Makkah Stories - Part 1: First Umrah

It was midday when we arrived in Makkah after traveling almost 5 hours on the bus from Madinah. We had earlier done our miqat at Bir Ali, a mosque complex where one would stop for solat and niat umrah before proceeding towards Makkah to perform the umrah.

Kioks selling umrah peripherals at Bir Ali

Midway between Madinah and Makkah where we stopped for lunch and solat

When the bus came to a halt right across the street of our hotel, Makkah Madwaddah, the three of us, Mom, Farah and I got down and were ushered into the building by our mutawiff. The cool breeze from the air conditioning was blissfully welcoming. I believed the temperature that afternoon was way above 45 degrees Celsius, the air was thin and the humidity level was low. No matter how frequent I moisturize, my skin still felt dry and flaky. Time and time again I reminded Farah, whilst I made a mental note to myself, not to scratch our already dry complexion. We were in ihram, thus we were to seriously adhere to the pantang larang.

Our hotel - Makkah Mawaddah

Room 714 - our home for 9 days in Makkah

The hotel check-in process was fast. There were about 30 of us housed at Makkah Mawaddah. The remaining jemaahs were putting up at another hotel, one which was just down the road. Our room, 714 was just around the corner and very close to the elevator. As we went up to our rooms, we couldn’t help but smile when we stepped into the all so famous “Pak Arab’s elevator”. “Pak Arab’s elevator” was merely a term I coined to describe the “uniqueness” of elevators in buildings in Makkah - especially in the not so new buildings. To operate the lift, one would have to pull or slide the door closed. So very unlike, the elevator doors that we have here, where they automatically open and close on their own. It took us a while to coach the mak ciks and pak ciks in our group and at times we’d amuse ourselves cracking jokes about these Pak Arab’s elevators.

Inside Pak Arab's elevator...

The first obvious concern after we arrived in Makkah was to complete our umrah. It was nearing asar and we really wanted to get it over and done with. According to our mutawiff, he’d only be taking the group after isyak. I thought that would be too long of a wait for the three of us. Mom said we’d better go and finish our umrah on our own. Since I wasn’t too familiar with the Makkah Mawaddah area, I told Mom to stay in the room first while Farah and I checked our way around the area.

Route we took to the Haram everyday

Alhamdullilah, when I reeced the place, it was not at all a stranger to me. Makkah Hilton was located behind our hotel and the Intercontinental was on its right. As we walked, we could already see Al-Haram. Syukur…syukur…we were placed not far from the Holy mosque, about 100 meters from King Fahd door.

Back at the hotel, Mom was all geared to get herself going to complete the umrah. We took our wuduk and then headed straight to the mosque. Before we stepped out from the hotel, Mom reminded us to say a short doa, “Rabbi Yassir wala tu-‘assir. Rabbi tham-mim bil hayr. Rabbi zidni ‘ilman war-zuqni fahman.”

Dear God, make things easier for me, do not make things difficult for me. Ya Allah, let my affairs end with goodness, increase my knowledge and grant me understanding.

The feeling was great and I was very anxious to be in the Holy mosque again.

The moment I stepped into the great place, and when I looked straight, the Kaabah was so clear in sight. Subahanallah…..

I almost chocked on my words when I explained to Farah the rituals upon seeing the Kaabah and what was to be done when in the Haram. I mumbled some words and I could see Farah too was mesmerized by the sight of the Kaabah and the Haram.

After my tawaf

Alhamdullilah….syukur pada yang Maha Kuasa. We proceeded to perform our tawaf. The seven rounds were completed pretty fast as there were not many jemaahs. During each of the tawaf round, I recited the doa from my umrah guide book. Since my jawi was nothing to shout about, and attempting to do so, would create the unnecessary stress in me, I opted to read all the doas in BM. Some groups that came with their own mutawiff, recited the doas aloud, an act that at times caused distractions to the rest of us who were saying our doas dalam hati.

We then moved on to do our saie. Mom opted to go on the wheel chair as she was not that strong to walk up and down Safa and Marwah. I was with Farah and we did our walk 7 times up the two significant hills. There were times when Farah walked way ahead of me, I let her be as I slowly caught up with her.

It was almost Maghrib when we completed our saie. We did the last of the umrah ritual – the tahalul, snipping of the hair. Once done, we were free of all the pantang larang in ihram.

Completed her 7 rounds of tawaf

Alhamdullillah…we managed to complete our first umrah with minimal constraints. All so exhausted, that night after dinner, we hit the sack in no time. The only thing that was on my mind was to get enough rest, so that we could be up early to be at the Haram for our next day early morning ibadah.