Eat Walk Pray Part III

Makkah Al-Mukarramah: "Mecca the Honored" or loosely translated as "The Holy City of Mecca" is our final destination. The distance from Madinah to Makkah is around 400 km which is about 4-5 hours bus ride. Before anyone leaves Madinah, it is sunnah to perform Ziyaratul Wadak, which is saying farewell Salam to our Prophet Muhammad SAW. Being a crybaby, I can't contain my emotions and started to sob. I made a determined promise that I will be back FOR SURE if I am blessed with good health and longevity.

We left Madinah after lunch. We wore our Ihram from the hotel, as I mentioned before these are 2 pieces of white cloths for men and telekung cloak for women. We stopped at Dzulhulaifah or Bir Ali about 10 km from Madinah as Miqat to state our intention to perform Umrah. From then onwards, we were bound to the 13 forbidden rules during Ihram which include no sewn clothes, shoes, socks or hats can be worn by men, women cannot cover their face, cannot cut any hair or nails etc etc. If one breaks any of the rules, one has to pay the Dam (kinda like summon). For Umrah, one has to keep the Ihram for several hours only. I can't imagine how it'd be like during Hajj when one has to keep the Ihram for at least 5 days or maybe more.

They say Allah will test you in ways you could never imagine during Umrah or Hajj. Our first test came when one of the elders in our bus group Pak Mohamad went missing at Bir Ali Mosque (image on the right). A few of us went searching for him and finally found him after about 2 hours. Apparently, he was waiting for his sister, who was already on the bus waiting for him. Indeed, I was warned that I have to be careful of the words I chose to say in Holy Haram Land. For example, don't say "wait for me here" but instead say "we meet up here". You could wait for hours but never meet.

Because of that incidence, our bus was delayed. Along the way we recited the Talbiyah (see end of part II), to praise Allah and to remind ourselves that we were on our way to perform Umrah. I tried to catch some sleep during the journey to conserve energy for the ever-so-daunting task ahead. I was very nervous beyond words but yet exalted!

We were roused from our sleep by the Mutawwif as we approached the suburbs of Makkah. Again we recited the Talbiyah as we drove along the road to the Holy city. Everyone was very excited when the Zamzam Tower (the biggest clock tower in the world) loomed from the distance. All of us could sense that Masjidil Haram is near. I started to have goosebumps together with butterflies in my stomach. My heart pounded ever so faster and sometimes skipped a beat as we edged closer to Masjidil Haram. Allahu Akbar! Allah is Great!

We arrived at the 2-star Syobra Al-Khalil Hotel, our place of stay for 6 days in Makkah at around 11 pm. The other 2 buses of the TH Travel & Tour group had arrived earlier at 9 pm. We were told to check in our rooms, freshen up, perform ablution, have our supper and congregate at the lobby at midnight to be shown the way to the Masjidil Haram. We were going to perform our first Umrah as a group in the cool of the night. Much to our surprise, the Ibrahim Al-Khalil Street, where our hotel was situated, was still crowded and bustling at this time of night. Such the devotions of Muslims from all over the world.

The walk from our hotel to Masjidil Haram was only about 450 meters but it seemed farther. We walked through the dark, narrow, dusty, crowded streets of Bakkah (old name for Makkah). There were rows of old shops and hotels cordoned off scheduled to be demolished to make way for new buildings. Makkah, as our parents or grandparents knew it, is changing rapidly. Construction is everywhere, even at the entrance of Masjidil Haram. When we looked up to our right, there it was the humongous Zamzam Tower dwarfing every other buildings around it, and sadly to say, even the Grand Mosque of Masjidil Haram. We can't stop progress and development although we know it is a sign that the end of the world is nigh. I continued walking humbly to the gate in awe and in trepidation at the same time. I gathered my physical and mental strength and focused my concentration to the Umrah task I was about to perform for the first time of my life.

