Kaabah's Calling.. The Journey Towards

Alhamdulillah, MasyaAllah, TabarakAllah.

Such a blessing that we finally made our way to the Almighty's home, to our Prophet's land. Thank you Allah for giving us the chance to be your guest.

Frankly, it wasn't really my main intention to be performing umrah so early. The cost is just too overwhelming. And I cannot bear the fact of us going without the kids. 

But somehow, everything just seems to fall into place.

Main reason for the hubs was none other for making early preparation for Qaid's SPM. Quite frankly, even this wasn't strong enough reason for me. For the sole reason that not everyone would have the opportunity to do that. But somehow, these other factors just served as triggering factor; not always that we are going to have both our moms around, not always they will still be in good health to be performing such tasks, and both Qaid and Qays are strong enough to be lending their extra hands. And 1 final reason. Suddenly it coincides with Chinese New Year break, which left us with very minimal leaves to consume. So that's it. To Mekah we'll go.

Prayed hard towards the day that everyone will be in the pink of health and for everything will be eased. 

And alhamdulillah it had. Especially for the health of our moms.

But there was some slight inconvenience just 2 days before we departed. 

There was a sudden shift in our schedule. 

Hubs gave a call to inform the news, the morning before the trip. And the way the news was conveyed was like it was the worst news imaginable. I thought the agency screw up and we've been cheated. Alhamdulillah, there wasn't anything like that. Hubs took it pretty negatively, because he wanted to catch Friday prayer in Madinah and the next week in Makkah. In the end, once we arrived, we had some slight issue with our mom’s wheelchair, and he ended up able to perform Friday prayer in Jeddah airport. The whole crew had to wait for us, but guess, we had our little blessing. Alhamdulillah

Then our journey to the blessed land began. Even in Jeddah, there lies a vast amount of land. Not yet fully developed as I thought it should, considering the continuous flocking of people from around the world to the area. The eateries were limited. We had to make do with what was there. The prayer room was very basic and unfrequented. 

But once we reached Al Haram, the vibe was totally different. For a first timer like me, seeing people performing their solat by the sidewalk was very unusual, and humbling. There was no particular segregation between men and women, unlike how we do it here. People were constantly in their prayer robe, so there isn’t a need to specifically change into it. 

As for the rooms, we had our first mishaps. What was supposed to be a 4 person per room among us girls (Me, Naela, Nenek and Opah), we had to deal with another patron to be our roommate. She came as a couple with her husband. But in order to save, opted for separate rooms. And we had to be the victim to the situation. But the frustration wasn’t long. The lady turned out a good company. Especially in Madinah where I get to squeeze in the room with the boys, the lady gracefully, indirectly, looked after our moms. 

Once arrived, we had to get ready for our first compulsory umrah. It was a very emotional journey towards Masjidil Haram. And I was so glad that the boys were just as present, if not better. We left the wheelchairs in the room after seeing how crowded it has gotten. We arrived just in time for maghrib and managed to get a decent spot right in front of Kaabah. Looking back, this was indeed a blessing that we didn’t notice. By the amount of crowd and with the day being Friday, there should be no way for you to be that near to Kaabah, that late towards Maghrib. But we did. And the first Adzan heard was the most beautiful sound ever. We made our way towards Mataf once Maghrib was done. But we had to split from the boys. Just us girls, me with no prior experience of Umrah, looking after 2 tired and weak senior citizen and 1 small, underage girls. It was a miracle that I’ve made it, if not for Allah’s wills. But we did, Alhamdulillah, MasyaAllah. It was so crowded, should you get detached from your group, there’s no way of getting back together. Not when you are not familiar with the area and havent had the chance to sync up your regroup area. 

We got reunited after tawaf and before sai’e. And managed to go together. Our moms quickly asked for wheelchair. And that is a drama in itself as well. Opah’s wheelchair was sorted but Mak’s wasn’t. We didn’t have small change, but requested the helpers to proceed first. Midway, he was worried that we wouldn’t be paying him. He stopped and left midway. Mak was there right in the middle of the way. Can’t remember how, but we finally managed to get small change and this was sorted. Angah was lost midway too during sai’e and it was a while before we regroup again. It was the first day and first time for most of us, with kids in tow. So anxiety was somewhat all over. He was still just 14 going to 15. Luckily we managed to find him right at the starting line of sai’e, alhamdulillah. With that many people, and no connection established (I don’t think he has his phone with him, since we were in ihram), things could be much worse. 

