member of the human race

to continue with my hajj diary....

The last night at Mina was the night i slept the least, the wind was so powerful it was shaking the tent and the metal frame was shaking like mad that i thought it was all going to collapse on top of us.

also there was this lady who had a sever cold so she was breathing very well and because of that she had the severest case of snoring i have ever come across, wow, at one point I was contemplating stuffing a pillow in each of my ears to block any noise.

eventually fajer peeked its little head, we prayed and i jumped back into the sleeping back to catch up on some dearly missed sleep, the whole tent had the same idea as me, so when my little brother barged into the tent announcing that the coach was here to take us back to our apartments, we where all completely asleep and knocked out, at first we thought he was playing a cruel joke on us but the kid was being serious, the next few minutes was a mad rush of woman packing up there belongings and generally falling over one another lol.

By the time i was ready to get onto the coach i was literally dragging myself as well as my own luggage and my mothers, it was a case of falling into the coach rather than a dignified, lady like climbing onto the coach.

It was hard to believe that our time at Mina had come to an end, even though we had stayed 5 days at mina it had felt like longer and already I was missing the thought of being there any more, even now as I am typing this I miss the fact of not waking up at mina.

My thought where disturbed by a loud bang and one of the ladies screaming, where crossing a bridge when a lorry that was in a rush, tried squeezing past our coach and hitting the side of the coach making us swerve, alhamdullilah our driver managed to control the situation but we could have easily fallen of the bridge.

Did the lorry driver bother to park and check if the passengers where ok? Nope the buffoon carried on speeding ahead.

The side of the coach was dented but other than that everything was ok.

We soon arrived at our apartment, it felt so weird seeing it again, it was nice to be able to use the shower facilities and toilets like a normal human, and sleeping on the bed without having to fight for our space but still it was a sign that hajj was over, we ha done more ritual to do, the tawaf al ifadah.

Tawaf Al-Ifadha is a fundamental rite of Hajj. Its very similar to performing umrah, we perform Tawaf Al-Ifadhah by visiting Al-Masjid Al-Haraam and circling the Ka’bah seven times and praying two Rak’ah behind Maqam brahim if possible and without causing any harm to Muslims. Then we should make Sa’i between the Safa and the Marwa. After Tawaf Al-Ifadhah the state of Ihram is completely ended and all restrictions are lifted and you have become a hajj in all the sense, hajj is over sadly.

we decided to do our tawaf al ifadah after isha, caught a taxi into the haram, now i never take my camera with me when i go to the haram because they do search you at the entrance and they wont let you in with a camera, you don't always get searched but i couldn't risk it, so instead the pictures i have up loaded are from my phone camera, this picture is of the haram when walking towards it. its always an exciting feeling when you get out of the taxi and walk towards the house of god.

the courtyard is one big place that always manages to be full of people, this is what it looks like when you cant pray inside at the congregational prayer and end up having to pray outside, subhannallah.

and here they are doing sujud, it seriously gets full, here's what the courtyard looks like when people are not praying, less packed, always lit up and bright.

you could get there for 3 am and it will still look like the day time, that's how bright it is, and you look up to the sky and its a cloth of the darkest black velvet with the odd sparkle of a star, magnificent.


the minaret of the mosque really does Pierce the sky and looking up at it you cant help but feel in awe of the size of the haram, each time i visit the haram my heart beats in anticipation of seeing the kaabah again.

walking towards the kaabah is such a heart warming feeling and just before you know it there it is, and no matter how many times your eyes look upon it you can never get enough of it subhannallah, i love this picture of the kabbah,look at how packed it is.

its always a hassle trying to take a photo as there are eyes every where watching your every movement, i don't even know why they don't like people taking pictures, although i have to say some people don't care and will stand even in front of the police man while taking a snap shot of the kaabah. i once got chased out the haram by a niqabi lady who noticed my phone, that was close, it was all because of my loud mouth of a brother who shouted 'sawreenee sawreenee' 'take my picture take my picture' she obviously heard him and like an eagle her eyes skimmed me and then she pounced but i was faster and i ran out of the mosque disappearing into the crowds, i escaped for now.

i told my brother of and he sulked for like a whole 2 hours, serves him right.

we chose not to do the tawaf whilst at mina, some do it right after the first jamarah, but it's sheer murder then cause every one has the same idea, so thats why we did our tawaf after coming back from mina as the crowds would have died down, or so we hoped.

the crowds where still crowds but if you stood to the side you can eventually see an oppertunity to join the tawaf (circumbulation), my brother was holding onto my father for dear life, it was actually more packed than when we did umrah, and the pace was slow but we managed to do all 7 around the kabbah rather than going to the first floor or even the roof.

you see all sorts of things when doing the tawaf, people saying all sorts of duas, doing all sorts of actions, one man was just standing in themiddle of the tawaf and not moving what so ever, people kept walking into him and he just refused to move wanting to be a hazard for himself and others, when we got to him my mum asked him to either walk with the people or leave the circumbulation and stand where ever he wants to which he raises his hand at my mum about to slap her!!!!!! can you belive that?

my mum was shocked and my father started shouting at him saying 'tudrib marah, itgeem eedak 3ala marah' - 'you dare hit a woman, you dare raise your hand at a woman'and my dad would have probably jumped him if he didnt decide to run away, coward...

other than that epsiode nothing else happend, we finished the tawaf, prayed 2 rakas, drank zam zam and made our way towards the safa and marwa, i managed to get 2 pictures of the safa and marwa from the 2nd floor after we had finished, it really was packed and i saw one woman lying on the floor kissing the rock and rubbing herself over it thinking that it was going to do her some benefit !!!! people where walking all over her, trampling her but she didnt care, weirdo, i swear some people should just be banned until they are taught the true islam and true form of worship, you really do see so much ignorence and you would think that the obvious would be to read up and research about hajj before committing yourself to it, i know there those who cant read but they should be allocated a hajj guide who teaches them excatly what to do, unfortunatly some people are taken advantage of and completly ignored and left to do their own thing.

after the saeei between safa and marwa we had become official hajjis, hajj was now over and completed, even then i still was in a dream world and couldn’t believe that i had just completed my hajj, i thought i would wake up and it would have been a dream i dreamt, but it was real and for a long time we where on a high, but i knew the responsibility that comes with being a hajji, its a new contract with Allah that you will better yourself in all means possible.

to come back as though born again free from any sin is an amazing feeling, but you are constantly aware of it and don’t want to accumulate any sins so as to tarnish the clean record, its difficult and its so much more easier as soon as you have finished hajj as you have that spiritual high and motivation, but 2 months down the line it's a test to be able to continue having that same feeling, but its still there you have to cling onto it and keep that candle burning inside of you.

i decided i would go to the roof and see the view of the kaabah from there, and what a sight:


i could have stayed on the roof all my life, complete and utter serenity subhannallah.