As I walked in the midst of the crowd, through the King Abdul Aziz Gate No.1 (image above) and down the stairs, I recited the special du'a. Instantly, my gaze was transfixed to the black magical building, beautifully-clad with Kisbah, adorned with golden scriptures from the Quran at the center of the open square. I can't fathom the rush of emotion and the feeling of humility, for there it was in front of me, the building I have been facing towards all my life during prayers 5 times a day, called the Kaaba. It was like a DREAM. As I stared fixedly at the Kaaba reciting the special du'a, I reflected on all the sins I have done in the past. My whole life flashed before me. No one in this world could contain his/her tears when seeing the Kaaba for the very FIRST time even though one has seen images of it many many times on printed or broadcast media. So I did it again, crybaby! I am crying even right NOW when I reminisce the moment.

By the time I was stirred from my trance, I realized that we were separated from the group. I immediately knew that this was another test by Allah. My sister, sister in-law, my wife and I were left with four elders who had been tagging along with us from the hotel. So I took control of the situation and decided to make sure these four elders will never leave my sight. I told Pak Udin to hold on to my hand tightly as if his life was depending on it, while his wife, Rupah held on to his Ihram followed by the other two women. We went to the square to perform Tawaf, circumambulation around Kaaba for 7 times. I guided Pak Udin to state his intention to perform Tawaf Umrah at the green light parallel to the Corner of Hajar Aswad and off we go together as a human link like a string of tasbih. In retrospect, it's kinda amusing and people might have thought those were my parents and relatives. May Allah bless them! Oh! By the way, Pak Mohamad and Pak Udin were my roomamates in Madinah and Makkah, ironically.

My wife and sisters followed suit behind, I think? During Tawaf one cannot look back because one must always keep the left shoulder towards Kaaba and walk counterclockwise. I did my Tawaf reciting whatever dzikir or du'a that I can remember because I cannot refer to the Umrah booklet as my hands were full, literally. As I said before, Umrah is a physical form of ibadah with no specific recitation. Time and time again during Tawaf, I broke into tears reflecting on all the sins I had done all my life and pleading to Allah to forgive my past, present and future sins and hoping Allah will accept my Umrah and ibadah for as long as I live.

People say doing Tawaf is like being in a big washing machine. The first few rounds are like the wash cycle, when one's soul is being washed and sins are being washed away. Next few rounds are the rinse cycle, when Allah is cleansing one's soul. A few rounds of spin cycle, when one makes a fresh start and does a 360 degree turn of one's life. And then the drying which is when one is done performing Tawaf and contemplates on what one has just accomplished and asks Allah to accept it. Wallahualam! By the time we finished Tawaf, my hands were all sweaty after holding on to Pak Udin all the way. Later when I used my pedometer I found out that the distance covered during Tawaf was 2.5 km or more depending on which radius one takes. But one will never notice the distance because one will be too immersed in it all. Believe me!


After Tawaf I picked a spot behind Maqam Ibrahim close to the Multazam (another place where your du'a will be heard by Allah) to perform Solah Sunnah Tawaf and recite the same du'a from my little notebook which I recited at the Raudhah. I drank the Zamzam water to quench my thirst. I met up with my wife and posse and we proceeded to the Safa Gate to perform the next compulsory act of Umrah, the Sa'ie, which literally means "ritual walking". It must be performed at the Mas'aa which involves walking between Safa and Marwa (450 meters distance) hillocks 7 times, which totals about 3.15 km. This act is said to commemorate the act of a mother's sacrifice for her son, the story of Siti Hajar mother of Prophet Ismail searching for water after being left by Prophet Ibrahim  in a barren, desolate place which is now Makkah. It is also the story of Allah's mercy in answering prayers and also of the origin of Zamzam water. All the while during Sa'ie I pondered and imagined how it was back then for Siti Hajar without the comfort of the sheltered roof from the hot sun and marble flooring from the scorched desert sand. As if Allah wanted to test me, I did experience such an ordeal myself during my second Umrah which I will divulge later.


