Hajj 2011 ( 1432 ) Travelogue !

Assalam u alaikum warhamtullahi wabarakatuh ,

Finally the time has arrived , that I am here to write a travelogue on the most auspicious journey in my life and that's Hajj 2011.

This was the journey which was  dwelling in my heart since I got the true meaning of Deen i Islam in my life.

7th Zilhajj 1432 : 

Mina ( city of tents ) at night

On 4th of November 2011 , 11 o clock , me , my better half and my little grown up girl ( yes mashAllah , she knew what we were  upto because she was trained well for hajj before the departure) .

You can see what she has learned about hajj on the following link :

http://ummisubhana.blogspot.com/search/label/Hajj

We left Jeddah and headed to another area in the city named as Azizia . A Hajj group was going to gather there for the most rememberable trip!

In between 11.30 pm and 12.00 am , we reached at the required meeting place. New faces introduced each other with cheerful smiles because they were heading to the event which was hosted by Allah SWT. Our group had approximately consisted of 300 people invited by Allah from different cities of Saudi Arabia.

Some were doing Hajj for the first time like me, super excited! Some has being  repeatedly doing hajj before. ( may Allah invite us too every other year and those too who are reading this piece of my travelogue right now, aameen ya Rabb ul Aalimeen )

All was set to leave to Makkah and then to Mina. We residents were required to do Hajj Ifrad , in which the haajis do one umrah ( including one tawaf plus one saee)

When the buses got started, I had a changed feeling . It seemed to me that whether am coming back home or not because I was leaving to the place where most of the people usually wish to leave the world in the state of ihram.

I couldn't sleep along the whole way to Mina , I was just kept waiting for my teary eyes to see the white triangular cap shaped  tents.

Finally , after a very long wait due to traffic jam full of people in the state of ihram , I entered Mina . Literally , to me it was a city of ghosts !  Wherever I could see in the long vision , white tents were not ending .

I didn't take camera with me , as I thought I am going to worship Allah only not to waste time in taking pictures of the places I visited. But at the same time I tried to capture the scenes in my mind so that I could remember in my whole life. I was trying my best not to involve in wordly talking , just zikr and talbiyah of course which is the real essence of Hajj.

mina in morning

People in Ihrams , wherever I could see! MashAllah this was the event I have never seen. All were going to their own assigned tents . Our tent was on the high hill , driver drived the bus so smoothly but at the same time , we got stuck too in the huge traffic. Being seated on the window seat , sometimes I was thinking , here we go down here , here we go down there , because the bus was on the steep mountain. During this traffic , we could see other tents of Saudi people . They were highly decorated to welcome the haajis. As we were going higher and higher , the temperature was changing naturally , we could feel the cold wind when we reached our tent after 2 to 4 hours of traffic jam. But subhanALLAH , nobody got irritated as far as I think , because we were out on a journey which actually teaches a haaji before hand to control and to be patient whatever happens because anything happens is because of the reason that it's by only Allah swt to teach us a lesson or to save us from a big calamity as Allah knows the best.

When I reached my tent , believe me , I was in utter shock! Because the tent was not like our luxurious homes with a seperated cleaned washrooms but it was completely the opposite. My purpose is  not to scare you but to tell you the truth , this scene we had to face once in our lifetime because it is necessary to realize as a reminder that this world is just a transit not a destination. According to the hadith , that we human beings are like travelers in this world. And Mina was depicting the same idea.

When I peeked  inside the tent , I was really shock to see the scene . Thin mattresses with small thin pillows were lined side by side , no gap in between . But that was just the start ! I bucked up myself and my little hajjan too that "remember this is Hajj ! ". We all people had to live together in that tent for 5 days.  I took the heavy luggage by my own hands to my bed number 38 which was in the last row. Loud chit chat was in the air . Yes , trust me it was like fish market to me. But again , I would say that was just a welcome !

All haajis were asked to sleep so that we could wake up for fajar . Subhana got settled as she was set by her friend whose family was with us in Hajj. Lights got turned off and we were made to sleep so that we could be fresh for the next day that is , 8th Zilhajj.


