Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Garden of Paradise

We were informed at breakfast that the itinerary for that day was the ziarah luar of the Prophet’s mosque. I asked if Mom wanted to follow the group. It would mean walking for some distance around the mosque. The mutawif would show us the significant places within the compounds of the holy mosque.

Mom said she was not up to the walking. I kind of expected that answer from her. The last time when we did this ritual together at Haj, I saw how it took a toll on her physical state. I was okay with not doing the ziarah luar. But I wasn’t too sure with Farah. Upon checking her later, she too indicated that she was not keen to walk around the mosque, not under the hot Madinah summer sun.

So we decided to do our own ibadat program. Mom said it would be best if we try do the ziarah to Makam Rasullullah (saw) instead. Of course, both Farah and I were so looking forward to it.

Breakfast at the Dallah Taibah Hotel was scrumptious. Since I’m very much a bread person, I had no complaints about the spread. Never mind if there wasn’t any nasi lemak or nasi goreng like back home, as long as there’s bread I know I’d be fine. We took our time at breakfast and started to mingle around with the other jemaahs. This was the other thing I enjoyed about the trip. We made new friends and even met some long lost orang kampong. Beginilah significant nya acara ibadat ini. Thus, I guess that’s why it is something which is so much dituntut by the religion.

View of Masjidil Nabawi

After breakfast, we got ready for our ziarah makam. Got our wuduk and we took the lift down and headed towards the mosque again. Mom who’s been here many times told us to be prepared, for the place would be crowded and you’ll never know what could happen in there.

There are three timings for visiting Makam Rasullullah (saw) for women. We got into the Makam area in no time. Even though there were groups waiting to go closer, they were not given permission by the lady guards there. By then, my heart was beating so fast. I took out my doa book and started to read doas and verses from the pages which I had marked earlier. Tears started to roll as I got closer to the Makam area. We said our salam to Rasulllullah (saw) and para sahabat Abu Bakar and Umar. We also sampaikan salams of friends and acquaintances who had asked to do so.

Shades to protect from the glare and sun

It takes a lot of patience and physical will to be in the Makam area. The ultimate destination was the area of where the white pillars were located – the Garden of Paradise, the Raudah. Inside the Ruadah, there were women from different ethnicities, speaking different languages, all gathered in this place for one reason: the love of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

The rest of the ladies around us were much bigger than us. Some were pretty aggressive as they tried to inch to the Raudah area. Some pushed their way to the front whilst the smaller ones like us had to give way to them. Despite the pushing and rushing, each one of these ladies looked with love to one another, with tears filling their eyes. Praising and thanking God for enabling them to stand in this blessed place.

Alhamdulillah, we managed to inch ourselves to the front. Mom squeezed in between the big ladies and managed to push Farah all the way to the front. Very quickly she told Farah to perform her solat sunat. Space was so limited, Farah could hardly rukuk or sujud had she tried to pray the normal way. Instead, she opted to do her solat sitting down, at that little small space she had secured. My heart gave in when I saw her so calm and peacefully doing her solat, oblivious of the commotion created by the crowd behind her. She must have performed like two or three times of the solat sunat. After her solat, she did her doa and then she stood up and walked to make way for the person behind her to do exactly what she had done earlier. Mom who was seated on her right did her solat too and I who was on her left, then completed my solat and doa at the Raudah area.

Mahabesar Allah, Maha mulia Rasulullah, Alhamdulillah diperkenankan permintaan ku. Semoga Allah SWT mengabulkan, semoga Rasulullah menolong. Sesungguhnya Rasulullah yang mencintai umatnya melebihi dirinya. Subhanallah.

Salam dan salawat buat Mu ya junjungan, jadikan hamba umat Mu sebagaimana Kau rintihkan menjelang maut menjemput ke rumah
.

Engkau berkatil lah, umatMu, pengikutMu.
Masukkan hamba ke golongan yang Kau cinta Ya Rasulullah.

It didn’t seem fair to be spending too much time to oneself, as there were still others wanting to do so. My heart felt heavy leaving the Raudah area. How I wished I had spent more time there. Mom said way back in the 80s when she did umrah with my late father and sisters, the place was empty. So much so they could sit there and recite the Yassin!! Now, you’d be lucky if you could do a two rakaat. Tak pe lah, itu memang dah rezeki masing-masing.

Once finished, we moved to the less crowded area. I did a few more solats and said lots of doas. As I sujud, tears welled up and just rolled. Didn’t know why I was feeling so sayu, but that was just how I felt naturally.