After this was completed, it was the most tiring time ever. At least for the elders. We had to walk far back to get to the where we could head back to hotel. It was a very long day even before our flight. We were supposed to depart around 6 hours earlier, but we didn’t. With transit, the journey got even longer, and it had certainly made situation worse. Everyone was so hungry, we didn’t have any dinner. Opah just couldn’t hold it any longer and simply refused to move earlier on. Hubs decided to send the moms back to hotel while I brought the kids to find dinner at 12 midnight. Once found, it was the most delicious food. Don’t think the food there tasted as nice after, but it wasn’t too bad still. The extreme hunger and tireness from the long journey and lack of sleep from when we started our journey must have made the food tasted much the nicer. 

So that was it for the 1st day of our umrah. 

It must have been normal for the moms and hubs, but it wasn’t for the rest of us. We had to wake up super early for Subuh, which I wasn’t really that prepared. A kind reminder prior to trip would have been nicer. But it wasn’t all to bad in the end. Just a bit shocked on how things are supposed to be. So apparently, people will wake up super early, up until after Subuh was over and morning sets in, have your breakfast, and catch up on your sleep after. We had a tour around masjidil haram afterwards with our fellow crews. Back to our hotel for lunch, back to the mosque for Zuhur which I think we stayed on until Asar. Back to hotel until right before maghrib. Get ready to move again before maghrib, stayed on until Isya and back to hotel again for dinner. Dinner was quite late and since we had to make our way to Madinah the very morning after, we had to call it a night.

Just slightly refreshed from our journey, but not totally, we had to perform tawaf wida’ since we were leaving Makkah for Madinah. We were riding with bus, and only then I know how far Makkah and Madinah was. It was around 6 hours bus ride, through mostly barren lands. Just very simple establishment in between, to cater for the long road mid breaks. Made us appreciate the journey made by our Prophets and fellow sahabats even more. 

We reached Madinah later in the afternoon, with some time to spare before Maghrib begins. And couldn’t help to feel the vast difference between Makkah and Madinah. Which I never really got any headsup on. Madinah was very much like a relax and leisure city. While performing your ibadah was still of utmost priority, one cannot help to avoid the chill and calm everything was. You can feel the sense of urgency in Makkah, the fight for the best spot in Masjid, the need to squeeze as much ibadah as you can. As hectic as you think New York is for making money, hovering and hoarding that small space in Manhattan, it was of similar rush for the good spots and top notch ibadah in Makkah. With people simply fighting to squeeze in some sadaqah. In Madinah, we could finally make good use of our wheel chair. Our hotel was very nearby and convenient with wheelchair. The 2 grown kids that we have could finally use their good muscle to use. Once prayer was done, you could roam about for late supper and shopping. After having set with the amount of rush in Makkah, you cannot help but feel shocked with how leisurely Madinah is. 

The weather in Madinah in February was very lovely at around +/- 12 degrees celcius. It was short of having to put your winter jacket on. We stayed there for around 3 days. 1 of the days the fellow crew went for some trips somewhere. There’s an additional fee and we were not that incline, hence it was skipped. In one of the days we visited Masjid Quba, Uhud and dates farm for some dates shopping. I managed to secure a spot for raudhah which I think the rest were not. Tasted the best masala tea there, which is still unbeatable, anywhere else until now. Me and Lope was also so blessed, to have been able to fast on Thursday. Made our light iftar in Nabawi and had proper meal at the hotel. Study was already in full force that time as well, so rather than wasting our afternoon in the hotel, I asked lope to study at Nabawi. Alhamdulillah. We wrapped up Madinah on the blessed Friday. Performed our Jumaah prayer, heard khutbah that we didn’t understand, but blessed for the opportunity to experience it. Once done, we got ready for our trip back to Makkah by train. 

The journey was a very short one. Just 1 hour if I’m not mistaken and we had to be in our Ikram right from the hotel. The problem being in ihram was, you can’t really have anything on your face. While makeups might not be a problem, it would be best if you don’t even have your sunscreen on. While Madinah was cool, Makkah was not so much and the sun can still burn your skin. We reached Makkah at a rather good timing (no specific rush), completed our umrah and everyone had no drama that we had on our first day. Hubs sent the moms back to hotel as usual. While we went for dinner, then off to shave the kids head. It was Angah who first suggested it, and I was quite surprised that everyone was up for it. Among everyone, they would be the most difficult to convince on. Their hair is like their most prized possession. But a sacrifice is only as good if it’s the most difficult. May Allah rewards their good deeds, and may they’ll be good Muslims as long as they live as well. So all 4 boys in the household have the same haircut the first time ever. 

We made a point to do our umrah everyday, thereafter. Alhamdulillah. Just us without the moms. When hubs went with his parents when he was small, they performed umrah around average of 3x per day. Can’t imagine how was that even possible. Without the moms, things were pretty fast. It was mostly done in the afternoon and it was definitely scorching hot. Lope and Angah were competing who could do their tawaf the fastest. they got as fast as less than 20 mins if I’m not mistaken. For myself, I could average aound 25 to anything less than 30 mins. Which was a  pretty decent timing for me.