8th Zilhajj 1432 :

Azan woke me up and the lights were turned on too. Subhana kept sleeping as she couldn't sleep last night. After offering fajar prayers , we were called out to take our breakfast from outside. And did I mention about the washroom scene? There was no water supply over there for a time being . Again , that was the real test for us not to talk too much about the unavailability of water in taps. But as a natural human factor , it did , shaitan  invoked us to argue on that problem. May Allah forgive us .  Aameen.

After having golden breakfast , yes it was , the group mashAllah provided everything of anyone can think of food for a journey.

It was the first time for me  , I had no idea before , what else I could do besides doing zikr , talbiyah and reciting Quran. Well , most of the ladies were going to sleep so that they could wake up and do Ibadah later. I was not in a mood to do that because as far as I thought that I was there to do Ibadah there as much as I could . But still again , of course after reciting surah kahaf ( as it was Friday) and other chapters of Quran , I decided to do zikr , trying to hold tasbeeh in my hand. But poor me , I couldn't helped myself , I spoke a lot during it , may be it was a new place for me that's why we ladies were commenting on every aspect of what was going on. Yes , literally , this is the truth. After realizing I was in shame of what I was upto , I decided not to talk because I was there to make most of my Ibadah time , this event would never come back and if it will come back no one knows when.

Lunch  albaik got served . And to us  that was not fresh as hot ! But again ! Reminded ourselves not to speak odd about it. We thankfully ate it because that was only meal being served.

Whole day was gone , after doing some chit chat with people, introducing ourselves to others. Knowing them. All natural. One thing I had been noticing that Hajj is the event where we can know about other people also. No matter , whatever the nationality or race, haajis get united over there as they are required to be!

Right after maghrib and isha prayers ,desi dinner got served ! And we all were asked to sleep because the next day was the big day! Arafah Day!


9th Zilhajj 1432 :

arafat mountain

We were about to leave for Arafat at 3 o'clock am 9th zihajj , I appreciated their wise decision because if we set out for Arafat on next early morning after fajar then we might got stuck in a mega huge traffic jam as the haajis from all around the world had to go to one point and that was Arafat mountain ( Jabl e Rahmah).

Well , we seated in our buses leaving luggages in Mina. We reached Arafat when the azan of Fajar was about to begin. After settling in Arafat camp , we prayed fajar over there and went to sleep . This break was very necessary because we couldn't sleep well last night ! I put an alarm on my cell phone of 9 o clock so that I could prepare myself for asking the long list of Duas I prepared as a part of my hajj luggage.
It is said that it's better to make Duas right after zuhur salah on arafah day. So I decided to keep doing zikr as much as I could. The group also provided the zikr page so we hajjis took it seriously in doing our own personal Ibadah. My child was also trying to do zikr with me but along with it she was playing with her friend too. As the zuhur salah approached , each of us got seated , listened to the khutbah ( speech) through speaker , prayed and started asking Allah swt our own needs related to Dunya and aakhirah. A pin drop silence was there among women except the voice of children. On Arafah  day , usually the king of Saudi Arabia  provides food to every haaji. It was Mandi ( an Arabic rice dish) . It was yum mashAllah ! In sweet , it was kunafah ( an arabic dessert) and fruits.

In afternoon , like around 3 and 4 pm , many people were going to make dua at Arafat mountain. I wished it , but my husband didn't think it's a right option as we were with our children. It was a hot day too. So I silenced myself and tried to concentrate on my long list of Duas. On that day , I tried to make dua very sincerely , by knowing the fact , that no dua is rejected on the Arafah day. I tried to remember everyone in my Duas, started my prayers from myself , my family , my parents , my siblings , my relatives , my friends, for Muslims around the world , my country , my aakhirah etc. For those also , who has left this Dunya and are sleeping in graves .