We must have spent like a whole hour at the Makam and Ruadah area. It felt good and so rewarding. As a servant, you put your forehead at the lowest point that you could. Asking for forgiveness and raising our hands praying to God to forgive our sins and asking Him to grant them our wishes in this life and the Hereafter.

We were rather quiet as we completed solats and doas and walked to the exit area of the Makam and Raudah areas. I thank God Almighty for paving the way and making it easier for us ladies to experience this significant moments.

When opened these shades gave that umbrella effect to the whole place

Once done, we headed out and at the door, we could see the sun was already up and bright. “Time to head to the hotel,” I told Mom and Farah. And that was what all three of us did. Penat and feeling as if we had completed the Ironman competition, we got our neatly wrapped slippers and headed straight back to our hotel. It was only 7.30 in the morning, but it felt like we had achieved a world. Subahanallah….God is Great.

22 comments:

ibu,mommy,mom... said...

Assalamualaikum...
I can feel and rasakan that I was with you in the Raudah.
Syukur alhamdulillah everything went well.I can also relate tht you felt like you achieved the world..
I can imagine it.
I was there too with my mom ,sisters an aunt n my lilone.

Desert Rose said...

Kak,

I never can forget the first time masa i nak melawat Raudah, dah la buta 2 tak tau pintu mana yg nak dibukak, tanya turki tnjk belah kanan, tanya India , dia tinjuk belah kiri.

Last2 masa pintu dibukak tu, mcm buka pintu kat padang race kuda tu, berdedai2 (ada ke word ni???) derang menerjah pintu yg kecik, punya la panik kiterang. One of the makcik yg ikut i suh sabar biar derang pergi dulu, i kata makcik karang kita terlepas plak, so with my MIL's hand on my right n that fragile Mak cik on my left, i pun follow d crowd. Alhamdullillah dapat solat d raudah dgn aman tenteram walaupn d sekiling org berpusu2, syukur sgt2 dgn rahmat Allah yg tak terhingga, bila dipikirkan lawak pun ada ....nanti la I cite plak pengalaman I yg lawak2 syahdu. Maklumlah ilmu tak sebyk mana.

Ummi365 said...

i know the feeling, tears falling when I was reading this. syahdu sungguh perasaan waktu tu.

kay_leeda said...

Ibu, Mommy, Mom...

Being in Raudah is one experience of a life time. No matter how many times you get to go do the ziarah, it never seems enough.

I'm glad you have experienced the same as I had. Alhamdulillah.

kay_leeda said...

Dear Desert Rose,

Yes, at times memang ade adegan-adegan kelakar bila masing-masing so gung ho nak masuk ke kawasan Raudah tu. I can visualize what you are saying about org berdedai-dedai lari masuk once the door opens. Now they allow different groups to masuk at one time. It's slightly more organized and SAFE. Tau je lah mak-mak Turkiye tuh, TIGA kali size kita. Sekali dia kuis, ayooo....terpelanting kita. So now, yang kecik molek the Indons, Msians & Sporeans masuk as a group. But yang tulang besi Indons ni, fuhhhh terror gak stunt kuis menguis & siku mengiku nya.

But at the end of it...alhamdullillah....berjaya. Baju jangan nak cakap lah basah lencun with sweat :)

kay_leeda said...

Dear Ummi,

The tears, the sweat, the emotions. It's all worth the effort kan. Isshhhh...rasa nak gi lagi :)

ummisara said...

Kay Dear,

allah hu akbar...

di pagi hari nih...i dah menangis baca entry u...penuh syahdu..my colleague naik heran awat tetiba menangis...

thanks kak...thanks a lot. Untk org yang tak pernah sampai sana mcm i...entry u nih besaq maknanya....

kay_leeda said...

Dear Edelweiss,

I know how you feel. Everytime I read stories about the Holy Land, mata pasti bergenang airmata. InshaAllah, you akan ke sana one day. I dapat rasakan betapa kuat nya panggilan you itu.

I will try to share my stories and experience when I was there. Read all you want. Memang tujuan untuk share with semua.

You have a nice day okay :)

Kama At-Tarawis said...

another syahdu piece.. pilu baca..kenapa ya setiap kali terkenang kat makam Rasulullah saw & Raudah mesti berurai airmata?

