December 9th, 2006I left home for Melbourne airport along with my wife and our two boys after Maghrib prayer. There were two other families who came to see me off. When queuing to check in, I was in the company of six children aged between three and seven years old. They did not stop hugging me and telling me how much they were going to miss me which amazed many people and made them wonder whether all six children were mine. I found it really hard to say good bye to my wife and our two boys. This would be the first time I would be separated from them for more the three days. Before boarding the aeroplane, I also rang my parents.
December 10th, 2006
The plane took off at forty five minutes past midnight, and we arrived in Singapore for transit at around 5.00 am local time. In Singapore we had to wait for our flight to Jeddah at 1.00 pm. I spent most of the long waiting time reading the hajj guide books and trying to memorise more supplications. Around 11.00 am I went to a hotel in the airport to take a shower and to put my ihram on. I felt very awkward to wear only these two pieces of unsown clothing on my body. Many people looked at us puzzling about what on earth we were doing, dressing like Buddhist monks. But many people came to us and wished us a successful hajj.
We arrived in Jeddah airport after a 10 hour flight and transit in Abu Dhabi at around 6.00 pm local time. We were taken into a room for immigration and custom processes which took at least 3 hours. We then collected our luggage and were led to an area to wait for the bus to Makkah. This waiting was a lot longer than expected and we ended up waiting for more than 5 hours for the bus.
December 11th, 2006
It was just passed midnight when they finally took us to the bus loop, but even there we were still required to wait for another two hours until all our passports had been scanned and all luggage was loaded on the roof of the bus.
Finally the bus moved! But trials of our patience did not end there. We had to go through at least three more check points during which the bus had to stop for at least half an hour at each. When we arrived in our hotel, it was nearly time for Subh prayer.
We were too tired to pray Subh in the Masjidil Haram. We were told to pray in the hotel and to have a rest for a few hours before commencing Umrah.
Over breakfast, two friends invited us to join them in doing Umrah under the guidance of a Maulana (teacher) recommended by their imam back in Melbourne. I accepted the invitation and another friend joined us as well. The Maulana took to the Masjidil Haram which was about 10 minutes walk from our hotel.
Finally the Haram was right in front of my very eyes. I stood for several minutes to enjoy the beauty and to feel the greatness of the mosque recalling all of the events that took place there at the time of prophet Muhammad PBUH.
We then entered the mosque after making supplication and it took us only few steps before my eyes caught the Ka’bah. I could not help the tears flowing, as the object that I turned towards at least five times daily in worshipping Allah was right there in front of me.
A little disagreement with the Maulana led me to decide that I should do the Umrah on my own. I decided to follow what I have learned from books about the rituals prior to my departure.
I started doing tawaf (circling) of the Ka’bah. This included making a small jog in the first three rounds and normal walking in the next four rounds. Because of the number of people, it is nearly impossible to jog in the first three rounds and it took me over an hour to finish the whole seven rounds.
After tawaf I prayed two raka’ahs behind the maqam (tomb) of Ibrahim and then drank Zamzam water before commencing Sa’i. My legs were so tired that at some stage I thought I would not be able to complete even one out of the seven walks between Safa and Marwah.
But once the fresh cool Zamzam water went through my throat I could feel all the muscles in my body energised. The thought of prophet Ibrahim and Siti Hajar’s sacrifice defeated my exhaustion. And with this thought I proceeded to the hill of Safa and faced Ka’bah making du’a to Allah and took my first step to complete the Sa’i. Subhanallah, I managed to complete it without even a slight thought to quit.
On the way back from Marwah Hill after completing Sa’i, I met one of the friends who separated from the Maulana and other two. He was in a state of confusion and did not even remember how many rounds he had completed and what supplications he had to make. I gave him a quick lesson and calmed him down. I waited for him until he completed his Sa’i and then we went to find a barber to shave our heads to complete our umrah.
By the time we shaved our heads it was already Dzuhur time and we prayed in the Haram before going back to the hotel. I was so relieved that I could complete my Umrah and thanked Allah for making it so easy and smooth for me. I took off mu Ihram and had a long awaited shower. After shower I rested my aching body in one of the most needed sleep ever!