As the evening approached , majority of us went out from tent , at least I was assuming that I am going to stand in front of Allah , all alone . I say many people were standing row by row , I chose to stand in the first row . Tears were in my eyes, a different feeling I had, made dua for a long time over there . My husband and my child were behind me . I tried my best not to forget anyone in my Duas. I still remember the shivering I had while crying because I had a live connection with Allah swt who was just there to listen us like always.  Sounds of helicopters could be heard who were roaming in the sky for the security perspective and they were also throwing light shower to overcome the suffocation. What a beautiful evening that was! SubhanAllah!

At the time of sunset , just last moments were there for us to ask for forgiveness from Allah swt , everybody was doing his or her job including me. Cries and remembrance of Allah swt was in the air among people. Suddenly , one Indian old man , came to us and asked for money as he lost his retun ticket and wallet during the hajj . I , being a servant of Allah , thought , what could be a better moment to please Allah swt only , that was the arafah day , I opened my wallet and gave him the reasonable amount like some of others did too. In return , he thanked us and gave dua. May Allah had accepted for us.

After maghrib , the pack up time had arrived and we were asked to leave to catch the buses. The orangish pinkish sky was reminding me that here is Allah swt who must be have forgiven us . A very different feeling I was having. I kept praying in my heart till I didnt reach Mina.

We didn't know what was going to happen next!

Guess what?

 We waited in the bus in Arafat for about 2 to 3 hours , as everybody was moving from one point to the other point at a time. But who cares! Most of  slept and kept snoring in  the bus as we got tired after a whole day! I called my parents , while talking to my mom , I suddenly started crying for no reason , I think those were the tears of happiness. My mom got scared and she kept asking , was everything okay ? I told her that I couldn't believe I was a part of this gathering in Arafat . AlhamdulAllah . Emotional moment that was!

We didn't even know what was going to happen next?!? Guess what! We couldn't found our tent in Muzdalifah . We reached Muzdalifah , but we couldn't gathered as one group there. Because of the fact , which was confirmed afterwards , that many hajis blocked the road by performing maghrib and isha salah in congregation. We thought that there was a huge traffic jam because of many buses. Well anyways , what happened actually later , our bus driver  decided  to stop the bus and asked everyone to pray salah in the bus and then to pick stones from nearby area of the bus and to get back to the bus before fajar salah.

After collecting the 49 pebbles for each of us , me and family decided to take out our own tent . We spread out the tent and sleeping bags  on the footpath and tried to sleep over there. Women and children of both families slept inside the tent and men outside of it.

Suddenly , a man stepped on my daughter's foot mistakenly ( according to him) and she cried badly. It was the test from Allah. In the middle of the night , a rumor was spread that police is coming and asking everyone to get up from the side track but alhamdulAllah they didn't come to us .

Around 4 am , we heard the engine of our bus which was just beside our tent. It was an announcement for us to get back to the bus . It actually alarmed us. Our children were walking in a deep sleep. Some of them simply didn't want to get up from their cozy sleeping bags.


10th Zilhajj 1432 :

Alhamdulillah we reached Mina in less than 2 hours . Today was  Eid ,on this day  after stoning the jamrat ul kubra and sacrifice it is preferable to make tawaf I Ziyarah till maghrib of 12th zilhajj.

We  had a routined breakfast . Took bath and distributed the sweets . Biryani got served with kheer. Few of the people without children went for stoning right after the breakfast but we went after Asar .

We left our camp with our handy snacks , an umbrella and strollers for our children . The distance was about 3 km. We walked ! Yes! Don't be surprised. We walked throughout without stopping anywhere.

stoning on one of the pillars

i still remember this steep turn in the middle of the walk towards jamarat

look at those two tunnels heading us towards jamarat

I enjoyed this part of my hajj. When we were going through the tunneI we could feel the real essence of hajj . Loud rhythmic Talbiyah was in the air. Every haji was saying "labbaik Allahumma labbaik , labbaik la shareeka laka labbaik innal humda wannimata lakawal mulk la shareeka lak".

