Makkah and Madina

Haj is the fifth and most expensive pillar of Islam and therefore is compulsory only for those who can afford it. Umrah on the other hand is Sunnah – meaning not compulsory. I spent one April holiday at Makkah for Umrah. It was a very different and interesting experience. Although we had to keep reminding each other that it was no fun ride but pilgrimage, the whole tour was like refreshing the soul and the mind. And who says that pilgrimage cannot be made fun?

The Ka’bah at Makkah was a lot larger than what I imagined it to be. It took us an average of about 20 minutes to go around it seven times and this depended entirely on the crowd that was there. It was nice to actually see what we were facing when we prayed back at home for decades. I didn’t really like the native people much…. but there, you could find almost all kinds of people – the black, the white and the in between. Some were crippled and some were kings. Never seen a large crowd as that before. There were no differences in the uniform or the performance. It was the same for all. Two pieces of unstitched white fabric for men’s attire and women - covered fully except for face and hands. Children cried while the mothers were in prayer. The trip from Makkah to Madina was long and lovely although most parts of it were dry and covered by camel. Madina was much more beautiful. The weather was cool and almost as peaceful and as calm as the people there – a significant difference from Makkah. Dialog roaming doesn’t work there by the way. The food was great. Mutton was the most common meat. There were plenty of books. You can’t take pictures inside the mosque. (In fact you can’t do that it any mosque). The Zam Zam water was always in plenty. We practically lived on it

Somehow I want to go there again. It’s like I didn’t have enough of it. It wasn’t a very long stay. People always keep recalling their experience there. You probably would never face anything like it anywhere else in the world. Most people, this month, are also flying there for Umrah. Sometimes the total crowd exceeds two million. The little city of Makkah although not as highly developed as the rest of the country, does an excellent job of managing this crowd each year. Hopefully I should be able to see my next visit coming, not very far away, Insha Allah.