December 12th, 2006
I was surprised at how easy it was to wake up this early at 2.00 am considering I went to bed at 11.00pm last night, after coming back from the Haram. I was amazed to find so many people on the street at this early hour heading to the Haram. But still, doing tawaf was more pleasant than the day before as there weren’t as many people. I managed to touch Yamani corner once but it was still too crowded to touch the Hajar Aswad. Doing tawaf this early was also more “khusyuk” (conducive to concentrating), I did not stop making supplication to Allah for myself, my wife, my children, my family back home, my in-laws, and all my friends back in Melbourne.
There was a little incident when I was praying two rakaats after tawaf. I overheard an argument between a couple in Indonesian in which the wife was complaining that her husband was useless because he could not help her to touch the Hajar Aswad. The husband was infuriated at how ungrateful she was, how she did not stop complaining, and so on and so on. I decided to move away from them once I finished the shalat.
December 13th, 2006
I started to read the Qur’an from the first surah with the intention to finish it at least once whilst I am doing this hajj. I also made intention to memorise as many ayats as possible.
I shared the room with three other people, they were all from Australia. One was from Melbourne of Lebanese origin, the second was a Swinburne University student of Sri Lankan origin, and the other was from Sydney of Pakistani origin. We got along very well and spent a lot of time together to discuss the hajj ritual and other religious matters.
Other than these three roommates, I got along with two Bangladeshis who stayed next door. I thought I was the only Indonesian in this group, but I found out later on that there were at least three other Indonesian couples in our group.
December 14th, 2006
It was around 3.00 am in the morning and I was doing the tawaf when I heard someone call my name. It was Tono and his wife Like, a former student of Monash University who went back to Indonesia last October. I was so happy to see them here and they were too, I could see tears flowing from their eyes. We have been very close since the first day they came to Melbourne and we’d talked about a reunion in Makkah prior to their departure back to Indonesia, but failed to organise it.
They arrived the day before and decided to come to the Haram early in the morning with the intention to do tawaf and night prayers before Subh prayer. After third round of tawaf they had the opportunity to go to Hatim to make supplication which they did. After making long du’as they told me that at the end of their du’a they asked Allah if they could see me. Then they proceeded to continue their tawaf but only after a few steps out of the Hatim, Like spotted someone wearing a jacket that she thought was very familiar and told her husband. Tono recognised the jacket and called out my name. We were so happy to see each other in this situation but I was speechless when they told me that they asked Allah to meet me and He tabaraka wa ta’ala granted the du’a instantly right on the spot.
December 15th, 2006
In many ways, people’s attitudes and behaviours during the tawaf reflect the condition of Muslim ummat at the moment. We saw people who were so eager to touch the black stone which is only an act that is sunnah or recommended (not wajib or compulsory), but in doing so they were willing to hurt others or for women to let their body be touched (both of which are haram). Many people insisted to carry out ramal (jogging) instead of walking around the Ka’bah, even though at times it was nearly impossible even to walk. Some people ignored the heavy traffic and prayed right behind the station of Ibrahim. Five young Indonesian men approached me and asked whether I wanted to touch the black stone. They surrounded me, made a human circle with me in the middle, and forced their way toward the black stone, pushing aside other people! I was stunned once I realised what they were doing and decided to walk off. They tried to change my mind saying, “Come on, it’s only five Riyal!” A’udzubillah min dzallik!
December 16th, 2006
I packed my stuff to get ready to go to Madinah. We were told that the buses would come after Zhuhr but they did not turn up until after Ashr. We left Makkah closed to Maghrib time, but on the outskirts of Makkah, my bus stopped to give us the chance to pray Maghrib and Isha combined. I met another Indonesian family on the way back from the mosque to the bus. When I asked the father whether he was Indonesian too, he said, “Yeah, but we live in Australia”. Probably he was not aware that all people travelling with this group were Australian residents.
December 17th, 2006
I arrived in the Madinah check point at around 12.00 am. Madinah was a lot chillier than Makkah and I did not bring my jacket. It was the final day busses were allowed to enter Madinah and therefore the number of arrivals was very high. We were told that it was ten times what they expected.
