the highest level of belief (ahsaan)  was easy to have, you really felt when you were praying that you were before Allah and He was listening to you. Even though Allah is always listening and watching, it is hard to get this feeling anywhere else.

Mrs M mashallah managed to touch the black stone which is very busy all the time, no matter what time of day or night you go! I managed to hold to the door of the Kabah and make some duas. I also managed to pray in the Hateem twice which used to be part of the Kabah and praying in there is like praying inside the actual Kabah itself.

Medina was also beautiful it was a lot more relaxing, the mosque (Masjid e Nabee) itself is beautiful and massive. 

We visited the Prophet PBUH's grave  it was so weird to think that our beloved Prophet was buried here right in front of our eyes, at times things felt so surreal.

We saw Jannat ul Baqi, where the family were buried as well as many others of the companions. We had some time to visit some sites, which was really nice because it allows you to visualise all the things you read about in the life of the Prophet PBUH. We visited Uhud where the famous battle happened, and saw the hill on which the archers abandoned their post which led to the killing of the Prophet's uncle and many others.

We visited the mosques where the Battle of the Trench occurred, we visited Masjid Qiblatain, the mosque in which the Prophet PBUH was praying towards Jerusalem when the guidance came and the Qiblah changed direction and in the middle of the Prophet's salah he rotated and started praying towards the new qiblah. You can see the direction of the old Qiblah on the wall opposite.

We went to Masjid Qubaa which was the Prophet's PBUH first mosque.

I had no idea Saudi was so mountainous, and that the ground wasn't all soft sand but hard jagged rocks and stones as well. And to think that the Propeht PBUH led an army over 100 miles across this and then fought the battle of Badr is really something amazing and seeing it with your eyes really puts it into perspective how great a feat this actually must have been.

It is also worth mentioning how unbelievably cheap petrol was in Saudi! We had a 4.5lite engined jeep take us from Mecca to Medinah and from Medinah to Jeddah. When it filled up the whole thing cost 75SAR (Saudi Arabian Riyals) which is equivalent to about 11 pounds! When i fill my 1.9litre car up it costs me £65!!!! Basically in Saudi you get 2litres of petrol for 1 SAR, and there are 6 SAR to the pound, so I am sure you can do the maths, its very cheap. This is compared to the 139.5p that I pay per litre in the UK.