Saudi Arabia / Makkah - Pilgrimage

From Madinah al-Munawarrah

The itinerary of the day of departure from Madinah was to perform umrah,  otherwise known as mini pilgrimage or mini Hajj. The  steps of umrah consists of intention,  ihram,  Tawaf,  sai and end. Unlike Hajj,  umrah does not include some additional steps of Hajj such as staying a night in the valley of Mina, spending a night uttering supplications and repenting in the plains of Arafat, throwing pebbles at pillars at Jamratul Aqaba and sacrificing an animal,  all to be done during certain dates during the Islamic month of Zulhijjah. Before embarking from the hotel, I put on my ihram, essentially two long white pieces of cloth with one wrapped around my waist and the other slung around my neck,  both of which was kept in place by a non-stitched belt. A slipper revealing my toes completes the outfit. The outfit is reminiscent of what one might compare to as the Greek toga. Before wearing the ihram, I bathed with the intention of wearing my ihram and prayed a recommended prayer of ihram. (Solat Sunnat Ihram).

Outside Bir Ali (With ihram-clothed men)

Bir Ali, the start of pilgrimage

We took a bus to Bir Ali which was situated on the outskirts of Madinah and it took us less than an hour to arrive. Bir Ali is a mosque situated outside of Haram (Forbidden) land. Haram land is a large area in Saudi Arabia which encompass Makkah, Madinah and an area called Thaif. When a person in ihram starts their pilgrimage,  they start from outside the Haram land,  the Halal (permissible) land. From there,  they make their way to specific "gates" specified by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon him) which leads into Haram land. At these gates,  pilgrims are supposed to start their first step of their pilgrimage whereby failure to do so would render the pilgrimage unaccountable. Bir Ali is one such place specifically for people heading to Makkah in the direction of Madinah. The other places includes Juhfah, Wadi Aqeeq, Qarn al-Manazil,  Ji'rannah and Yalamlam among other places. Bir Ali is a large white pristine building with a beautiful open courtyard in the middle. Shops and walkways around the mosque sold merchandise for pilgrimage such as the ihram cloths, belts,  scissors and of course,  snacks for the long journey ahead. There,  we say our intention. "O Allah, I am making intention for umrah,  make it easy upon me and accept it from me." We then proceeded to say a clause, "And if my umrah was prevented from completion due to (menstruation, illness or weakness), I end my umrah without incurring dam." Dam means payments which have to be done if we do certain forbidden acts during our pilgrimage. The payment is sacrificing an animal, a sheep being the most common choice. There is a list of forbidden things a person cannot do once they have uttered their pilgrimage intentions and entered Haram land. We call it being in a state of ihram. In a state of ihram, a man cannot cover his head, wear anything but two white cloths, wear covered footwear which hides their toes, wear perfume, lose more than three pieces of hair, have sexual intercourse or marry. A woman must cover herself such that only her face and two hands are exposed,  must not wear perfume, lose more than 3 pieces of hair, have sexual intercourse or marry. Doing any of this would incur a Dam whereby failure to pay the Dam would make your pilgrimage unaccountable.

After our intention, we took a seven hour bus ride South to Makkah about 450 kilometers away from Madinah. As the bus roared through the desert highway, I was enraptured by the Arabian landscape. There are mountains made of rocks the size of boulders littering the landscape which turned a brilliant reddish purple amid the setting sun. Contrary to popular beliefs, the desert of Saudi Arabia are not made of mostly sand,  but rather of rocks. And as I was enraptured by the rocky desert,  I could only imagine our dear Prophet as he made his way on camelback from Makkah to Madinah during the Hijrah,  a historic moment which eventually marked the start of the Islamic calendar year. Amid the roar of the engine, our tour group chanted the Talbiyyah. The Talbiyyah; whose meaning touches the heart and causes a pilgrim to be washed in a wave of emotions. Just imagine. This is the English translation of the Talbiyyah: "Here I am,  God! Here I am! You have no partners,  here I am! Verily all praise and blessings are yours,  and all sovereignty. You have no partners!." The journey towards Makkah can be pictorially imagined as us moving towards God's embrace, sacrificing all that we have left behind to undertake that journey. All in the name for God. Thus I called out to God,  with silent tears streaming down my face in the darkness of the bus, "Here I am,  O God! (Embrace me, O God!) Here I am!" Labbaikallah Hummalabaik! It was a truly beautiful moment.

The Clock Tower in Mecca as seen from Masjidil Haram

Makkah

At around 11pm, Saudi Arabia time, we arrived in Makkah. Our hotel, Swissotel, is located in the premise of the enormous iconic clock tower next to Masjidil Haram. It would only take five minutes for me to get from the hotel to inside the Masjidil Haram. Inside the Masjidil Haram is the Kaabah. The Kaabah is the epicentre of the Muslim World. Everyday when we pray, we face this black cube; a structure said to be first built by the first human, Adam, and subsequently after the apocalyptic floods during Noah's time when the Kaabah fell in ruin, was rebuilt by Abraham. Around this Kaabah now, Muslims make their tawaf. It is said that Makkah never sleeps. Hundreds of Muslims would circle around this black cube every single moment and that was the situation we encountered when we wanted to make tawaf at 12am that day.


