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Post by sarfaraz on Dec 13, 2009 18:05:54 GMT
Day 13, Tuesday Dec 1st
Hajj Day Plus 2
In the morning we decided to go in search of the museum. We kept asking for directions towards a supermarket that was meant to be close by it. We kept getting pointed in a certain direction but no matter how far we walked we didn't see the supermarket. After quite a bit of walking we gave up and set off back to the hotel.
When I got back to the hotel I decided to give my phone a go. Forgot it had a search function and it actually gave the location of a museum called "Makkah museum for art and heritage". No idea if this was the museum in question but it was a start. It was nowhere near us and was actually close to Masjid Ayesha which was good as we hadn't been there either so we could visit both at around the same time. We decided not to go today though and go another day. This also reminded me that we haven't been to any of the mountains yet so we need to fir those in and the days are running out.
After Isha we set off to the Haram to try and find a room close to the Masjid. Now that Hajj was over we were told it would be easy to find a room really close. When we got there the place was still packed. There were loads of busses with luggage on which I thought was people leaving. I was wrong! It was actually people arriving. We must have asked in 15-20 hotels if there was any spaces and only 2 hotels had one room each. One was asking 400 riyals for a room which was way too much and another was cheaper but it was on the 9th floor and "outside"...
I called my cousins who were in another hotel close by to ask if they had room but same story there. As the place was still jam packed I didn't much fancy staying really close as it would have been too busy for my liking so we headed off back to our hotel that's far away. It just meant we might not be able to do any nafl tawaafs.
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Post by sarfaraz on Dec 13, 2009 18:20:39 GMT
Day 14, Wednesday Dec 2nd
Hajj Day Plus 3
My wifes parents were going to do Tawaaf-E-Wida today after Fajr, the Tawaaf you have to do before leaving Makkah. We decided to join them, I wanted to check out how busy the Masjid was that early in the morning as we were told it was quiet and picks up again after 9 AM.
When we got to the Masjid there were loads of people walking around outside which meant there were bound to be lots of people inside. I wasn't wrong. We went in and the ground floor was packed with people doing tawaaf. As my wifes parents went to do tawaaf so did my wife. I decided to go to the observation level and prayed nafl prayers. Once I had done that I spent some time just looking at the Kaaba and the amount of people doing tawaaf. I then decided to give duas, once I had done my own I decided to read everyones on the forums, I reached for the paper I had printed out but couldn't find it! I checked all my pockets but it wasn't there. I couldn't believe it, I don't know how it happened but it wasn't on me. I was really annoyed as this shouldn't have happened.
As it had been almost an hour I decided to set off for where we said we'd meet. I drank some Zam Zam before setting out. Once I met up with my wife and her parents we decided we'd set off alone to Masjid Ayesha and then to find the museum. We got in a taxi and as we were on our way we drove past the museum which was good as I found out where it was.
Masjid Ayesha was absolutely packed. We both prayed 2 nafl prayers and then started walking towards the museum. Can't remember exactly how long it took to walk as we stopped off to eat on the way. We were told it opens after Zohar and not for very long. We got there just on the Zohar azaan so we thought we'd wait around for a bit as there was no activity from inside. We waited a fair amount of time and still no activity so we went to the pharmacy across the road.
Thankfully the pharmacist spoke English and he told us it opens after Maghrib and closes around 10 PM or so he thinks. So we headed off back to our hotel thinking we'd come back later. After Asr my wife wasn't feeling very well so we cancelled that plan and thought we'd rest up for the day again.
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Post by Sister Nomee on Dec 13, 2009 22:09:03 GMT
Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
ASALATU WASALAMU ALAYKA YA RASULLALLAH Salla Allahu 'alayhi wa Sallam Very detailed entry again mashAllah your phone has come very handy indeed. Hajj season the kaaba shareef is always busy 24/7 but its amazing how everyone is accomodated really well mashAllah. Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
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Post by asif trying 2 b rabbani on Dec 14, 2009 11:41:34 GMT
Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhumashallah,subhanallah ,detailed entry brother safaraz,really enjoyed reading your diary.thank you for praying for me brother,i really appreciate it. you are probably getting flashblack's about hajj now... and again hajj mubarak hajji saab. jazakallah khairin for sharing
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Post by sarfaraz on Dec 14, 2009 13:06:14 GMT
Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhumashallah,subhanallah ,detailed entry brother safaraz,really enjoyed reading your diary.thank you for praying for me brother,i really appreciate it. you are probably getting flashblack's about hajj now... and again hajj mubarak hajji saab. Jazak Allah, I'm glad you enjoyed the diary and regarding the duas it's the least I could do for the members of this forum. And flashbacks? Too right, everytime I write an update I can picture everything and wish I was still there.
