Abida Rahmani
Hajj 2009 Trip to Madinah (notes from diary)لبیک اللھم لبیک لبیک لا شریک لک لبیک
ان الحمد والنعمتہ لک والملک لا شریک لک
We arrived at Mina from Azizia (Makkah) today. Found it too much changed than
the hajj that we performed in 1983. Lots of improvements have been done
here.Tent is big enough to accommodate all three groups of us. Ladies in one
tent and gents in the other one. We arrived here by bus after 12pm. The sky in
Makkah was over cast since morning a significant scene to watch.(After arrival
in Makkah Namaz-i- istisqa was offered in Haram because of drought
situation).Therefore every one was waiting for rain.It was a big thunderstorm
and rained heavily after it. Our tent was leaking a bit from corners. We turned
our umbrellas upside down to prevent leakage and put the empty blankets plastic
bags to save our beds. The streets of Mina got flooded in a while. It is a
common concept that if it rained on hajis, their hajj is accepted. May it be
like this Allah is the most merciful. It rained for at least 3-4 hours with
light drizzle for the whole day.
To watch the tented city was an amazing & amusing sight. The arrangement inside
were fantastic and luxurious. Thick foam mattresses which could be folded in a
couch seat, brand new blankets ,brand new pillows and sheets. Tent had a special
air conditioning system and these tents are fireproof. The food was quite
festive with lots of dishes of Arabic and Mediterranean cuisine.
Wondered if our organizers had provided us a part of this during our earlier
stay, when we ran after arranging our food and meals. In fact the arrangements
in Mina were lot better than my expectations. Over all the arrangements were lot
more better than 26 years earlier. Mina had paved streets in the middle of
tents. Bathrooms had shower facilities too over the commodes. Which some of the
ladies resisted earlier but ultimately had the shower. There is no proper
sewerage system, all the toilets are set up on an open drain, that is why one
can smell a lot of stink . Every toilet had a water pipe or hose. However some
of the toilets got messed up soon and the back up cleaning system was a total
failure. There were clear signs for men & Women but still the people did not
follow.
A bazaar was set up on the side of the main road and lot of vendors selling off
nice stuff.
Our region of tents were assigned to Hajjis from North America, Europe,
Australia and Turkey. In other words those were hajjis of the developed world.
There was a mic connection to our tent from men's tent and we could listen to
all the announcements, tazkirs and prayed together.
For food mostly the ladies first was the motto. Me, Kalsoom and Sadia were side
by side. Soon we got befriended to our tent mates, some of whom we knew from
earlier.
Nov 26th 9th Zilhajj Yaumi Arafaa
It is the day of Arafat the main pillar of Hajj and we have to leave for Arafaat
as soon as possible. It was 9 am that we proceeded through big buses for Arafaat,
Saudi Government has restricted movement through big buses only and the roads
are wide open, Therefore it was a good flow of traffic and did not notice any
traffic jam. We took our lunch boxes along, which were more of snacks mostly
white creamy sweat stuff. The carpets in the tents were a bit wet with yesterday
's rains. Every where hajis could be seen reciting talbiyah Labaika Allahumma
Labaik Labiaka la sharika laka labaik innal hamda wa naimata laka wal mulk la
sharika lak ( O Allah I am present at your service and there is no one equal
you, all the praise and glory is for you, you are the king and there is no one
equal you) The media and surveillance helicopters were howling over head. We
were given nice polao in lunch.
We prayed and prayed to Allah (swt) for our forgiveness, forgiveness of our
departed loved ones and my intention of doing this hajj for my beloved shaheed
son. Begged for his mercy and blessings for my self, for the departed loved ones
, for whole umma and especially for my kids, grand kids, brothers, sister & all
the gracious people who did Ehsaan ( noble gesture ) with me.Prayed while
standing in the later day. Most of us went out and prayed ,cried and begged to
Allah(swt) for his mercy ,blessings ,forgiveness and for the strength of Umma .
Here I could see a floode sea of Muslims all around. Men in white ahraams
,ladies in different colors. "O Allah we are so many in numbers but we do not
have any weight any strength, any power. Give us strength give us
supremacy,unity, grant us with wisdom and good judgment." Ameen
The pathetic part is that we all are God fearing, God loving people but
extremely disorganized and undisciplined. By the end of the day the whole area
was just littered up with garbage, water gushing from broken pipes in the
toilets which was unbearable. O Allah give them strength ,unity and
discipline.Although the conditions are a lot more better than 26 years back but
still much more improvement is required. With so much work force standing around
, no one cared . Most probably they were waiting for hajjis to leave.
Muzdalifa
At 9pm we started for Muzdalifa and I was again back on my memory lane of the
last hajj, when it took us almost 5 hours to reach there by 24 seater coaster.
It was so suffocating with running engines and traffic jam that I cried a lot
like a small kid as I was not feeling well too, Ahad comforted me a lot. It was
the toughest time in that hajj. But now we reached so quickly . The whole area
was fully bright and well lit like day. Whole of the big ground covered with
hajis, we were supposed to find our place in between. We had only our valuables
and sleeping bags.
Following the sunnah of Prophet (SAWS) there was one azaan and two aqamaaz for
Maghrib and Isha prayers. Which were Qasr( shortened prayers).we spread out
sleeping bags and tried to sleep which was extremely difficult. It was like if
we were fixed in a match box, just neck to feet with each other. All the hajis
were sleeping like this with so much humility on this hard ground just for the
pleasure of Allah( SWT) to be successful; in the eternal life to fulfill the
fifth pillar of Islam. Hajj is a tradition of Ibrahim(AS) followed by Mohammad
(SAWS) and obligatory for those Muslims who can afford. Our muallim sheikh Abu
Abdussalaam described Muzdalifa as a thousands star hotel, which is absolutely
correct.I was trying to avoid the feet of the men sleeping to my head side.
