I am now 43 years old, married to a wonderful husband and blessed with
four beautiful children. Looking back, I have come a long way to being who I am
today. It was a journey through a long and winding road accompanied by
countless disappointments and frustrations. How did I get through? I have no
definite answer but I somehow did. I praised Allah swt for always
bringing me home.
Last year marked our 16th anniversary. Where did abang take me this time? A journey back
to the holiest place on this planet; Mecca.
The last time I went to Mecca was in
1992, some 19 years back. I could still remember certain things but there were
also other things that I could barely remember. I did remember the eight- hour
flight to Jeddah, the long hour road journey to Madinah, the people and some
wonderful experiences like kissing the holy stone, Hajaratul-Aswad, praying in Ar-Raudah
and Hijir Ismail as well as seeing
the zam zam well. All these came back
in many broken pieces but fitted well in my memory. I was there for 48 days,
still single and a final year university student. Would going back this time
promise the same?
The day finally came. We left on 24 April in a group of ten jemaah from Kuantan. Other than the two
of us, the rest were a family; an elderly woman with three sons, her mother, a
daughter-in-law and an auntie. We quickly became friends. At KLIA, we were
joined by another 28 jemaah from all over Malaysia. Later, at 3.00 p.m that
day, our flight departed to Jeddah. I was seated in between Abang and another female jemaah from Batu Pahat, Johor. What
began as friendly gestures later developed into warm conversation. We talked
about ourselves, workplace, kids and some other woman stuffs. Abang joined in by occasionally nodding
and smiling. The journey to the Holy Land seemed to be going on fine and
promising.
After a long 8 hour-flight, we finally arrived in Jeddah. From the
airport, we boarded a bus to Madinah for another eight-hour journey. I was too
tired and sleepy to keep myself aware of things going on around me. So, I slept
throughout the journey and kept myself awake only when the bus made a brief
stop at a rest area. I did leave the bus to ease myself up and to feel the
freezing cold night breeze. Once the bus continued its journey, I continued my
own journey into dreamland.
I could barely open my eyes when we arrived in Madinah, at 2.00 in the morning. However, my eyes were wide open
once I got down from the bus. I was finally in the city of Madinah, for the second time. There I was again, looking at the
second holiest site in Islam, Al-Masjid
al-Nabawi. Let me tell briefly about the mosque. It was the second mosque
built in history and one of the largest mosques in the world. After an
expansion during the reign of Al-Walid,
it also now incorporates the site of the final resting place of Muhammad saw and early Muslim leaders Abu
Bakr and Umar (Wikipedia 2012). We spent three days full of ibadah in this holy place.
On the fourth day, we started our journey to Mecca, the first holiest site in Islam. The journey was to me,
indeed a challenging one. I took photos of the vast dry rocky land that
stretched out widely. I could not help wondering how our Prophet Muhammad saw and his sahabat
made their journey across this land. Subhanallah..
Since it was quite along journey, I made myself occupied by continuously
reciting zikir and doa. Later, the bus made its pitch stop and we performed
solah Zuhur as well as had our lunch. I shared a plate of Chicken Rice with Abang.
My, my! The rice was so soft and good served with
tender fried chicken. It was absolutely scrumptious!! Even thinking about it
now made my mouth water !!
Finally, after a few hours, we arrived in Mecca. I was again back to this holy land. Seemed like Mecca had gone through a massive
development. I saw tall buildings everywhere I looked, lines of shops selling
many types of goodies and necessities, hotels, restaurants and countless number
of jemaah from all over the world.
What was so significant about all the jemaah
was the colour of their attire. Even though they came in their own clothing
style, only two types of colours distinctively stood out in the crowd; just
pure white and plain black. Nevertheless, these two colours were interesting
and somewhat divine. When these two came together they became one and some
people said that they represented something colourless or lack of colours.
Symbolically, this could be associated with the jemaah. Each one of them came with only one intention; to perform ibadah as well as to seek forgiveness of
their sinful deeds and eventually become "colourless" or free of sins
in the eye of God The Almighty.
Just like in Madinah, the days
were spent with none other than ibadah. What was so unforgettable about
being in Mecca was praying in Masjidil-Haram and to be near Kaabah. It was such a wonderful
experience to be able to be so close to it, to be close to Allah swt. At night, Masjidi-Haram became a blissful sight.
Lights shone from every corner of this holy place onto thousands of jemaah who never seemed to be under par
at performing solat, tawaf and saie.
For seconds, I thought I was in heaven.
MasyaAllah.
Then, it was time to leave. As we
were preparing for the last tawaf, Tawaf Wida’, we were already talking about coming back; instead of talking about going
home. The feeling seemed mutual with everybody having the same intention and
thought. I believe, you would feel the same too after experiencing these blessed moments in Mecca and Madinah. InsyaAllah. Alhamdulillah, we managed to perform the Umrah without any
difficulty and returned to Malaysia on May 5, 2011. Alhamdulillah again.
(p.s. My son commented on the use of "beautiful children". "Mom, you described me as beautiful ! Eeee, totally unacceptable!! " My response ? Nak kena budak ni ! )