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Post by sarfaraz on Dec 14, 2009 19:12:17 GMT
Day 15, Thursday Dec 3rd
Hajj Day Plus 4
It's my wifes parents last day today before they set off back to India so we didn't have any plans for today. I thought it would be best if my wife spent as much time as she could today with them. We also stayed up late with them so we were quite tired. Her parents wanted to take a laptop type toy that contained Surahs of the Quran with them to give to their grandchild so we headed off to the shopping centre that wasn't too far to pick them up.
I must have walked maybe 10-15 mins before I lost all energy and could barely walk. This felt so different to during the Hajj days we used to walk for hours on pretty much no food and water but today I couldn't even walk 15 minutes. We got the toys and headed back to the hotel.
Ok so it wasn't just me getting tired, I started to get a headache and my wife said I had a temperature so I guess it was my turn to get a little ill. I took a tablet which I don't normally do for such minor things but as we had so little time and still a fair amount to do I didn't want to cause further problems. We only really have two days left as most of Sunday will be spent at the tours hotel and in travel.
Stayed up late again tonight to spend precious last few moments with wifes parents.
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Post by sarfaraz on Dec 14, 2009 19:13:30 GMT
Day 16, Friday Dec 4thHajj Day Plus 5Woke up at 2 AM to see off my wifes parents. Their bus leaves at 3 AM but they had to get everything on the bus before that. Once they left the hotel was meant to be empty, only me and my wife left but it turns out that one of the three busses that was meant to leave during the night had missed their flight. Their tour operator read the flight time wrong and assumed 2 PM instead of 2 AM. At least we had some activity in the hotel otherwise it would have been quite creepy. At around 9:30 AM we decided to go to Mount Hira. It was going to be hot but we had little choice. We got there and started climbing. We saw much older people than us going twice as fast up the mountain than us. I looked up and realised just how much we had to climb (I'm scared of heights!). My wife was really struggling, after two rests we stopped a third time and I saw my wife was really taking deep breaths and so I asked if she wanted to turn around and she did. We therefore gave fatiha and did duas half way up the mountain. I checked my GPS and apparently we were 426 metres above sea level. It didn't feel that high but then this is a mountainy place. As my wife was again starting to feel ill we headed back to the hotel. It turns out she wasn't just tired but again had a bad cold/minor flu type symptoms so I was quite surprised she made it so half way up. As she took a tablet and rested up I decided to catch up on some sleep too. These last few days really aren't going too well, it seems like we're missing out on being able to do anything. After her rest she felt a lot better so we decided to go to the museum. We pulled over a proper taxi this time (most other taxis are just people going from A to B that decide to stop and make some money on the way by taking someone somewhere), we asked the taxi driver to take us to Makkah museum. He started driving in the wrong direction to where I thought he should be going. I let him drive without saying anything as he may have known a different route to miss traffic. He pulled up outside a building and said this is the museum. It wasn't the one that we had seen the other day but we thought what the heck, let's at least check it out. When we got in it was indeed the museum that we wanted. By chance we were taken to the right place. We were really happy and we saw other people taking photos so I quickly started taking snaps. If you haven't already then check out the following link which is all about this museum: ashraf786.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=umra&action=display&thread=24889Once we finished there we decided to see what the other museum was like. We got to Masjid Ayesha and walked from there. Once we got there it was Isha time and there was no-one in the museum except the workers (yes it was open). The worker spoke a little english and was able to tell us that after Isha it's going to close after 30 mins and even offered a place for us to pray our Namaaz. We had a quick walk around this museum but really it was nothing compared to the other one. It was more of the natural area, e.g. stones, area, land etc. After that we headed off back to the hotel where we spent the night.
