Al - Haramain Part 1

Al Haramain is an arabic word which means The Two Holy Lands.  Alhamdulillah, praise to Allah Al Mighty, I was in Madinah and Makkah again last May/June.  This post should have been written while I was there but time was not on my side.  It was a last minute decision actually.  At first I scheduled my visit to coincide with Ramadhan Kareem, coz the best time to visit the holylands for umrah is during Ramadhan Kareem.  There's an hadith that says an umrah performed during Ramadhan  will be rewarded as though we are performing the Hajj.  But I decided to go earlier as I may not know what will be holding me in the next few months.  True enough, if i have decided to wait until August, I may have not been able to go.

It has been quite a while since my last visit, 5 years to be exact.  The first time was in 1999, where i was also very fortunate to be able to visit the third holyland, the Baitulmaqdis.  But that is another story.

The Clock Tower and The Kaabah

Now that we are in the month of Ramadhan, i remember one incident that happened to me during one of my visits to Makkah.  It was nearly dawn, I was already sitting in the front lines in front of Kaabah. the jamaah are preparing for the Fajr prayer.  Suddenly i felt thirsty and would like very much to drink a glass of zamzam before the azan.  Once the azan called, you had to start the fast and couldn't drink anymore. In order to get that drink, I had to get up and leave my place. And i knew if i do that, I would lose the place for my solat and had to walk all the way to the back lines. And at the same time , i wanted to drink d zamzam so much.  While i was contemplating on what to do, i felt the urge to turn to my back. And i did just that. There, infront of my face, an Arab brother was handing me a cup of zamzam. MasyaAllah, Allah solved my problem.  I got my drink and I got my place in the front lines.

Back to my journey last May/June.    We touched down in Jeddah after a long flight from Kuala Lumpur.  They have upgraded the arrival hall at Hajj Terminal, now it is a new building with air conditioned. It took about one hour to get all the clearance.  It was delayed because all the immigration officers decided to stop working for awhile, for whatever reasons that only known to them. .   I was just too  familiar with that kind of  situation. A couple of years back, I was at Riyadh Airport Immigration clearance and for no reason, the Immigration officer refused to process our passports and ordered us to proceed to the his superior office.  The senior officer couldnt find anything wrong with our passports and ordered his junior to let us go. You just can't beat them. And one hour clearance was considered rather fast.

Once outside the terminal, we could not find our vehicles, the GMCs.  Perhaps that was one of the "test" for our umrah journey.  The we found out that they were not allowed to pick us up at the terminal, instead they must wait at the first check point, which was about 500 meters away.  We had to take two taxis to the check point and that three minutes journey cost us SR200.

....to be continued..

Maulidur Rasul

A few days ago we  celebrated Maulidur Rasul.  The day our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW were born. I am sure everything that need to be said about him has been said.  I just want to relate my own experience whenever I think of our beloved Prophet.

In December 2001, I was on board the plane heading to Kuala Lumpur from Kuala Terengganu. I was on my way to perform my Hajj.  On my left seated a man,  probably in his 80's.  I made some conversation with him and at one point I mentioned our Prophet, I just said, "Nabi kita...." Suddenly the man cried sobbingly.  He was trembling. After a  while he said, " I can't hear the name, every time someone mention his name, i feel very very sad.  He loves his ummah so much but the majority of his ummah ignores his teachings..."

How true. And that made me sad too.  He was still crying while staring out the window. I left him at that.

Hajar Aswad

Whenever I was in Makkah, I would always like to think that I was very close to Prophet Muhammad SAW.  Every step that i took in the alleys in Makkah and Madinah was actually the very step that was taken by him when he was alive.  I was stepping in his footsteps. I was performing the tawaf at the same place as he was performing the tawaf.  I kissed Hajar Aswad.  The same hajar aswad that was kissed by him.


I saw his birthplace. A place that once stood a house where his mother gave birth to him.  When I want to snap a picture of the place, I was chased away by the guards of the masjidilharam.  They won't allow any idolization of Muhammad or anything related to him.  Alas, I just wanted to be close to him. To have the feel of being close to him.

Whenever I saw the Jabal Uhud, I saw him being defended by his sahabahs when the enemies were hurting him.  When I saw the place where the the battle of Badar took place, I felt like I was among the muslims fighting in the battle.  Don't you want to be in that battle? Because Allah has blessed ( redha) to those who had participated in that battle.

Graves of the Shuhadas at Jabal Uhud

I want so much to be near him. Once he said, "The person (s) who take cares of the orphans will be this close to me  in the day hereafter" and then he showed two of his fingers very close to each other.  So there's a chance to be his neighbor in the day hereafter.  Help an orphan, and InsyaAllah, you will be near him.

I always pray that one day Allah will grant me my wish, that i want to meet our Prophet in my dream.  But I know only the privileged persons would get that opportunity.  I may not be one of them.  But that would not stop me from dreaming.


 

The Azan Controversy and the Zikir after prayers

The beautiful floating Masjid in Kuala Terengganu. (Not related to the story)

One hundred people gathered after yesterday Friday prayer in front of a masjid in Kerinchi to protest the protest of a non-Muslim resident about the loudness of the call for prayers or Azan.
(http://malaysiakini.com/news/153411)


I am a Muslim and this is my humble and personal opinion.

Our Prophet Muhammad SAW had always said, whenever you are in doubt about anything, go back to Al Qur'an and Sunnah.   When our beloved Prophet wanted to sign the Hudaibiah Treaty with the people of Makkah, the kafirs protested when our Prophet started the treaty with kalimah "Bismillahirrahmanirrahim".  Our Prophet accepted their protest because at that time what matters most were the content of the treaty.  The treaty allowed the Muslims to enter Makkah peacefully.


 I think we should practice the same tolerance here.   Turn down the loudness a little bit ( if it is really loud as claimed by them) and make it soothing to all, as part of our dakwah to them. The burning of the effigy was very unnecessary.

I have the same problem with the "zikir" after obligatory prayers each time I arrived late at the masjid or whenever i want to perform sunat prayers after the obligatory ones.  The Imam at most of the masjids here say the zikir after the prayers loudly using the internal speakers (and external speakers as well at some locations), so loud that it disturbs my focus ( kekusyukan) in my prayers.  For years, we have been taught by the same imams that it is 'haram', forbidden, if we were to read Qur'an loudly in the masjid as that will disturb  those who are performing the prayers.  But at the same time it is ok for them to say the zikir loudly when there are still  a lot of people performing the solat.

No wonder for those who had been to Makkah, they want to go there over and over again. Because it is very peaceful to pray in the Masjidilharam.  Not to mention the 100,000 times rewards compared with other masjids.

Let us show the beauty of Islam to the non-Muslims.