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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| "When you leave it behind..... |
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| BrKhalid |
| 03/13/02 at 11:28:32 |
| ....it calls to you forever" Asalaamu Alaikum ;-) Before departing for Hajj I told a work colleague I was going away for three weeks to perform my pilgrimage. He looked at me and commented that that was an awful long time. At the time I thought nothing of it given that most people only take two weeks off for their main holiday. Having come back, though, it feels like I've been away for so much longer. Setting foot back in England was strange. Entering our home was strange. Going back to work was strange. Even the new message board seemed strange!!!! This world of mine that I once knew suddenly seemed so different. Only now am I starting to getting to grips with this world once more. A short time after Hajj I began reflecting on the days we had been through and how I could describe the experience. But how can you describe Hajj? How can you describe the sight of seeing the Kabah for the first time? How can you describe performing Tawaf in full view of the Kabah? How can you describe performing Sai between Safa and Marwa? How can you describe praying in Masjid Al Haram and hearing the Qu'ran being recited in all its glory? How can you describe the view of overlooking the Kabah and gazing at the servants of Allah circling the Kabah in Tawaf? How can you describe being amongst the millions of Hujaaj performing their pilgrimage purely for the sake of Allah? How can you describe the sight from the mountains in Mina when you look down upon the valley and the witness the masses proceeding to Jamarat? How can you describe passing our Prophet's grave and sending him your salaam? And tell me, how can you describe the greatest day of all days, when Allah descends to the lowest heaven to observe his slaves? Answer? You can't. Well I can't anyway These experiences can only be felt. And with that feeling comes the absolute assurance that one day you will return to your Lord and He will take you to account for what you used to do in this world. From a personal point of view, I looked at the way my wife and I struggled against all the various obstacles that were put on our path during our journey. I looked at how we just knew nothing but nothing was going to prevent us from performing our Hajj and have Allah accept it as a Hajj Mabrur (inshaAllah). I looked at the things we managed to achieve (things you would hard find hard to do back home). And I looked at the overwhelming conviction we had and the fear we possessed of anything spoiling the good deeds we were performing. In one of the days after Hajj I thought to myself, why aren't we always like this? Why do we strive so hard during Hajj and bear with patience many things out of fear of our Hajj not being accepted but change our mode of thinking when we get back home? Surely that spirit of leaving everything to one side and focusing on our Lord should always be there? Why spoil our good actions back home by being impatient and performing deeds which could nullify our virtues? And that's why I was saddened to leave Madinah when I posted before, because the life of this world truly distracts us from the worshipping our Lord. Therein lies the test. May Allah accept the prayers and the efforts of all the Hujjaj. I pray that, inshaAllah, everyone on our beloved Madina Board will have the opportunity to go one day. Wasalaam Br Khalid PS If anyone has any questions by all means feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer even if I am still suffering from PHD [Post Hajj Depression] ;-) |
| 03/13/02 at 11:30:11 |
| BrKhalid |
| Re: "When you leave it behind..... |
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| jannah |
| 03/13/02 at 13:24:25 |
| [slm] ahlan wa sahlan, welcome back to the board brother :) May Allah accept your and your family's hajj mabrur inshaAllah. |
| Re: "When you leave it behind..... |
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| eleanor |
| 03/13/02 at 14:44:38 |
| [slm] Welcome back ;-) Good to see you back!! Looking forward to your posts, Insha Allah. wasalaam eleanor :-* :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X |
| Re: "When you leave it behind..... |
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| BroHanif |
| 03/13/02 at 17:08:33 |
| [wlm] dearest brother, May Allah accept your hajj and may he accept all the other hajis who have gone before you and who will go after this year. Save some ZamZam and some dates for me man, I intend to to come down and personally see you, insha-allah, haji saab. Hanif |
| Re: "When you leave it behind..... |
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| AbdulBasir |
| 03/13/02 at 21:37:48 |