It really made my heart to shiver. I was thanking Allah along the way that He has provided us tent to spend the days of Mina  beneath it. We saw many families who were living for 5 days in an open sky. That's it! We could see  as far as our eyes could see that many  hajis were  resting on the mountains. SubhanAllah what sort of hajj they would be having ! More rewarding than us ? Don't know ! But I could see the spirit in their eyes too . Many infant babies were also with them. SubhanAllah !

Well ! Where were we? This is what I was watching on the way to jamarat. A three story jamarat building has been constructed in last few years. Indeed the government , constructed it very well . It was wide open , so that no one get crushed with each other.


It was indeed a long walk till we don't reach the place of jamarat ul kubra. We threw the stones . At the time of throwing stones , I was trying to train myself that I won't be obeying  this shaitan more. My girl also got excited when we were throwing stones. We lifted her up and she tried her best to do the same. MashAllah!

We returned to Mina till Isha .


11th Zilhajj 1432 :

On this second day of throwing stones , first we went for tawaf Ziyarah in morning to  Makkah . Right after breakfast , our group arranged a bus to drop us at Masjid Haram. I packed my back pack with snacks , juices , pampers for my child so that we don't face any problem in the upcoming hours. Later we got to know that the bus would be picking us at the Azizia stop so we all walked  to the required point . It was a long walk , about 30 to 40 minutes .Since we left home for hajj , I kept reminding my husband that we will do tawaf in the mutaaf area ( the original  ground area around the Kaaba). But when we reached Haram , he did what I think every man does. Smile. He walked straight to the escalators of the first floor instead directly going to the mutaaf area. Anyways , he was more experienced as mashAllah it was his third hajj. We completed our two rounds but due to the pushing of crowd which was leading us to suffocate , we decided to move to the top floor.  It was about 11 am.

One thing I would like to add here , when the hajj was coming near , I started making dua to Allah swt to let my eyes to see less crowd during tawaf as He did in the battle of Badar. In this event of the Islamic history , Allah swt made the mushrikeen to see massive number of Muslims , but in original Muslims were just few and vice versa.

Alhamdulillah summa alhamdulillah , literally people won't believe me , Allah accepted my dua. During tawaf Ziyarah , i could see less crowd because later people were sharing their experiences about too much rush in tawaf but I didn't agree with them. It was , but too much. At least , the huge crowd didn't scare me . Infact , I was enjoying doing zikr under the hot scorching sun. Our feet were not feeling that hot as we think but due to the air conditioned cool floors . Still now , those moments resides in my heart , sound of helicopters in the air , minaret all around the haram etc. I was trying to capture in my mind so that I could cherish forever.

tawaf ziyarah

During the tawaf , holding an umbrella for my husband and child was indeed a huge task for me because I had to put it upwards more at the point of hajr I aswad so that people might not get hurt with the sides of umbrella. Anyways! JazakAllah khair to my husband who takes care of me during tawaf. He never asked me to hold Subhana even if he gets tired during tawaf or saee or I must say anywhere . Almost at the end of each round , we were drinking lots of zamzan to refresh ourselves.

At the last round of tawaf , we could hear the loud sound of zuhur Azaan . I simply can't explain the moment I was listening to and answering it. Teary situation for me! At that instant , I was thanking Allah from the depth of my heart to be a part of this Hajj.

We prayed zuhur and namaz janazah in congregation in the saee area. After the salah , we did saee.  Again , after doing two rounds of saee , my husband succeeded to find the entrance for fourth floor saee which was pretty less crowded. Even my child could run by herself there. Allah please forgive me as I am writing it , I got very tired between 5th and 6th round. I asked my husband to take rest somewhere . Near 2.30 pm , we completed the saee . At the end of marwah mountain , we found a place close to the place where haajis move from marwah to safa mountain. We laid down and slept , as we were waiting for our family friend to rejoin us because they were still doing it with their three kids mashAllah . As far as i remember we slept  for about 30 minutes. We didn't know what was happening around us , at least I didn't know. After taking a deep nap , we met the other family who wanted to see Kabah from the top floor . I saw once during the tawaf , but I also wanted to go again to see the beautiful Kaaba again. My husband stayed with the kids and I went to see the exotic view from the top floor with the other couple.