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Post by sarfaraz on Dec 14, 2009 19:15:47 GMT
Day 17, Saturday Dec 5thHajj Day Plus 6So, it's the last full day today. Where has the time gone? It felt like only yesterday where were we had set foot in Madinah and tomorrow we're leaving. Felt sad but at the same time we were looking forward to meeting the family again and of course the children We decided to do our Tawaaf-E-Wida today incase there were any problems tomorrow. We got to the Haram around 8:15 AM and probably started the Tawaaf around 8:30. The ground floor was busy but not as busy as most other times we had been there and infact when we started we were quite close to the Maqaam-E-Ibrahim. After one or two rounds it soon got busy. There was a lot of pushing and shoving going on but we were able to complete our Tawaaf, 2 rakaats Nafl and drink Zam Zam in about an hours time. Once we did that we went to what I call the observation deck It's where you can look at the Kaaba in peace and not be in anyones way who's trying to do Tawaaf or prayers. I did my final duas, I also prayed everyone on the forums duas, this was the last time I read these duas ;( I took a photo of the Kaaba at this time, it was probably around 9:30 maybe a bit more but it will give you some idea of the amount of people there before 10 AM one week after Hajj has finished. After that we decided to head towards the Prohpet Salla Allahu 'alayhi wa Sallam's house. When we got there we saw a bunch of Arabs guarding it so we weren't able to touch the door. People even said you can go inside after 10 AM but it was closed. We headed towards Jannat-Ul-Mala to give Salaam and Fatiha. It was closed so we had to do that from outside. This just left us with having to find our tours hotel for tomorrow. We found it after Zohar so we headed back to our hotel to spend the rest of the day there. This time it was empty as the people who had missed their plane got another flight out. It felt really strange now that we were the only ones there and this night seemed to drag on.
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Post by sarfaraz on Dec 14, 2009 19:16:32 GMT
Day 18, Sunday Dec 6th
Hajj Day Plus 7
It's our last day ;(
We had to be at the hotel by 9 AM. We were initially told the bus will leave between Zohar and Asr which really messed up our plans. We had left getting dates etc. to today so we didn't have to carry a lot of weight around but now we'd have no time to shop.
Starting to feel quite sad at the fact we're leaving but we hope to come back very soon on Umrah. We got to the hotel just before 9 AM and surprise surprise we were the first ones there and ours was the first luggage there. As we had some time I decided to get some Zam Zam, my wife waited there while I went off to get Zam Zam.
Once I had gotten that we headed off to try and quickly do some shopping but we didn't really have enough time to buy anything so didn't get much.
Our bus started boarding before Zohar but didn't leave till at least an hour after that. We set off and then at the outskirts of Makkah we stopped. Apparently the wrong passports were in the busses so you'd think the logical thing to do would be to take the passports to the right bus? Not in Saudi Arabia. The logical thing to do here is to make the people sitting in the bus move to where their passports are, because that's the simplest thing to do... *sigh* so we swapped busses (there were three busses and we all had to swap between busses).
We reached the airport just after Maghrib which left us a nice 7 hour wait till our flight. Apparently we were in the international terminal and not the Hajj terminal. The Hajj terminal we were told is just outside with a roof and pretty much nothing else. While our terminal we at least had restaurants and shops to pass the time.
We were 7 hours early yet our flight still left over an hour late, I think it was 2, I can't remember now.
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Post by sarfaraz on Dec 14, 2009 19:17:03 GMT
Day 19, Monday Dec 7th
Hajj Day Plus 8
Nothing much to write about now. We had set off and got to Greece where we were all told we'd have to leave the plane so it could refuel... After 2 hours wasted there we set off and landed in Heathrow 2 hours later than scheduled.
And that's the end of our trip. I really hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed the experience and writing about it. My main aim here is not to write about my experience but I wrote this in the hope it inspires at least one person to try and make the journey themselves so they can visit these blessed places as there's no experience quite like it.
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Post by Sister Nomee on Dec 14, 2009 22:11:02 GMT
Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa BarakatuhuSubhanAllah a great read and sad its come to an end. The picture of the kaaba shareef is sensational it is overcrowded throughout hajj season and ramadan. Glad you made it half way up Mount hira whilst we made it to the top I was motivated by my sons to get to the top which al hamdulilla was wonderful. May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala accept your hajj brother sarfraz ameen and jazakAllah for remembering us in your duas througout your spiritual journey may you and all the forum members get to go to the blessed lands soon ameen. Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
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Haarith
Senior Member
www.islam786.org www.spiritualfoundation.net www.thelightoftruth.org
Posts: 3,067
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Post by Haarith on Dec 15, 2009 19:09:01 GMT
Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
Hajji Sarfaraz! Mubarak! I've read some great extracts. Masha Allah, may Allah accept your Hajj.
