RELEASED JUNE
25, 2004
Bismillahir
Rahmanir Raheem
Assalamu Alaikum wa
Rahmatuallahi wa Barakatuh!
Al-hamdulillah I completed
my third Umrah in this weekend! {{smile}}
Okay, where is the rest of
the Madinah story?!?!?!
And, hey! What
happened to Umrah Two?!?! hahaha
They're stories still in
my head!!! Subhan'Allah! So for now be happy with Umrah
Three! LOL!!! (And it's a relatively short
story!!!)
It was about 3 am Friday
morning when I gently nudged Mustafa awake to let him know I was heading to the
mosque. He just smiled and said, "Okay, Aishah. Have
fun. Assalamu Alaikum." This is routine now, as I am a night-owl
and he is not a morning person. LOL!! And in the city that
never sleeps, it is not unusual to see a woman entering the mosque by
herself. Al-hamdulillah. I like to go and pray in the mosque in the
wee morning hours as it is such a serene time...and it just amazes me how many
other people have the same idea! hahaha Masha'Allah, it really
is a beautiful time...
Mustafa had not known,
however, that I would manage to make Umrah. I had made the
intention before leaving home, and again upon crossing the Haram border, but I
had told Mustafa about my left ankle being sore and that I was thinking this
might preclude me from making Umrah on this trip. But,
Al-hamdulillah, when I entered the mosque that morning, it just felt right,
and somehow I found myself diving right into the circling pilgrims to
begin my tawaf and ended up completing my journey without my ankle
ever hurting at all!!! And it didn't even pick back up with the
aching afterwards!
Al-hamdulallah!
Of course I prayed for all
of my sisters and brothers who sent me dua requests, and even for some of you
who didn't send requests! Don't worry, I couldn't forget anyone!
Al-hamdulillah, this time
when I was making tawaf, all of a sudden, part way into round five, I looked to
my left and there it was! Not one, but two open spaces right up
against the Kaba!! I could not believe my eyes, and the space was beside
another Sister! Subhan'Allah! I quickly zoomed in and got the empty
spot and lifted the palms of my hands to the black fabric, pressed my
forehead into it and there I happily stood for the next few
minutes making dua...Al-hamdulillah...I only wished I could have stayed there
longer, but I wanted to be polite (wow...unlike so many other people...), and
let someone else have the blessed opportunity.
I also got to touch the
stone on the Yemni corner! I thought I was going to get to the other
corner, but, alas, just as I thought this might happen, the crowd turned sort of
ugly and I quickly retreated. (Interestingly enough, I noticed
tonight as I was watching the Saudi TV channel that shows footage from
inside the mosque at Mecca, that the camera seemed to catch what surely appeared
to me to be a "staged" moment in time...as there was actually an organized line
for the opportunity to touch the corner stone! I thought to
myself, "Get real!" That was surely for the cameras because I have
been to the mosque four times now and made Umrah three times and have yet to see
this phenonomen! An organized line?!!?!? No pushing and
shoving?!?! One can always dream...LOL!!!)
All-in-all it was such a
blessed morning! I finished my Tawaf before fajr, then the adhan came so I
prayed fajr (Aarrgg...after waiting, yes, impatiently, through not one, not two,
but THREE adhans - ONE HOUR!!) and then I resumed my umrah. All the
while I had kept looking back over my shoulder to see what the other umrah
pilgrims were doing, and they were still walking...I would have continued on the
same path myself, however, I did not know that the actual fajr prayer would be
delayed a full hour after the first adhan, and I also thought that it was proper
to make the salat before continuing, however, I did notice that many of the
hiking pilgrims formed a line along the edge of the path facing the Kaba and had
stopped to pray. Al-hamdulillah. Next time this is what I will
do...it beats being surrounded by crying babies!!
LOL!!
As I was on my sixth
passing between As-Safaa and Al-Marwah I encountered a small group of
young girls between the ages of say, five and seven. They were in
abayas and seemed to be "selling" small pairs of scissors. They were giddy
and excited about themselves and after passing them, for some reason I
turned back to look at them again. Just as I did, I noted that they
had squatted down, and with the tips of the scissors were defacing
the tiles of the pathway between the mountains. I immediately
turned and walked back to them, gently admonishing them as best I
could being as I don't speak Arabic, but, as in this case, sign language
seemed to work pretty well...with one exception. LOL! A very petite
little girl with a teeny-tiny nose, looked at me, and in her best Arabic,
proceeded, in no uncertain terms, to, I guessed, very frankly tell me
off! hahaha I persisted however, to set about making it clear that
their behavior was inappropriate, and adamantly replied, "Mosque!"
with a negative shake of my head and index finger pointing to the
sissors. Then all of a sudden one of the other girls looked at the firey
little upstart and said, "Haram!" Bingo!
"Haram!!!" To which the upstart retorted, "Halal!!!"
LOL!!! LOL!!! I followed the lead of my little supporter and
again repeated her word, "Haram!" (It was so hard to keep from
laughing at that moment, let me tell you!) But in the end, my little
supporter was able to convince the other girls to cease and desist with defacing
the tiled floor and retreated in search of someone who would perhaps buy their
scissors. Al-hamdulillah.
Afterwards I found a
little coffee shop (actually I had spotted it the night before as we were
returning to the hotel from the other side of the mosque where we had wandered
afar in search of something to eat, and then in general, just exploring).
I got a carmel machiato for myself and a tea latte for Mustafa, two chocolate
covered donuts, crossed the street to get egg and chicken breakfast sandwiches
on this really yummy sweet bread, picked up two oranges, four banana's and two
bottled waters, and as a final ta-da! to my breakfast-in-bed, I found my
husband's favorite Egyptian newspaper!
{{smile}}
As I crossed
the cement partitioned divided street, loaded down with my early
morning shopping goodies, I spotted a woman sitting against the partition on the
sidewalk...holding a little girl that looked to be about two years
old...the sun was just settling into being fully awake, and the child appeared
to be napping on her mother's lap...my heart went out immediately...and thinking
the little girl would be hungry as soon as she woke up, I hesitated in my
stride and reaching into the bag of fruit, pulled out two of the bananas and
handed them to the mother. Goodness only knows why I had bought
four to start with...but Allah (swt) knew before I
did...subhan'Allah...
I returned to the hotel
where a groggy husband opened the door and boy was he surprised!
I had left the hotel at 3 am and returned about 6:30 whereupon I announced the
completion of my Umrah and that I had brought breakfast with me!
After pigging out
on the breakfast that I had spread out across the bed on top of a spare
towel, we immediately fell into deep sleep! Al-hamdulillah for weekends!
I am so thankful for
a husband who understands my independence and does not try to subdue my
instinctively adventurous nature...otherwise I would miss so
much...
Now I am finding a ton of
mail, and group postings, so I had better get this sent.
Love you all for the sake
of Allah (swt)!!!
Wa'Salaam Alaikum,
~Aishah
