Pengalaman Umrah dan Haji

mamuslim

Anyway, getting back to the problem of crampy sleeping places. When all the 350 women had arrived and there were already 14 in each tent, yet, there were another 20-30 people that had no place to sleep.

I took it upon myself to get to the root of the problem. I couldn't watch these women sleeping outside in the cold dark night while I slept in the cramped comfort of my air conditioned tent. But I could only give up my sleeping space to only one woman who really looked sick. I moved out of the tent and made my bed outside the tent. I saw a few women following suit, giving up their sleeping space to the older women.

I looked at E but she was having her asthma attack and thought that it would be better that she stay indoors. But why was there still no place for 30 people? I asked the Mutawif and Ustaz for the exact figure. They gave me but it just didn't tally up. I went around that night tracking the problem. I opened up each tent including the mens tent and counted everyone in each tent. Everbody was cramped. It just didn抰 make sense until I opened up one flap tent with four tents filled only with about 36 men!!!

Hey, they were comfortable and having a wonderful time... They weren't cramped. It quickly made sense, they had occupied the tent meant for the women. I immediately pardoned my intrusion and announced to them that they need to squeeze 14 into 1 tent and that they had to give up the 2 tents for the women.

I explained that since there were 686 pilgrims and 49 tents out of which 336 men would be assigned 24 tents and the balance were womens tents.  The men just snarled at me and growled.

One even snapped at me and said that no woman tells them to do anything!!! How dare I? They told me to call the ustaz and explain to them why they should be cramped when they had paid for the comforts. Oh my God, these were God's message and answer to me. That it was these selfish  self centred men that were giving Islam a bad name. Nothing wrong with Islam, but the Muslim men. They think that women have no place in society! That women should be subservient and inconvenienced as long as they, the men, were happy.... Of course, not all men, but according to my tabulations, they were the cause of women not having a place in society. I was so pissed off.

They refused to budge or give up the tent. I was not going to give up either. I quickly went in their tent again and announced that there were another 30 people inconvenienced by their self centred attitude. One man got up like as if to slap me, and then he said, "Saya tak akan pindah, sekarang saya nak solat,"  and walked out and signalling to me to leave that tent. I was alone fighting against these men.

Then some Mutawifs who witnessed this, came and pleaded to them to give up the tents for the women. Ustaz Ghani was called and when Ustaz explained to them the mistake, Ustaz Ghani was given a shelling and they told him that they had paid a lot of money to him, so it was Ustaz fault for not providing the extra tents. Ustaz explained that there was shortage of space and everyone must cramp.

I almost gave up when I heard them scolding Ustaz. I was ashamed of the existence of these Muslim men who only believed in self gratification. I went to my sleeping space and took all my things and immediately parked my sleeping place outside of that 搗illain mens

mamuslim

But the war did not stop there, now the tents shared air conditioning vents and the switches were connected. Obviously, the villain men抯 tent got cold at night as there were few of them there and the womens tent needed the air conditioning full blast as there were many inhabitants and the tents were 搊pened out

mamuslim

THE JAMRAH

Now when I was in Malaysia, everyone warned us of the dangers of the Jamrah or the symbolic throwing (melontar) of the pebbles. They warned us of the many deaths by trampling.

That day we were there, I was apprehensive, would I survive it? Ustaz Ghani however advised that we melontar after Maghrib prayers. So after Maghrib, N, E and I walked over to the 3 Jamrahs.

It was such a short walk away from our tent.

Again, I was grateful for Gods grace.  Having arrived there, there were oceans of people all cramming to stone. I held tightly to my 21 stones with extras in my pocket just in case I dropped them but would not be able to stoop to pick it up. I braved it and went inside the human ocean wave. As soon as I got in, like a tidal wave, I was being jostled and literally carried over right to the edge of the Jamrah.

I had practised to throw it in but since I reached right to the brink, I had only to softly throw it in. I threw the first 7 stones with ease.  And as soon as I finished I turned around to move out and I would be carried out by the human wave...... That was easy as a breeze.... It was the same for the 2nd and third Jamrahs.  It was all too easy.

I promised myself I must assist the weaker others by bringing them in by wheelchair.   I walked back happy. I arrived back to my tent and did my first tahalul, the cutting of the hair, and shaving for the men. After that I offered the Mutawif my assistance by bringing in the old and disabled.  