After completion of walking from Safa to Marwa 7 times, it came to the end of Umrah when we had to cut at least 3 strands of hairs or shave our head called Tahallul. It was 2 am. That early in the morning there was no barber shop open for business so I just cut my hair. With that last act, we were free from the forbidden rules of Ihram.  It was such a BIG relief like something had been taken off my shoulders. Alhamdulillah I completed my first compulsory Umrah successfully and prayed that Allah accept it from me.

That night I didn't sleep at all. I went back to the hotel to take a shower and change to normal clothes. By this time I was used to wear the Arabic jubah because it was so practical for the weather here and the long jubah covered all my trouser pockets. Then I went back to the Masjidil Haram for Suboh prayer. Luckily, there were no ziyarat program that day so I slept after breakfast. Do make sure you have all the meals of the day breakfast, lunch and dinner because you need the sustenance and energy. That's the reason for the first word in the title, EAT. And do drink as much Zamzam water as your stomach could take because this is your only chance to do so in the Holy Land but most importantly to keep you well-hydrated in the hot weather. Only thing is I can't imagine how it would be during Ramadhan fasting month. I guess one must eat loads during Iftar and Sahur. People say it is more barakah (blessed) performing Umrah during Ramadhan. It's definitely more expensive and crowded especially the last 10 days.

The incident I mentioned earlier happened during my second Umrah. We went for ziyarat to Hudaibiyah, about 17 km from Makkah, which is one of the three Miqats for Makkah residents. It was a visit to a camel farm in the middle of the desert. That was it because the Saudi government didn't allow anyone to visit the Haramain Museum. So on the way back we repeated the same acts as before to perform Umrah. I noted that a few people decided not to perform Umrah this time round. It was their own choice. No elder was tagging along this time. Oblivious to the ordeal I was about to endure, I performed my second Umrah with my wife, my sister and sister in-law before Zuhor prayer during the hottest time of the day. It was flawless with Tawaf and Sa'ie till the end. Without anybody tagging along, I could recite the du'as from the book and do the sunnah acts like joggging between the green lights during Sa'ie. Until Tahallul when I decided to shave my head instead. It was a mistake not to bring along my slippers. I thought the barber shops were just behind the Marwa Gate. My ordeal began. I walked barefoot in search of a barber shop. Initially, the marble flooring was bearable to step on but when I had to cross the tarmac road...Astaghfirullah!...it was burning hot. Yet I continued walking without any thought. Actually, there was one thought. This is only 1/70th of the heat of the fire in Hell. I completed my Tahallul and had to walk back to the Marwa Gate the same way I came. Immediately, I made a beeline to the nearest Zamzam water station to wet and cool my burning feet. Nevertheless, the sole of my feet developed blisters as painful as.....only Allah and I knew. When I cogitated, maybe this was for the sins I had committed in the past. It will remain as a reminder to me lest I forget the torture of Jahannam.

After Zuhor prayer I went back to the hotel. As it happened, I was not the only one who suffered the predicament. Two other people endured the same torment after losing their slippers. One of them and worst of all was my roommate, Pak Udin. Both his feet was blistered badly. He walked all the way 450 meters from the mosque to the hotel on the blazing hot tarmac. I cringed every time I think of it. After some first aid treatment, I gave Pak Udin some painkiller which I also took. The other person was clever enough to fashion a pair of slippers from cardboard tied to his feet. Ingenious! He was an ex-army. I actually knew you could make slippers from mineral water bottles and strings. Why didn't I think of it at the time? It's part and parcel of being in Holy Haram Land. From then on, Pak Udin stayed in his room all the time. Occasionally, I brought him meals when his wife was late in doing so. What amused me and baffled me was he called me "Cikgu" (teacher). At one time, he wittily said that he has a doctor looking after him.

