O P o t B

Makkah, more commonly known as Mecca, birthplace of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), city of the holy mosque and nestled in it's centre the Holy Kaba, house of God Almighty on the face of the earth. Built by Abraham(Ebrahim) and his son Ishmael (Ismail) under instruction from the Almighty. I am here. At the hotel we book into our rooms and rest a bit.  I have been awake for 24 hours now. After settling and resting a bit we gather downstairs with a group of earlier arrivals who take us on our first Umra (mini pilgrimage). Around the corner from the hotel we enter into Khalid bin Walid street. Walking in a group chanting the talbiyah. The air is electric. I become more and more anxious with each step. Finally we reach the white marble which surrounds the mosque, walk up to the nearest door and remove our shoes.  We enter the mosque and are told to look down.  Our guide takes us to the edge of the Mataaf, the inner area of marble that surrounds the Kaabah. ...

On disembarking from the plane I am assaulted by the dry heat of the desert. The heat from the asphalt adding to the discomfort as we step a short distance from the plane to  bus. We are whisked away to customs where we take our place in the queue behind the other pilgrims. The air is cool and filled with the pleasant chatter of people anxiously waiting.  Slowly we progress with the rest of our group and eventually it is our turn. Passports are scrutinised and stamped, bags are searched and finally we are instructed to move to an area outside, which is shaded from the overbearing sun by, what can only be described as, a gigantic marquee. Our group gathers together to patiently wait with our luggage for the next leg of the journey.  We have made it we are in the Holy Land.  We pray and then unpacking some food I break bread with our fellow travellers.  A certain magnetism is slowly growing in my heart, a yearning desire to set eyes on the holy mosque and the ...

On arrival at the airport, we find that we have not taken enough passport photos for the entry VISA's required.  At a photo booth in the departure lounge we take photos and bid our last goodbyes to the family that has come to see us off.  We check in our luggage and step through to the security and passport control areas. We are greeted by hundreds of other fortunates.  I establish that the flight we have been booked on has been delayed yet again and in fact some had been at the airport since Thursday, it is Sunday, waiting to depart.  It would seem that the plane has had a number of problems which necessitated grounding.  We are assured that the plane will depart at 10pm, it is now 7pm. I lay claim to an area near the boarding gate and spread my saal on the floor and we sit patiently waiting to board the plane.  The plan is that we fly to Egypt with a four hour lay over before making our way to Jeddah.  Plans have changed, due to the delay, we wil...

It is that time of the year again where those who have been fortunate enough to be chosen as the Almighty's guests get a chance to perform the Hajj or Pilgrimage.  A sense of longing enters my heart and I recall the time I was privileged enough to be amongst the fortunate.  I can recall, as if it was yesterday, the preparations for the journey. In preparation for the journey, I began reading all the books prescribed and some that I had found to better understand the life of the Prophet and also to become more acquainted with the cities of Mecca  and Medina.  For this I ploughed through a number of biographies on the Prophet to get a better understanding of his life and what he had truly accomplished.  While there was a lot of information on the Prophet there was very little information on the history of the ancient city of Mecca.  I wanted more. I attended Hajj classes, given by a doctor who was a family friend.  The classes prepared me for the pra...