Mama Safiyyah said...

assalamualaikum kak,

masya Allah.....nangis lagi hari ni.....

last time i went (ramadhan 2008) i was 5 months pregnant with my second son.....my husband and his brothers waited outside with my 1.5-year old daughter.....my daughter malam sebelum tu dah masuk main2 kat raudhah tu dengan baba dia......dapat masuk kejap sangat2 kat raudhah, tak sempat nak solat pun, sekadar doa je......alhamdulillah.....lgpun masa tu dok ngandung, takut jugak org dok tolak2 tu.....

insya Allah....kalau ada rezeki, sentiasa nak pergi lagi.....and pity my husband rindu nak jumpa family dia kat sana......

mmg kat madinah tak sama macam kat mekah kan?....masya ALLAH....dok menulis ni pun hati melonjak2 terasa nak ke sana.....

ummisara said...

Insyallah...i akan ikuti crita u...thanks luv

Laracroft74 said...

Sis,
The memory in Raudhah is still fresh in my mind.. cerita berasak2 tu satu hal but to be given the golden opportunity to perform solat sunat tu memang rasa bersyukur sangat2..Alhamdulillah masa i kat sana, kenal dgn one of this aunty yg dah pergi a few times. She taught me a lot.. If i chose to go with R**h*r, we would be there together kan...

mamasita said...

What a beautiful entry.I can only imagine your tearful happiness in being there..Alhamdullillah.
Wow Farah..great job!

kay_leeda said...

Kak Puteri,

Guess it'll will always be like that, teringat & terkenang...maka menitislah air mata. Alhamdullilah..kita dapat merasakan Nya.

kay_leeda said...

Dear Mama Safiyyah,

InshaAllah doa pun sudah memadai. Nothing beats a sincere and tulus request from the heart. You'll be back and you'll get your chance untuk ke Raudah lagi. Doa and lots of doa.

Ohh ya, yr hubby has relatives in Makkah kan. I think I've met the ustaz you mentioned earlier. I think he was one of the Ustaz masa I did my Haj in 2005. One thing good abt R*yh** is that they have so many petugas both in Makkah and Madinah. Nak berurusan and mendapatkan nasihat senang.

kay_leeda said...

Edelweiss,

Haa lepaih ni citer happy...wait yah :)

kay_leeda said...

Laracroft94,

Glad you got to do solat in Raudah too. It's not easy. It takes determination and courage. Suspence juga kan, kot la berlaku anything yang tak baik. But all in all the hard work is all worth it kan.

Pls don't dispair we didn't get to go together on this trip. Adalah hikmah nya di mana-mana tu. Memang the best people to learn from are those who have done Umrah many times. Yang penting kita jangan malu nak ask, tu je. I pun budak baru belajar gak. Tu yg pi 3 kali, still pi ngan my Mom :)

kay_leeda said...

Mamasita,

Yess...I am so proud of Farah's determination and courage during this trip. Takut juga if she wasn't going to be up to it. But, Alhamdullilah, she was OK

anneaziz said...

Dear Kay,

Found your blog during blog hopping, interesting piece...membuatkan akak terkenang tahun 1999 Ramadhan..my first visit to the Holy Land, pi dengan my husband and ailing MIL. She was not strong and relied very heavily on akak to take one step at a time. There we were two ladies one in early 70's and the other a 42 year old recuperating from a major operation, But GOD is great, Allahuakbar! As we were slowly inching near Hijr Ismail during Tawaf, the female guard suddenly waved us into the area. I felt so blessed to have the opportunity to perform the solat sunat and tobat there as Hijr Ismail is considered to be part of the Holy Kaabah. After my solat I had to stand guard as my MIL did hers.Feels good that we were among the chosen ones to be tetamu Allah and let into HIS house and experience the feeling of betapa kerdilnya sebenarnya kita ni!
Visit my blog...nothing much yet..just started

Naz in Norway said...

My dear Kay,
your writing kali ni buat i sayu sangat.
I'm looking forward to take DH and our kids there one day soon.

kay_leeda said...

Dear Anneaziz,

I understand exactly how you feel. Nak bawa diri sendiri pun susah di Raudah area, what more with warga emas. But, what you did was very noble. At times bila jumpa warga emas in Mekah & Madinah, I sedih. I may be like them too one day. But tak pe lah, kita doa agar diberikan all the kesihatan & kebaikkan. InshaAllah.

Will visit yr blog. Am going to be busy these next few days. Traveling to Johor this morning...ahhh...tak suka nya. But dah kerja...what to do.

kay_leeda said...

Dear Naz,

Jangan lah sedih. I'm sharing all these so that the experience could be shared by others too.

InshaAllah, you and the rest of the family will get to go there. Our doas are for you :)