So the first two nights I wheelchaired the women who needed assistance and I earned the title "social activist" by some of them. I quickly made many new friends mostly those that were old and fragile. Whenever anyone got sick, it was me and E that they would call us to bring them to the mobile clinic.

mamuslim

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

On the second day, E and I were eager to get back to Mecca as our menstruation was due. I knew that if my period came, I would have had to wait another 7 days more before I am able to complete my Haj. I asked Ustaz Ghani whether he could take us back to Mecca.  

But my brother N, told me that, I should just berdoa or pray that my period would be delayed.

E prayed that her period would only come after she completes her haj.

I prayed that my period be delayed.

God was listening, of course.

mamuslim

On the third day, however, as we had to return to Mecca by afternoon, we had to do the Jamrahs after midday. And it was to be very difficult as it would be crowded. Indeed it was dangerous.

I put my stones in my hand and walked into the human ocean expecting to be pushed in like the many times before for the past two days. However, as I was being pushed in, there were too much jostlings by the big sized people there and while clutching onto my stones, I realized that I was being pushed back out of the crowd and outside, still clutching onto my stones.

I tried going in again, but the crowd was just too out of control. We were told that there were many people trampled to death that morning at the same place that I was standing. But I had to do it. I jostled myself in and one big burly Arab man came over pushed me right to the front, though not right to the brink. I quickly SYUKRAN him and threw the stones like I had practiced back at home卪y friend Nora was stripped inside the human ocean and her money from her dress was stolen.  Later in Mecca, she admitted that the stripping incident must have been Gods way of telling her off for the many voluntary strippings that she had done prior to the Haj! I survived all the three Jamrahs. We made our way back to Mecca.

mamuslim

Anyway, we journeyed back to Mecca and again, the journey was jammed. But we managed it. Upon arrival, we quickly took our ablutions and went down for the Tawaf Haji. After the Tawaf and the Saei, and the Tahalul, we praised Allah and then congratulated each other for we were officially Haji抯 and Hajjahs. We hope though that our Haj would be Haji Mabrur. We went back to our hostel, and had our meals.

That evening, Eli抯 period came. GOD granted her wish that her period come only after she completed her haj. But mine was over due now

mamuslim

Anyway, I went for my prayers at the Masjidil haram and Tawaf alone and again, on one of those days, again the same eerie thing happened. A man came from behind me while I was circumferencing the Kaabah and again, he just steered me to circumference. I couldn抰 remember conversing with him but after I completed my tawaf, I went in to the Hijr Ibrahim and prayed and again, the mysterious man was gone. I wondered why I never bothered to look at his face although I am sure this wasn抰 the same man although both men spoke to me in an Indonesian language. But it didn抰 happen once but twice.

I told myself, if it happened again, I would turn around and look at his face after completing the Tawaf, but it never happened again.

mamuslim

During one of the tawaf sessions, it azaned for prayers, and I found that  I couldn抰 leave. Only men were there as they already had formed the safs. I thought I shouldn抰 be praying among the men, but again, a kind Indonesian man, told me to just pray next to him in the saf with the men because I couldn抰 walk out of the crowd and prayed together with the women. I asked whether it was alright and he said, 揇ARURAT

mamuslim

Many things happened after that, and a trip to the pharmacy confirmed my suspicions

mamuslim

I managed to do 7 umrahs while I was there. With so many tahaluls (cutting of our hair) my hair was zig zagged and it took me six months before my hair could grow proper.

Ustaz Ghani, a real gem, brought us for a treat to Jeddah and then he treated us to a wonderful dinner. I honestly believe Ustaz Ghani was a man who probably didn抰 make any profit from our trip there. He had expanded so much money to ensure our comfort and giving us treats all the time. And he was very very caring and so were all the Mutawifs. I thank Allah for giving me Ustaz Ghani and the Mutawifs.

I did not fall sick Alhamdullillah while I was there. I was stronger. Although I was pregnant, I did not  get nauseous. I ate heartily. While others complained of the food, I was walloping everything. I ate a lot of Maggi mee too. And because I was pregnant, I didn抰 miss a single prayer at the Masjidil Haram that I was there.

They said, I wouldn抰 miss my children, but they were all wrong, not a day passed by that I didn抰 think of  them. Whoever said I would be too busy engrossed in my Haj that I wouldn抰 remember my family were lying.

I missed them so much. But I knew they were in my mothers and husbands good hands, but most of all, they were in Allah抯 good hands. And I did call them every other day.

Oh lest I forget, my shoe was lost the first few days of my trip  there.  I had to walk to the shops barefooted to buy my new slippers.  Once the new slippers were bought, I wrote my name all over it including my address and phone number although the slippers cost only 10 Riyals.

mamuslim

When I finally left Mekah to visit Medinah, I felt a strange wonderous journey of my life had unfolded. I learnt so much.