The normal waiting period was 4 to 6 hours, but with the unexpected number of arrivals, it would probably take more than twelve hours. We were waiting in the bus until Subh prayer. But more problems occurred as we prepared to perform Subh.
Somehow the supply of water to the checkpoint was cut. At first we handled this by using the drinking water to make wudhu (prayer ablutions). But we could not go to the toilet because there was no water to flush it.
Together thousands of people who needed to fulfil the nature’s call were waiting outside the toilet, under the cold wind of Madinah expecting the water service to be restored immediately. But we were disappointed. I did not know how I managed to wait for that long.
I also had an eye infection which had troubled me since the trip from Makkah. Alhamdulillah there was a medical clinic in the checkpoint. The doctor was very friendly and gave me antibiotics and eye drops.
When I got back to the bus we were told that the authority decided to speed up the process and we could leave before 9.00pm. After a short final count the bus then took us to our hotel in Madinah which was only about 15 minutes from the checkpoint.
I was very concerned about one of my Bangladeshi friends who was very sick. The extreme cold weather made him develop pneumonia.
Masjid Nabawi was right in front of our hotel, only five minutes walk. I cleaned myself and when to the mosque for Dzuhr.
After Ashr prayer I visited Prophet Muhammad’s grave for ziarah. I had to walk slowly through a passage with thousands of people who came to say salaam to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his two companions, Abu Bakar and Umar bin Khatab (may Allah be pleased with them). However, once I was in front of the graves, somehow there were only a few people so that I could take position right in front of the gate for awhile without anyone pushing.
When I said my salaam to the Prophet (peace be upon him), all of sudden a realisation came to mind how close I was physically to him. My heart beat harder and tears flowed as I greeted him, “Assalamu’alaika ya Rasullullah, Assalamu’alaika ya Habibullah, Assalamu’alaika ya khairi qalkillah, Allahumma shalli ‘ala Muhammad…” I closed my eyes knowing that the Prophet answered my greeting and I wished I could hear his reply.
December 18th, 2006
I went to Masjid Nabawi at 3.00 am when the gate was to open, but already many people were queuing in front of the gate. I could not find a spot in the Raudah, but people kept coming to fill in even the smallest space. I wonder how they would manage to perform bowing and prostration in such little spaces.
I found a spot just outside the Raudah and sat there doing nawafil prayers, reading the Qur’an and making duas. But a life threatening incident happened to me right after Subh (dawn) prayer.
After Subh we had to do a janazah (funeral) prayer. During the commencement of this sunnah prayer, a barrier was erected just next to me to prevent people entering the Raudah. This put me in a great danger because once the Imam said salam to end the prayer, everyone was pushing to enter the raudah and trapped me in the middle of the stampede. I was pushed against the wall and could not move. I struggled to breathe, I could feel the pain in my chest. I tried to keep calm and made dua to Allah to save me. Screaming out to stop them pushing back were useless because all people around you were in the same situation as you were.
I was in this position until one big African man next to me decided to give it a go. He pushed back and succeeded in making a little move. I followed his pursuit and soon some people joined us. Slowly but surely we moved towards the gate. It took us about fifteen minutes, and that was the longest fifteen minutes in my life, until we released ourselves. I was so relieved and thanked Allah for letting me out of that situation.
December 19th, 2006
So far I had managed to spend a lot of time in the Prophet’s Mosque doing the five daily prayers in congregation, reading the Qur’an and making supplications. I also had the chance to meet some people from different countries. I talked to people from Nigeria, Turkey, the United States, Chechnya, and Pakistan, as well local Madinites. This is probably one of the wisdom that Allah wants us to take from this ritual, getting to know, and understanding the problems being faced by, our brothers in different parts of the world.
December 20th, 2006
I was a little bit reluctant to join the tour today because I did not want to miss out on the congregational prayers in the Haraam. I only joined when the organisers promised us that we would be back well before Dzuhr.
The first destinatination was Masjid Quba, the first mosque built by the Prophet. Offering a two rakaat (unit) prayer here equals the reward of an Umrah. I offered the prayer and made a special du’a in this place before taking a tour around the mosque. After taking a few pictures of the mosque and its surrounds I went back to the bus because we were only given fifteen minutes.
