11 April 2009 - Saturday
Our hotel.
We woke up at 4 a.m. That's considered late here. Azan is at 4:46 a.m. and we normally have to be at the mosque at least 10-15 minutes before the azan to get inside the mosque peacefully. So we reached the mosque quite late and by the time I reached the female praying area, there's no doubt I have to pray outside. After prayer we walked around the shops and bought perfume and tasbih. The shops open very early and closed very late at night. We had our breakfast at the hotel and have to wait at the lobby by 7 a.m. with ablution. We're going to Masjid Quba', the first mosque built by Rasulullah, and it is said whoever takes wudhu at home and performs 2 rakaat of solat sunat at the mosque is equivalent to 1 umrah.
Masjid Quba'.
After the Quba' mosque, we went to Jabal Uhud where 70 syuhada' in the Battle of Uhud were buried here. After the trip to Jabal Uhud, we went to dates farm. People said the price of the dates were slightly expensive here as compared to the market. But since the bus can't enter the market area now, they decided to visit the farm instead of the market. We only bought 2 kgs of dates thinking we might go to the market on our own to purchase more. Then our coordinator discouraged us from going to the market reminding us our purpose here is to perform as much prayer as we can.
Jabal Uhud.
The Syuhada' Grave.
We make an extra trip to the Qur'an factory. Everyone has to pay an extra 10 riyal to our bus driver. Only men can enter the factory. Ladies have to content ourselves with the gallery. The men who visited the factory were all given an al-Qur'an for free. All the Al-Quran in Masjid al-Nabawi and Mekah comes from this factory. If you bring an Al-Quran from other publications to be put in the two mosques, it will be removed and sent to other mosques. They also have al-Qur'an in all kinds of translation. The Malay translation were amongst the thicker ones. We probably need more words to describe something as compared to some other languages including English.
Al-Qur'an Factory.
We passed by some other mosques on the way back including Masjid Tujuh but did not stop. We reached the mosque late again for Zuhur. This time I prayed outside under the sun. I can't get inside the mosque to get zam-zam water as well. The lady guard saw my handphone and uttered something in Arabic that I don't understand. We returned to our hotel for lunch and then rest while I audited our purchases figuring how much more dates we needed and other stuff as gifts to family members.
We went for Asar prayer early and promised to meet again at 5:30 so we'll have some time to iktikaf at the mosque. My watch still shows Malaysian time. Hubby's watch shows local time. Sometimes I converted the time wrongly so I quickly went out when I thought it's already 5:30. After waiting for a while and hubby didn't appear I looked at the clock tower nearby and saw the actual time which is only about 5 p.m. No wonder hubby did not come out. So I went into the mosque compound again and walk around to take some pictures. By the way, the lady guard saw my handphone on the way to the mosque earlier so she shouted something and I stood there looking blur. I can't leave the mosque since I'm waiting for Asar prayer. She shouted again, "Amanaat... amanaat..." and I still look blank so she said "office". Oh no wonder. I discovered the office just beside the entrance and there's a locker to keep our handphone there. I wonder what's the big deal about not allowing us to take any pictures inside the mosque. My handphone ran out of battery but I still have to put it in the locker. Anyway that's why when I returned to the mosque, I decided to walk around instead of going in and facing the lady guards again.
We went early for Maghrib prayer and I suggested to hubby we stayed late until after Isya' where the ladies can get into Raudhah again. I waited and waited for our turn and there were so many people I thought this is getting ridiculous already. We can pray anywhere in the mosque and still gets the benefit without having to get ourselves trampled trying to get into a small area to pray. But to leave would be difficult too as the area has become a one-way area. We have to get to the Raudhah before we can leave. Hubby gave me a call as I was about to enter the Raudhah. I answered with the handphone under my telekung and the guards didn't notice. I told him I'll be out in a short while.
This time, I only stood in one place and do'a instead of solat. I'm trying very hard to concentrate with all the pushing and shoving all around me. I left Raudhah and called hubby on my way out. One of the lady guard saw my handphone and decided to check my photos. I told her "only outside" but she's adamant about going through all my pics. Sigh! I managed to meet hubby around 11:40pm and both of us have not taken any dinner. Hubby has this one kind of look whenever he's hungry. He didn't speak much too. So we walk around looking for food. We found a stall selling kebab so we bought two with fruit punch, mango and strawberry. I ordered the food, practicing my little Arabic. All for 14 riyal. We ate our dinner in the room and sleep not long after that.
12 April 2009 - Sunday
We went to Subuh early, perform Ziarah Wida' with hubby after breakfast, shop till we almost ran out of budget, pack, attend a taklimat near our Ustaz's room and continue packing. We have to leave our bags outside our room by 10 a.m. so the hotel staff can transfer our bags into the bus while we go to the mosque or having our lunch. We went to the mosque early for Zohor. Normally from the gate nearest to our hotel, I'll go left to enter from door no. 25 or 29. This time I went right to enter through door no. 13 if I'm not mistaken. This area is smaller and the lady guards still stood outside checking our bags. I told hubby I'm going to leave my handphone in the room this time. The hassle is just not worth it. We perform Zohor and jamak Asar prayer. The scissors I brought which I found on hubby's desk did not work properly so we went looking for another pair of scissors. The price is 5 riyal which gave me a shock for such a tiny scissors to cost that much but we decided to purchase it anyway. The shopkeeper must be trying his luck thinking we're short of time.
We had lunch at the hotel but it was very packed this time since everybody is rushing for time. We quickly changed to our ihram clothes and the bus left at 2 p.m. We reached Bir Ali at 2:40 p.m. slightly earlier than the other groups so we managed to perform our sunat ihram prayer with less crowd. We stopped at an abandoned looking place which actually has a mosque for Maghrib and Isyak jamak prayer at about 6:40, also slightly earlier so we managed to beat the crowd. Hubby's nose bleed quite badly. Both of us have been having nose bleeds since the day before I think. Mine is mostly internal. Hubby's really dripping blood we worry it might get onto his ihram clothes. Thank God it stopped after the prayer.
Bir Ali.
We reached our hotel in Mekah at about 9:30 p.m. We were ushered to have our dinner and our room keys are given at the dining area. Our room no. is 404. We collect our bags from the 6th floor and went to our room to freshen up before performing our umrah. We gather in front of the hotel and our mutawwif led us to Masjidil Haram to perform our Umrah. Alhamdulillah everything went well. Hubby and I stayed in front of Ka'abah for a while before returning to our hotel room way past midnite.
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