We were already very tired when we reached Mecca. It was almost midnight. We were taken to our Hotel. These hotels were for Bangladeshi Hajj Pilgrims. When we reached we identified our room, collected the key. One of my room mates (another Hajji) was already there. He is a professor at Khulna University. I used to call him 'Bhai (brother)'. Later, another two brothers joined us, so we were in total 4 in the same room. The room size was reasonable for all of us. Alhamdulillah, we did not have any issues staying in the same room and we accommodated each other.
We were asked whether we would like to take rest and do the Umrah in the morning or head for Qabaa that night, We decided we will do Umrah that night. We could not wait to see Masjid Al haram and Qabaa. We freshened up (of course with non perfume soap) , did Wudu , had light dinner (supplied my hotel management). Our dinner were catered by Al-Baik. We drank Jamjam water and with vigour, set out for Ummah, saying talbiyah as we proceeded towards haram (masjid-al -haram is called 'haram' as all the haram activities are prohibited within the compound). I read in Fazilat E Hajj that good deeds are multiplied by many times in Mecca, so is your bad deeds.
We crossed the clock tower which was shining brightly as we headed towards Qaba. The streets were filled with pilgrims and everyone were wearing white ihram and saying talbiyah. As soon as we touched out feet on the compund , we sensed a gust of cold air. This was indeed a blessing from Allah Azzawajal in that humid weather. My heart was pounding. All these efforts were finally coming true.
We entered the Masjid Al haram through large gate (79) , King Fahad gate. We took off our flip flops (Shoes are not allowed for men in the state of ihram) and strolled through the magnificent Masjid Al Haram, took stairs down to the ground floor and there we first saw Qabaa right in front of us. Tears started to flow from our eyes. Its a saying, whatever dua one make when they first see Qabaa are fulfilled.
We then followed our group leader into the inner circle and came in line with Hajar al-Aswad. From there, we started tawaf. It was extremely crowded and it is very easy to loose sight of people in front you or close to you. First three rounds, it is sunnah of prophet (PBUH) to do Raml (brisk walking with pride to show we are not weak). Men are supposed to do tawaf with right shoulder exposed and cover again after completion.
The next is praying two raqat prayer behind Maqam Ibrahim using surah Qafirun followed by suruah Ikhlas. It was really hard to find place as everyone was praying. As we were trying to find our way in, me and my wife got separated from our group. I think almost everyone did, and it was almost impossible to stay together. We were on our own and then at that moment, all our personal studies and small guide came in handy. After praying salah, we went further back to drink Zamzam water which wass very cold, so we drank as little as we could just enough to clench our thirst.
The next step is Sa'ee which is the walk between Safa and Marwa (total 7 laps starting from Safa). There are three floors. In the seminars I attended, It was said to go to the first or second floor to avoid the tremendous crowd on the ground floor. But at that time it was really hard to look for this floors and we followed the written direction and ended up on the ground floor. Indeed it was crowded , but more than okay Alhamdulliah.
Among all the steps in Umrah I found Sa'ee most challenging. I am not sure about others. Probably I was extremely tired, but it was amazing to see how your body and mind become one for the pleasure of the Almighty who created you and nothing could deter us to complete this magnificent Journey of Umrah.
During Sa'ee, men will have to run under green tubelights which is laid out overhead in two particular areas. You are allowed to stop during Sa'ee to drink Zamzam water or rest a bit. There are duas you can do at Safa and Marwa by raising your hand and facing in the direction of Qaba. I memorised it from my heart. When we were almost at the end we heard Adhan for Fazar prayer. Everyone paused where they were and after prayer resumed again.
Finally after 7 laps Umrah was done. We have now completed Umrah succesfully. Sun was almost rising on the horizon when we set foot outside. There are specific gates for exiting Sa'ee area. Only few of them are kept open at a time to streamline the crowd flow towards a particular direction.
It is easy to get lost inside Haram compound, but I used the clock tower for us as a landmark and also on the google map I marked the area of hotel location. There are lots of small barber shop at the bottom of clock tower and you will find people inviting to go to their place to get hair cut. They are good people and I was told not to be shy or get afraid if they start calling. I went with one guy and got my hair shaved which is mandatory to come out ihram. For women, they need to have their hair cut about 1cm/fingertip at the end. Once these were done, we went back to hotel room, took shower. All the restrictions of Ihram are lifted once hair is shaven off or cut. Then, it was time to sleep.
Question is, what will I do with the used Ihram clothes?
コメント