| [slm] :'( :'( :'( Welcome yaa Hajji (X2) BrKhalid ;-)...may Allah accept you and your wife's Hajj... PHD huh..it seems like the diagnosis I myself have been searching for the past year to explain my own condition... :'( Anyways, whenever you're up for it, could you answer a few questions...here goes.. -What was the estimate of pilgrims this year? (not the paltry Saudi estimates) -Any problems at Jamarat this year? -Did it rain this year at all? -How cold was it in Madina this year? -Who were the Imams in Haram and Madina? Breakdown please, by each salah if you can remember. :) Is Shaykh Thubaiti stiill doing the bulk of the work in Madina? -How did you fare in the "race"? Did you make us proud? ;) [slm] :) |
| Re: "When you leave it behind..... |
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| Mehak |
| 03/13/02 at 23:22:00 |
| [slm], Br Khalid ,your post brought tears to my eyes!! :'( May Allah accept ur hajj and bless u and ur wife with the Almighty's blessings,Ameen. May He give all of us a chance to perform hajj in the best possible manner, Ameen. My parents are planning to go next year InshaAllah and I really hope I can go with them.(InshaAllah!!! :-) ) Please everyone pray for us too. [wlm] |
| Re: "When you leave it behind..... |
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| BrKhalid |
| 03/14/02 at 09:36:30 |
| Asalaamu Alaikum ;-) Jazakhallah khair for all the duas. I'll do my best with the questions but most of them will be don’t knows I'm afraid :( [quote] How did you fare in the "race"? Did you make us proud? [/quote] Alas I failed in my endeavours. Both myself and my wife were quite poorly after Hajj and hence the dash to Rawdah became increasingly more difficult to accomplish. InshaAllah next time. Let me know when you're free ;-) [quote]Who were the Imams in Haram and Madina? Breakdown please, by each salah if you can remember. Is Shaykh Thubaiti stiill doing the bulk of the work in Madina?[/quote] Sheikh Sudais was doing Asr - Isha in Masjid Al Haram. I'm not sure who was doing the other prayers. [As a sidenote in order to hear the prayers better I would deliberately put my prayer mat next to the huge louspeakers on the roof of the Masjid so I could have the Qu'ran blasting in my ears during Salah ;-)] As for Madinah Br Abu Atheek reliably informed me that Sheikh Huzaifi was reading Asr - Isha but no idea on the other. [quote] How cold was it in Madina this year? [/quote] Errm how can I answer this? It was FREEZING!!!!!!! We left Makkah where temperatures were hot as usual and came to Madinah where the first couple of days were overcast and, yes, rainy!!! I had never seen Madinah without sunshine before. A real shocker I can tell you. The authorities had to put special matting on the forecourt of the Masjid so people could use it as a pathway to enter/exit the Masjid because it was so slippery when walking on the marble. I nearly went a couple of times!!! Flip flops and wet marble truly don’t go well together!! But as for numbers in Madinah after Hajj, it can't compare to those coming before Hajj. I found the Masjid to be full but not heaving as I found it when I came to Madinah before Hajj and certainly the numbers on the roof were far less. [quote]Any problems at Jamarat this year? [/quote] Alhamdulillah we had no problems and I was glad to hear that there were no fatalities this year. As usual, the crowds are huge after Zawwal time and after Asr. On the first day of stoning, there are always huge crowds early on in the morning but by the time we got there at about 10am it was fairly well relaxed. Please bear in mind though that I'm only talking about stoning on the upper floor. I've no idea what downstairs was like. As usual if you get your tactics right at Jamarat you can avoid an awful lot of the pushing. [quote]What was the estimate of pilgrims this year? (not the paltry Saudi estimates)[/quote] Not sure about numbers Br Abdul Basir but interestingly everyone I talked to seemed to think it was roughly the same as last year and some even thought it was a bit less. Allah knows best. Either way, there was a lot more people than when I went last time!!! A word on the facilities over there. I take my hat off to Saudis for the job that they do over there. Granted it isn't perfect but every year there are improvements. Those fireproof air conditioned tents in Mina are a luxury compared to those who can remember what the tents were like before and similarly the facilities at Arafat have also improved. I got a chance to see the new slaughter houses and all the sheep in the pens. Now that was a sight to behold!!! I was up late one night in Mina and the shepherds were moving the sheep from the pen to the slughter house and they blocked off the road to do it. We were able to witness the sight of all these sheep running across from one side of the road to the other whilst we had to wait to cross. Then like a level [rail road] crossing they stopped the sheep and allowed the pilgrims to cross!!! It was a surreal moment but one which I'll never forget. Okay I think all this reminiscing will put my recovering from PHD back a few notches so I'll stop there. |
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