I was one of the first people to get back to the bus and well over half an hour had passed already. From here we were meant to visit mount Uhud, the Qiblatain mosque and a date factory and it was already 10.30. I said to a friend who sat next to me, “There’s no way we can go back before Dzuhr.” I was very disappointed with other people who could not make going back on time and endanger our intention to do forty prayers in Masjid Nabawi in congregation.
Soon after I said that we saw a couple of government officials talked to our tour leaders and told us that we had to go back to our hotel straight away because the coaches had been booked by the hajj organisers! Astagfirullah al ‘aziim.
December 21st, 2006
Two Bangladeshi friends who stayed next door were very sick. I did my best to support them. At some stage I was worried that I would be infected because I spent a lot of time with them. I put my trust in Allah. I was convinced that He subhanahu wa ta’ala would protect me.
December 22nd, 2006
Finally Allah let me enter Raudah, the area between prophet Muhammad’s house and his pulpit. I was passing in front of the gate when the guards opened it and let people in. I did not have to fight for a spot this time. I prayed two rakaats and saw an empty space in the front row. I quickly took that spot and spent about an hour to make supplications to Allah.
December 23rd, 2006
Our hajj tour leader arranged a tour to Mount Uhud in which the second war between the Muslims and the pagan Quraish took place and the Muslims were defeated after ignoring the instructions of the Prophet. We proceeded to Qiblatain Mosque, the “two Qiblats” Mosque. In this mosque we received the news that the Saudi authorities had decided that the day of Arafah would fall on Friday. This meant that this year hajj was the Great Hajj (Hajj Akbar)
December 24th, 2006
For the third time in Masjid Nabawi, I met with Alius Sulaiman of Nigeria. It may sound pretty ordinary, but this happened in masjid Nabawi.. To meet three times amongst hundreds thousands of people and considering the size of the mosque was extraordinary. Alius enlightened me a lot regarding issues in Africa such as what happened in Darfur, Muslim and Christian relations in Nigeria and political issues in North African countries.
My other favourite activity whilst in this blessed place was asking local Arabs to listen to and correct my Qur’an recitation. I enjoyed talking to those local Madinites as much as enjoying the fresh tamar (dates) they shared with other pilgrims to break fast. One of the local boys, Omar, was very fond of me because he wanted to practice his English.
December 25th, 2006
Whilst I was reading the Qur’an waiting for Ashr, I met an American man of Egyptian origin. Looking at his appearance with his long beard, I was surprised when he told me that he lived in New York. And that he was driving taxis around the twin towers when the September 11 attacks took place.
He said that he did not have any problem with his ‘terrorist’ appearance. His wife was covering her face, and he even named his daughter ‘Jihad’.
When we were talking one man approached us and tried to joined our conversation. But he did not spoke English nor Arabic. Using sign language and his native language, we figured out that he was from Chechnya. He had travelled with eleven other friends on a bus for twenty days crossing countries such as Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Syria, and Jordan. He was shaved and very clean but I could see from his deep eyes the suffering his people had to endure under the Russians.
Today I also completed 40 prayers in congregation at the Masjid Nabawi.
December 26th, 2006
Finally I met with Indonesian friends from Melbourne who came with the same travel agent but left one week later than I did. We went to find an Indonesian restaurant and bought lunch and take away dinner.
I also took my Bangladeshi friend to Masjid Quba with a taxi. He was sick when we went there with our trip organiser.
I found a decent and clean Pakistani restaurant. The Biryani rice and corn soup were yummy!!!
On the way to the mosque I saw a remote controlled toy car being played. On the way back to the hotel I bought two of them for my boys. It cost me just 60 Saudi Riyal or around AUD$23.00. In Australia you can’t even get the rechargeable batteries with their chargers which come with the toy car for that price!!!
December 27th, 2006
Today we departed for Mina. We were told to get ready after Zuhr, but we did not leave the hotel until after Isha. But I did not complain. This delay allowed me to spend more time in Masjid Nabawi. Allah let me to enter the garden of Raudah for the third time. But I could not help shedding tears again when I said salaam to the Prophet in front of his grave. May Allah give me more chance to visit his blessed city and to be this close physically to him salallahu alaihi wassalam, again.
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