Indeed it was breath taking view from the top. Huge clusters of people moving around the Kaaba like a swirl in an ocean . I was thinking that my husband was absolutely right because we might not be able to do tawaf serenely with our  three year old daughter.

I love this part of hajj too of which I am going to tell next inshallah. We had delicious chicken corriander shawarmas with fresh orange juice. It was a heavenly food to me after the whole day exercise. We had twice. Meanwhile , subhana did what I never thought of it . We changed her diaper on the side of the road in the public road for the first time. It was hilarious for all of us . I don't need to go in details but it was an emergency as we could not find any nearby washrooms over there.

We prayed Asar salah in the bus and headed towards jamarat for our second day stoning. But the course of plan changed a bit and the buses dropped us to our mina camps. After isha salah , another  3 to 4 miles was waiting for us to cover. We did the stoning on all three pillars and came out of the building very peacefully. In the end , when we were returning from there , my friend asked me to sit on wheel chair which she brought for her own kids on hajj but that time she was offering me to have a ride on it as it was very evident to her that I was at low pace.

 Actually my legs were in pain due to over walking in a day.  , otherwise , I would have asked my husband to throw stones on my behalf but I wanted to do my own hajj with my own hands and feet.Alhamdulillah  , Allah made it happened. Returned back to mina and we slept without seeing here and there.

12 th Zilhajj 1432 :

 When we woke up , we had to get ready for the third day stoning . I packed my luggage beforehand so that I just had not to do later. We were told that the bus would be leaving for Jeddah in noon at 3 pm . But we haajis were the ones who wanted to do tawaf  i wida, that is farewell tawaf  in Makkah and our buses were departing at about 4 pm. So we were required to do stoning in morning right after zuhur . Now I think that was the worst decision we have ever made . We must have waited for the majority of the crowd to get over with the stoning but that had to happen. We had no choice. At least , we were purely tested here. Well , you , the reader , must be curious what happened next actually.

In the middle of the walk towards jamarat , we stuck in a huge stampede we have ever seen in our lives. Crying , shouting , pushing was in the air. And the heat was testing our nerves. I didn't take umbrella with me that time. My girl cried when she couldn't bear the heat and sweating. An unknown Arabic man was with us , he shared his umbrella .That was the moment , I really felt the help of Allah . That man was an angel to us. Allah sent that man to us at the right time. About one and a half hour we remained stuck in the middle of the huge rush. Another family who came with their three kids literally hit by people from the back which made them breatheless. Kids on wheelchair was completely rolled down and that made their parents and kids really scared. Yes , it was a huge test for us. On the other hand , we suddenly got seperated from other families with whom we came as a group. After a  long wait ,  I asked my husband that I didn't want to take a risk with my child in this mega traffic of humans. So we decided that I must sit on the side of the road with my daughter and he would stone on my  behalf . AlhamdulAllah , our deen gives easiness and that time i had to quit , so i availed another option which was better for us. Later , we got to know that elevators got stopped working , which lead people to stuck in one place under the scorching sun. We heard about deaths too . May Allah reward them jannah , aameen. I kept waiting for my husband . He came back in an hour . AlhamdullAllah but the job was done.  In returning to Mina , I was thinking to give this umbrella back to a person who really needs it for the sake of Allah. I was searching for an elderly people who might not have umbrellas. MashAllah , I got one old man near the tunnel , he prayed for me in Arabic and smiled widely . I got excited and felt happy that I did something which I must supposed to do with that anonymous umbrella. May Allah accept my effort. Aameen.