MEDINAH

Medinah was another surprise. When we arrived there, we were given a hotel again, next to the Prophets mosque, Masjid Nabawi. Our room was nice and so was the restaurant serving our food. We knew that for each time we said our gratitude or bersyukur, the more blessed our stay was.

On our first attempt to pray at the Nabawi Mosque, there was just no space or place. We had to really squeeze in tight, and in my  mind, I was accepting the fact that my 42 waktu or the next 42 obligatory prayers that I would be doing there would be very uncomfortable, but yet, I was willing to go through it. Life抯 a challenge.

When we finished our prayers, E and I decided to go really early for the next prayers so that we could be the first to arrive and naturally be in the front saf or row for the Maghrib and Isya prayers.

God  must really love us. When we went early, we discovered much to our disappointment that the front rows were really empty as when the ladies came in they would find their place closest to the door or at the back. That meant that they were blocking the female entrance to the mosque.

When Maghrib prayers commenced, our row was almost bare!!!

So the front was empty but the back was clogged. Again, it was human fault. God gave me the wisdom to lead. So I went to the back and told the ladies in sign language, at first that, there was plenty of space at the front, and invited them to come and pray in front.

mamuslim

Soon, I had the front row almost full, merely by going back and forth to the back and telling them to come to the front. I later learnt the Arabic word, for 揊ront saf empty, please move to front

mamuslim

LESSONS LEARNT

Many other good things happened there, but it was not of conspicuous value except to me. I learnt a lot of things about myself. I also learnt that praying wasn抰 an effort. It was something I must do to thank Allah for my blessings. The more grateful I was to Allah (and I proved it in my prayer), the more blessed was my life. I learnt to remember to bersyukur or be grateful for my existence.

When I pray, I would sometimes perform simple exercises like tucking in my tummy and stretch exercises while I bent or kissed the floor in total submission to Allah. It wasn抰 mere rituals anymore, it was showing gratitude to Allah for all the blessings in this life. I understood the significance of prayer. Of course, when I pray, my thoughts still stray. I haven抰 found a khusyuk method yet (to be in total submission ). But I want to be fully conscious of my prayer. That抯 more important than being khusyuk. Alhamdullillah, I no more see prayers as a chore, but as proof of my gratitude to Allah for all his blessings.

I have sinned plenty in my life. But God is most forgiving. It is part of life抯 lessons. He lets you repent, as many times as you want.

But most importantly, we must learn to clear our heart, and clear our heart we must, all the time. Find ways to do good and good deeds onto others. And while you are it, you will still step on many toes.

mamuslim

Looking back, I am glad all these things happened. It was God's clear message to me to "look around me". I wasn't the only one suffering. At least my family  still loved me. I then thought, if I had everything then others will look at me and think that God is unfair. Had it not happened, I would not have realized what was going on in life as my life was completely protected.

Upon my return to Malaysia, I was introduced to Datin S who asked that I Deputise the Head of the Womens Rights Bureau under the Women & Family Ministry. It was a thankless non paying job but the gratification of seeing that there were women benefiting from the programmes gave us encouragement. I also understand my existence. I believe in human rights, and that your life should not be dictated by others but by yourself.

But I must clear my heart. Try to be good to others. I am still learning. But at least I try whenever I can. Use my aqal. That is God抯 gift to me and to all of us...

But the best gift Allah gave to me from my Haj must be the birth of my son Mikhail Shahmizan on the 10.10.2003 at 9.56pm by Caesarian section. In the Muslim calendar month, he was born on the night of Nisfu Syaaban, the best night of the Islamic calendar. He is a Libran meaning 慾ustice

mamuslim

I understand my religion better now. And now I have faith in Allah. Allah will give us all guidance with our aqal, it is up to us to find the right path.

mrs_halia

mamuslim..
TQ for sharinggggg

oshinmoshin

Assalamualaikum mamuslim...