Wassalamu 'alaykum
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Sanam1
Senior Member
Posts: 2,018
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Post by Sanam1 on Dec 17, 2009 13:54:05 GMT
salaam I really enjoyed reading you diary you made it so real for us i felt i was there too. thx so much for sharing these special moments with us all. Allah taalah accept your haj and call us too amin
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Post by `Abdullah al-`Ash`ari on Dec 17, 2009 17:42:24 GMT
Did anyone meet the Habaib during Hajj? They are easily distinguished by their Sunnah cloaks and Shawls.
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fatma
Senior Member
Ae kash Madinay mein mujhey maut yuh aaye, kadamo mein tere sar ho, meri rooh chali ho
Posts: 5,700
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Post by fatma on Dec 19, 2009 23:26:32 GMT
Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa BarakatuhuMashallah that took me ages to read but i have to say it was well worth the time (even though i'll probably complain tomorrow of the time i got to bed as it's well past bed time for me!!!) i have to say that, that was a "wicked" diary and it brought back so many memories. i remember trying to climb up mount hira silly us we went in the blazing afternoon heat and i'm not very confident on climbing high mountains so we only managed to get to the first mosque before chickening out (i use my pregnancy as an excuse ;D ), so atleast you guys got half way up with one dodgy foot and an ill wife ;D muzdalifa is the most peacful place in the whole of hajj i kept annoying my hubby by getting him to take me to the toilets (i was sooooo scared of getting lost i woudn't go 2 feet from my chattay without him). i have to say one thing though i did 95% of my tawafs on the ground floor right next to the kaaba as it looks really crowded but once there it you just get pushed along with everyone else most of my tawafs were done with one hand touching the kaaba. and thanks to an old chacha he pulled me right up to the door of the kaaba and lifted me up just so that i could kiss it and touch it may Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala bless him for his kind act towards me. the only people that i really disliked were the black guys that used to carry sick people around on their shoulders in this wooden thing we call a doli as they would whack you in the head and couldn't care less and push you out of the way with their elbows regardless of whether you are old or young they should be ashamed of themselves. all in all i really enjoyed your diary brought my own hajj back to life we managed to get to makkah o the first day after hajj and did our tawaf then by the time we got back to the camp i was shattered and when the women tried waking me up for breakfast my bhabi told them a few choice words as they were all jelouse that we'd got out of our ihram so early and they were still waiting to go back ;D (i do so love my bhabi )
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Post by Sag E Dargah E Jilani on Dec 22, 2009 15:28:09 GMT
Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa BarakatuhuSorry I never replied before Hajji Sahib. I think its a great account shared by yourself. Jazakallah Khayran for sharing and for taking the time out to write it. One thing, Hazrat Shaykh Ul Islam ( Damat Barkatuhumul Aliya) gave fathiha outside of Jannatul Baqi as they said the saudi clownz have made the pathway on the graves also. I read it in the Hajj diary. Jazakallah again for the diary. PS-YOU CAN SHARE YOUR ACCOUNT WHEN YOU WENT AJMER SHAREEF IF YOU WANT OR EVEN SISTER FATMA IF SHE WANTS TOO. Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
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Post by sarfaraz on Dec 22, 2009 16:35:53 GMT
Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa BarakatuhuI have the memory of a goldfish and it's been a fair amount of time since I last went there. I had to write everything down that I did during Hajj otherwise come diary time I wouldn't have remembered all the little details Inshah Allah next time I go to India I'll try and do this.
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hal786
Senior Member
TREAT EVERY DAY AS YOUR LAST DAY ON EARTH.
Posts: 3,127
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Post by hal786 on Jan 23, 2010 20:09:28 GMT
Asslmau Alaykum many congrats on your hajj happy to see your back.Very intresting dairy.How comes you only took one photo bhai.Your inlaws are from india now thats very intresting to know bhai.
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