Back to Mina . We missed the bus at the required time. The bus came again at about 5 pm to drop us to makkah for our farewell tawaf. As we are supposed to leave Mina before maghrib so we got very tensed at that time. My mind is still scanning the boards I saw "End of Mina" right before 15 minutes of maghrib. It took  about 3 to 4 hours to reach Makkah from Mina. The bus dropped us far away from the Masjid ul Haram and they asked to come back at about 1 am at night. We just had 5 or 6 hours to make farewell tawaf with the hajis from all around the world. You must be thinking , farewell tawaf is not compulsory for the residents of Jeddah . But what I conclude , that's purely a fiqh issue. It's still ambiguous to me. Anyway , we tried our best to reach Masjid ul Haram in taxi who charged us huge amount of riyals, as far as I remember he took 500 riyals for both families . You see , this is a golden business the taxi drivers do in hajj, because of the fact that "we"need them to drop us at the actual place and they don't. Well , thats part of the game. The taxi dropped us a mile away from the Masjid ul Haram as no transport was allowed there except the private ones , so we had to walk again for our last step. Guess what! Another trial was waiting for us !

Of course , as compare to the tawaf Ziyarah  , we opt the third floor  for the farewell tawaf too. Yes , the top floor again.  But Allah swt had planned something else for us . As we approached towards the escalators , an Arabic tall fair man ( Syrian or Egyptian to me) stopped and warned us not to go up with your children. In return , my husband asked him the reason . He answered us " كذلك من الموت " , that means the well of death. I literally got shivered after hearing him. My husband kept staring at him . He further asked us not to take kids upstairs. But he went suddenly,  as might be his loved one was waiting for him. Anyways , we took another chance , but we saw some people coming down and requesting people not to think in going upstairs specially if anyone of them had come with family. That moment was really a hard one for us to make a decision. But still , we took another ( third chance ) . As we went upstairs through an escalator, literally you won't believe me there was not even a foot to move here and there. In just two or three minutes , another bunch of people were coming up with the same escalators , suddenly we heard and saw the scream of women who were asking people not to come as there was not enough space. Due to jam of hajis, a security officer operated the escalators to work in reverse so that no one could come upstairs. People were trying hard but obviously they couldn't made up. 

the above video is the glimpse of farewell tawaf 

I was keep praying to Allah to show or guide me towards the right decision . In just the moments of time, I asked my husband to withdraw. He didn't ask me "why" as it was so evident for him too about that worst situation. I still remember , when I was going downstairs , Allah swt gave me peace in my heart . I was not tensed at all because of leaving farewell tawaf . That wise decision was better for us at that time. I called my father , in return , he helped us to contact an Islamic scholar. He asked to pay the penalty , in case , if we couldn't made up the farewell tawaf. I was realizing the fact , there is ease in our deen. Nothing is hard. It's we humans who make our religion difficult . Many different scenes we could see all around us. Many people were sleeping , some people were waiting , some were like us etc . We saw ambulance staff too going up with a stretcher for the injured one. Allah knows better. Reminding you , we were present at the most crowded place on earth at one time. You may guess the count around millions of people we were with , so the task was not that easy. So around 12.30 am , we decided to return on the same tracks  with our hearts full of hope that may Allah accepted our hajj and rewarded us double  because we brought our children with us too on Hajj. I must say that was an excellent decision we have ever made. My child still remembers the stoning , white tents of Mina and much much more. We cherish our hajj memories ! I would not advise you to leave your kids in your homeland. Take them with you. Believe me ! Allah will take care of your children and you will get the double reward inshallah.

Till 2am we waited for other hajis of our group to join us in the bus and the engines of the bus finally started to finally drop us to Jeddah. At about 4.20am  we reached the place where we all had to split and to move on with our lives. But , I believe , we all must had came with a different feeling . New plans to try to become a perfect Muslim as that time , we were representing the candidates of hajj from the institution of Masjid ul Haram , Makkah.

We reached home at exact 5 am.

Did I mention that we had a flight to Pakistan  very next morning at 11 am , so we needed to return home till fajar. My twin brother was getting married and I had to reached there on time. Alhamdulillah Allah planned beautifully for us. Summa alhamdulillah! All gone well !


May Allah grant all of us another Hajj again . Aaameen !

Jummah salah

Assalam u alaikum wa rahmatullahi wabarakatuh