My third Umrah was after ziyarat to Jabal Thur (where Rasulullah SAW hid from the Quraisy before Hijrah to Madinah), Arafah (where Wukuf for Hajj is performed), Jabal Rahmah (first meeting place of Prophet Adam and Hawa 100 years after they were sent down from the Heaven and that's why people make du'a for their life partners here), Muzdalifah, Mina (image on the left) and Ja'ranah Mosque (the Miqat for our 3rd Umrah). We got back to the hotel almost noon so my wife and I decided to perform our Umrah after Zuhor prayer because there wasn't enough time to complete before Zuhor. This time the Umrah was almost uneventful. Apart from trivial flaw here and there which didn't affect the Umrah act much. We could have done another Umrah on Sunday from another Miqat at Tana'im Mosque (which is 5 km away from Masjidil Haram and people usually take the taxi to and fro) but according to my mother in-law it is better to perform Tawaf Sunnah. There will be 120 blessings (Rahmah) sent down to the Kaaba every day; 20 will be given to those who just look at the Kaaba, 40 to those who perform Solat (prayer) near the Kaaba and 60 to those circumambulating the Kaaba.

Our daily routine during the stay in Makkah involved:

• waking up at 3.30 am to get ready for Suboh prayer at 4.15 am. The sun rises at 5.40 am so it gets brighter as we were walking back to the hotel after Suboh 
• having breakfast after Suboh prayer (plus a bit of street shopping, there will be peddlers along the way like "pasar malam")
• performing Tawaf Sunnah before Zuhor or zirayat program or resting or exploring the streets of Makkah
• performing i'tikaf (intention to stay in the mosque) in Masjidil Haram in between Zuhor (12.20 pm) and Asar (3.35), and Maghrib (6.55 pm) and Isya' (8.25 pm) prayers either reciting the Quran, dzikir or du'as. We usually make our way to the mosque 45-60 minutes before prayer times to get to the best praying spots and i'tikaf A couple of times I performed Tawaf Sunnah in the heat of the afternoon. Good for the soul.
• having lunch at the Abraj al-Bait Shopping Mall after Asar prayer as we would have missed lunch which was served after Zuhor at our hotel and we usually went back to the hotel after that. My favorite is beriani with roasted chicken and fresh thick fruit juice. I could devour half a chicken all by myself!
• having dinner after Isya' at the hotel and early bed before the routine was repeated all over again 

We did a lot of walking while we were there. Walking to the mosque and back to the hotel. Walking during zirayat program. Walking during Umrah. Walking during Tawaf Sunnah. Walking during shopping and exploring the city. We must have clocked 8-10 km per day or even more during the days we performed Umrah. Thus the second word in the title, WALK. No wonder people recommend to go for Hajj when one is still young, strong and healthy. And of course we did a lot of PRAYing, which was the main reason we go to the Holy Haram Land.

Tip: for those who are wearing glasses, you must get used to perform prostration (sujud) during solah with your glasses on because you will never know when somebody is going to step on your glasses in front of you.

As I mentioned before, Makkah is continuously changing fast. I am sure over the next few years if I ever get the chance to perform Umrah again I wouldn't recognize part of the city. The image below clearly shows the magnitude of the development and construction in Makkah. The next image is the futuristic impression of what Makkah will look like in the future. The BIG question is will we be there to witness and experience it?

The day came when we had to leave Makkah Al-Mukarramah. It was a sad Monday for me. We were given instruction regarding the importance of Tawaf Wadak the day before. It is compulsory for everybody (even Makkah residents) to perform Tawaf Widak should one has the intention to leave Makkah for more than 2 marhalah (i.e 91km). There are rules to follow afterwards or else your Tawaf Widak will be null and void and you have committed a sin. For example, you cannot delay your departure apart from waiting for transportation, cannot buy any souvenir or cannot give sadaqah etc. 

We left Makkah for Jeddah at around 11 am. We stopped over Corniche shopping complex, had lunch at the Grand Saha Hotel, performed Zuhor and Asar Jamak prayers, rest for a bit and the last act of tourist act, we visited the Floating Mosque of Jeddah on the Red Sea (image on the left). We said our goodbyes to our Mutawwif who can't follow us to the Hajj Terminal due to rules set by the Saudi Government. Then we were off to the Hajj Terminal for departure.