I tried to sleep which was extremely difficult, the lady next to me was snoring
a lot.Despite that slept for a couple of hours. At 2:15 am got up and went to
toilet. It was absolutely busy and a very long line,It almost took one hour .Did
tahjjud and then fajr did some tilawat and talbiya and started waiting for bus
to come back to Mina. Got the bus at 8:30 am and arrived back at Mina to our
tent which was like coming back home. While leaving Muzdalifa the whole ground
was littered with sleeping bags, mats , pillows and carpets. A lot of needy
people were collecting those. We brought our ones back.
Nov27th 10th Zilhajj Eid day
After getting back , had a bath and changed, now we were out of Ihraam and most
of the restrictions were gone. It was announced that our sacrifices have been
done. We greeted each other Eid- Mubarak. the ladies got busy in threading, nail
cutting and make ups.Received calls from Family and friends Alhamdolillah. It
rained again today. Then we started to leave for jamaraat. I put on my joggers,
it was a long walk but thoroughly enjoyable. The way to Jamarrat is specially
designed ,what an amazing rout and complex!! Saudi Govt has spend a lot of money
and expertise in designing this complex. We went through three big tunnels
equipped with big blowers , lots of plastic bottles sucked up to it.
The flow of people was like a flooding sea on wide roads reciting Talbiyah and
getting to encounter the symbols of shaitan. That Shaitan who came in the way of
Ibrahim (AS) to stop him from sacrificing his son Ismail by the orders of
Allah(swT). Ibrahim threw pebbles on Shaitan while proceeding on his way. His
act was so much appreciated by almighty that he made it a ritual of Hajj till
the day of judgment. I was over whelmed with this gigantic flow of hajis. They
were of different colors, creeds and nationalities. Most of the groups were
greatly organized and distinguished with their coats, hats ,ribbons .caps,shoes,
trousers, skirts,scarfs etc.
Most of those were Malaysians ,Indonesians, Chinese, Turkish and from other
countries.
During my last hajj we were not allowed to go for Rami because of the great rush
and accidents . We were asked to give our stones or pebbles to our Mehrams.
Therefore no one in ladies from our camp went. I was sick too down with flue and
it was always on my mind because some of the scholars in Pakistan said that it
is a compulsory act. When Ahad, Jamshed bhai and Nadeem got back from Rami there
feet were badly hurt and chappals missing. This time we were wearing our regular
shoes or joggers because the sheikh told us that women can wear any type of
shoes and the men wore strong sandals too .The men were not out of Ihraam as yet
because they had to shave.I was greatly excited this time and thanked Allah for
granting me this opportunity again.
This was a huge complex, Jamarrat were erected as in the shape of wide pillars
going through many stories and all the precautions were taken to avoid
accidents. It was a very smooth flow. Hajis coming in groups and moving towards
other Jamra. The pebbles we collected from Muzdalifa in the size of a chick pea
and we were supposed to throw seven on each jamrah saying bismillahi Allahu
akbar. After completing this ritual we were on our way back and stopped under a
bridge on the road. There men went for shaving their heads or haircut, we did a
little bit with our scissors and each other's help.
Many hajis had spread out their mats, sitting and sipping tea. We accommodate
ourselves with them, later on we offered maghrib prayers .Saw a few Pakistanis
from Punjab looking for some lost relatives. We tried to help them out. On our
way to Jamaraat we recited Talbiyah, now on our way back we have to recite
Takbeer. All the intention for glorifying the greatness of Allah(swt). We did
the same on 11th Zilhajj. Some of our people went on their own to do Tawafi-
Ziarat which is like an Umra doing Tawaf and Sae in Haram. This is the end part
of Hajj. For the rest of us the Sheikh assured us that we can do it later
without any penalty. ThiCheck Spellings Tawaf is a must for a married couple,
with out that they can not relate to each other physically.
Nov 29th 12th zilhaj
Today we again went for Rammi, this time our sheikh guided us all the way up on
escalators. I've gone up and down long escalators in different amusement parks
and buildings but this was a unique and awesome experience. Going all the way up
to hit Shaitan. we went through 4 sets of high escalators. After hitting shaitan
we went all around the roof to have a glimpse of Mina the tented city for Hajis.
There were series of tents up in the hills and those were VIP tents.
Nov30th 13th Zilhajj
Today we were leaving Mina and after Rammi were heading to Haram for tawafi
ziarat and then to Azizia. We did our packing, rolled up our blankets, sheets
and pillows and started waiting for bus. This was the last day for all hajis at
Mina. We had to take a long way for bus. The streets were just littered with all
kind of garbage, a lot of food stuff was thrown out too.
We did rammi and came back to bus which dropped us at the inside door of haram.
It wasMaghrib time, offered prayers on stairs and then went for Tawaf . Some of
it did upstairs on the top floor, then on the second floor . After doing Saee
went in search of food to Burjul Bait where we were supposed to meet other
companions and then ride in bus.
Zubair wanted to eat in Hardies an American franchise. It was nice burger and
because it was Halaal. We had some tea and roamed in the area. An upscale mall
and food court of course.
Around 12:30 am we sat on the bus and came back to Azizia.
Alhamdolillah our Hajj was over and in a couple of days we were leaving for
Toronto.