You're right about ustaz ghani. He is my father's friend (same village), KELANTANESE and i experienced doing my umrah with him too (last year) 2gether with my parents. But sometimes i feel pity for him. Why?? Coz he hire mutawif to work for him. But he still doing the job that he should't do. Like counting the no of jemaah on the bus everytime we ride on the bus. I've heard he said once that he only do this as ibadah. If he do it on the wrong way he knw what will he get in the future. But i don't like batuta staff who follow us during that time who don't guide us pretty well. But ustaz In other words 'dia memang seorang yang berhati bersih'. Even if u short of money there, he will lent u some but u have to promise to pay it back when return home. He's sincere in doing whatever he does.... I admire his coolness and patience. Hanya orang yang betul2 sabar yang boleh membawa jemaah mengerjakan haji/umrah kerana kadang2 manusia tak pernah puas dengan apa yang disediakan.. bersyukurlah kita kepadaNYA di atas segala-galanya. Hanya DIA yang MAHA MENGETAHUI. AMin.....

mamuslim

ustaz ghani memang bailk mcm tu, beri org pinjam duit kalau tak cukup. Dia tahu kalau kita buat ibadat takkan tak bayar....
dia sgt suka belanja kita makan tpt best2...
Insyaallah kalau ada rezeki nak gi lagi akhir tahun ni dgn anak2 pulak...

Syd

Hendaklah bersegera tunai haji


Prof. DR. Abdullah @ Alwi Hassan.
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Menunaikan haji adalah rukun Islam kelima. Allah berfirman: Allah mewajibkan haji ke Baitullah bagi orang yang sanggup mengadakan perjalanan ke sana. (Ali-Imran: 97).

Pada masa ini, kos menunaikan haji muassasah di Malaysia ialah RM8,973 di Semenanjung. Kos yang agak tinggi ini menyebabkan ada di kalangan kita tidak mampu mengerjakannya atas sebab tidak berkemampuan.

Wartawan MOHD. RADZI MOHD. ZIN dan jurufoto HALIM KHALID menemu bual Profesor Undang-undang Islam, Institut Antarabangsa Pemikiran dan Tamadun Islam (ISTAC), Prof. Dr. Abdullah @ Alwi Hassan bagi mengupas persoalan ini.

UTUSAN: Ramai yang berhasrat mengerjakan haji tetapi terpaksa menangguhkannya disebabkan kekurangan wang. Apakah syor yang boleh mengatasi hal ini?

ABDULLAH: Di Malaysia, secara amnya kita tidak boleh memberi alasan tidak ada wang untuk menunaikan ibadat haji. Cumanya, yang mungkin menjadi kelemahan majoriti kita ialah dalam mengurus kewangan.

Pada asasnya, pengurusan kewangan boleh dibahagi kepada empat iaitu perbelanjaan peribadi, keluarga, membayar hutang dan perbelanjaan untuk ibadat.

Haji adalah termasuk dalam ibadat yang wajib kita lakukan sekali seumur hidup. Untuk itu, ia perlu dirancang sebaik-baiknya sejak usia muda lagi.

Ibadat ini pula memerlukan kepada keupayaan atau kemampuan fizikal, kewangan dan keilmuan.

Bagi umat Islam di Malaysia, kita bersyukur kerana sudah ada institusi yang menguruskan bab haji ini dengan amat baik iaitu Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH).

Bagi mereka yang bekerja, apa yang perlu dilakukan ialah mencarum sama ada melalui potongan gaji secara bulanan atau tahunan kepada LTH.

Mereka yang bekerja sendiri termasuk petani dan peniaga, mereka boleh menabung secara persendirian ataupun menyimpan melalui koperasi.

Pokoknya, tunaikan haji pada usia muda di mana badan kita masih sihat dan kuat. Kita perlu berazam sedemikian dan jangan tunggu dah tua. Ini juga bertepatan dengan sabda Rasulullah daripada Ibn Abas, 搒esiapa yang berupaya mesti bersegera menunaikan haji

mnm77

Pengalaman semasa menunaikan haji.

Semasa hendak tawaf, saya ada pasang niat sekurang-kurangnya dapat menghampiri kaabah cukuplah, tidak mengapalah kalau tak dapat menghampiri hajar aswad (kerana teringat kata2 nasihat Ulama', pada masa kini, adalah mustahil untuk mencium hajar aswad ketika haji tanpa melakukan mudarat kepada orang lain)

Memang orang berpusu-pusu beratur nak menghampiri dan mencium hajar aswad.

Ketika lautan manusia begitu ramai semasa tawaf, seolah-olah saya tidak dapat masuk untuk bertawaf, tetapi Allah permudahkan saya masuk.

Ketika memulakan tawaf, begitu ketatnya manusia terlalu ramai dan cukup berhimpit, kemudian seolah-olah macam saya mudah bertawaf dan macam tak perasan terus dapat menghampiri kaabah (sehingga dapat sentuh kaabah). Rasa terdetik kat hati dan bersyukur...

Mudah-mudahan Allah beri peluang kepada saya untuk ke sana lagi.

1425 H dalam kenangan

[ Last edited by  mnm77 at 2-6-2007 01:01 AM ]