Tips at the Hajj Terminal: 

• find and grab any trolleys lying around at the terminal because the terminal workers will charge you an arm and a leg for a trolley (up to 50 riyal for a small trolley), which was supposed to be free. An alternative is sharing to get a big trolley for the whole bus for about 150 riyal. It would be useful to have this information beforehand from TH Travel representative but they just let us being "slaughtered" by the terminal workers. 
• Weigh your checked in luggage to make sure it didn't exceed the 20 kg limit. Weighing scales are available free of charge. Check in as a group so that the cumulative luggage weight didn't exceed the limit. 
• Don't be alarmed even if you checked in as a group, the officer will give you jumbled up seat numbers so you will get separated from your loved ones. Just change mutually with others when you get on the plane. Passengers will usually oblige voluntarily.
• Make sure you tell the officer your destination otherwise you will be parted with your luggage to an unknown destination.
• Check in your Zamzam water (complimentary 10 liters or 10 kg will be given apart from your luggage weight) at the designated counter and mark them with your name and destination clearly.
• The security check at the Hajj Terminal was very thorough. Just take off anything metallic (wristwatch, belt, keys, name tag, lanyard, coins, hand phones and wallet you name it) and put everything in your hand luggage. It will save you and the others precious time. Make sure you don't keep any scissors or anything sharp or else you have to throw them away. 
• Don't keep small riyal change. Spend it or give as sadaqah. The airport workers will beg from Malaysians for money because they know Malaysians have lots of money and generous.

We boarded our flight home and departed after Isya'. Oh! I hate long-haul flight. The smell of in-flight food and the air-condition made me sick every time. I made myself as comfortable as I can, covered my head with a blanket and dozed off to sleep.....deep, deep sleep until the in-flight food was served. Yucks! That happened twice. Again I just ate the fruit and buns but this time with strawberry jam. I tried to watch the Flying Swords of Dragon Gate just by reading the subtitle but the screen watched me instead. What else to do in an 8-hour flight except SLEEP. I needed the rest.

We arrived at KLIA at 11 am or something. Dazed from too much sleep, we still had to wait till 3 pm for our connecting flight to Senai Airport. I met up with my brother and sister in-law outside the departure terminal, bought some giant Toblerones for my daughter Zarith Sofea, did some window shopping at the duty-free watch shop (nice Balls & Omegas!) and hung around a Kopitiam near the departure gate. Luckily, there was no delay. We touched down Senai Airport at 3.45 pm and Home Sweet Home! My daughter Mia Ariana almost didn't recognize me because of my shaved head but not for long. After all, she's daddy's girl. That was the end of the most awesome journey of my life. I urge those who have fulfilled the criteria to go perform your Umrah A.S.A.P. Rumors have it that there will be no Umrah visa issued by the Saudi Government next year.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention an incident involving a missing person in our tour group. It happened on the 12th of May, 2 days before we were to leave Makkah. An old woman was left at the ladies praying area by the son who later cannot find his mother. A search was conducted by a few people in our group and the TH Travel officers. When we left on the 14th of May, she was still missing. Only one of the son's were allowed to stay to wait for any news while the rest had to depart with us. I cannot fathom the son's feeling of losing a mother missing in Makkah. Stories had it that the mother wanted to sponsor all of her children for that Umrah but only three followed. Moral of the story is a mother's love knows no bound and children must not disappoint a mother's hopes and wishes. However, closure came a few days ago when I heard from TH Travel officers in Johor Bahru that she was already found at the Syisya Hospital in Makkah. All's well that ends well!

P/S: I wanted to upload a beautiful call of Adzan recorded during one Maghrib prayer in Masjidil Haram but I encountered some technical error with Blogger.Com. It serves as a reminder to me of Makkah as I know it.