Kaabah,from a distance

Masjidil Haram is a constantly changing landscape. It is a mosque, and a direct translation of Masjidil Haram means Forbidden Mosque or Mosque in the Forbidden Land. The centre of the Mosque is the Kaabah, a massive cube structure made from rocks and covered in a black cloth with some gold linings on it. The floor is made entirely of marble, again a great material for the hot scorching sun of summer.  There are currently three levels at which a person can circle around the Kaabah. The first is the main ground level meant for ordinary healthy Muslims to circle the Kaabah, and the other two at level 2 and 3 are meant for those in wheelchairs as they would obstruct the flow of movement if they were to do tawaf together with the other Muslims. Around the Kaabah, away from the circling mass of Muslims are places to pray. Carpets similar to those in The Prophet's Mosque are placed for the ease of visitors to pray or to do dhikr. (Acts which instils a constant remembrance for God and his blessings) Volumes of the Quran are placed near every praying spots so that one can easily retrieve a Qur'an to read. There is a place in Masjidil Haram meant for Sai, an obligatory step of pilgrimage. In this place, there are two small hills, Safa and Marwah. The slopes from Safa to Marwah have all been laid in marble too. One can do sai on three different levels. More about the place would be explained later on. In the Mosque, there is also a Library. I never got round to visiting the library but the one time I walked past the library in the morning after Fajr (dawn) prayers, there were a few people waiting outside with printed papers all in Arabic in their hands. The Masjidil Haram is said to be constantly being renovated. The three levels for tawaf was a recent construction. Even now, as I entered the Mosque, construction workers were busy working on the Mosque. They were hammering, drilling and cementing all over the Mosque in large construction sites. As a result, navigating through the Mosque was difficult. I got lost twice during my stay there and required more than an hour to find my way back to the hotel. There was only one exit gate to leave and reach our hotel, King Fahd's Gate, and construction sites block certain paths such that you have to circle around the Kaabah in order to find your way to the Gate from one point. The crane incident which killed 109 Muslims a while back was also part of the construction efforts to upgrade the Mosque while accommodating the daily high volume of traffic through the Mosque. Around the Masjidil Haram, there are massive hotels of world renowned brands such as Movenpick and Swissotel and finding food is never a problem. KFC and Burger King are among the famous fast food chains available there. There are restaurants and cafes even though most hotels would have served food for breakfast, lunch and dinner already. An interesting thing to notice is the segregation between men and women to buy food. There are separate lines to order your food manned by men and women to cater to the different genders. Even while praying in the Mosque, men and women are always kept apart and the security personnel would usher men to male praying spots and likewise for the females. Some families who wanted to pray together as a family were separated as a result. Thus, that was how the order was kept in Saudi Arabia.

Tawaf

Umrah/ Mini-pilgrimage

Our next step of umrah is tawaf which consists of the intention to tawaf and the action of circling the black cube seven times during which a person can make supplications (doa), and mutter certain recommended prayers which the Prophet had done hundreds of years ago. We started from the Hajar Aswad, a black stone said in Islam to be a stone sent from Heaven to Adam and Eve to the spot of the Kaabah so that they knew where to build an altar to pray to God. The stone was said to originally be pure dazzling white but it became black after absorbing the sins of mankind who had touched it. Five years before Prophet Muhammad's ascension to Prophethood, he gave the solution of who would place the stone at its place after the representatives present argued about who would get the honour of placing the rock at its place. The Prophet then suggested placing the rock on a piece of cloth to be held by all the representatives and carried to its place on the Kaabah. And after that, Prophet Muhammad was given the honour of placing it on its permanent spot.

After circling the Kaabah seven times, we made our way to a praying spot away from the circling mass, to a place as close as possible to the Maqam Ibrahim. Maqam Ibrahim is a spot said to be where Abraham had stood when he was building the Kaabah. Although there are obviously many spots where Abraham would have stood at when building the Kaabah, the Maqam Ibrahim is used now as a guiding spot to make recommended prayers after our tawaf. Maqam Ibrahim is a golden enclosure where a stone plaque with a pair of footprint engraved on it lies inside. It is not certain if the footprint belonged to Abraham himself. At our spot, we made supplications while facing the Kaabah before performing a recommended (Sunnat) prayer. After praying, we drank Zamzam water easily found near the entrance to Safa Hill near the Maqam Ibrahim. Zamzam water are found in orange plastic tanks which are topped up regularly by workers in the Masjidil Haram. The water itself originates from an enormous water source below Makkah which had provided water for Makkans and Muslims who visited Makkah, for centuries. The story of how the water was founded is linked to our next step of umrah. Abraham had one day left his second wife, Hajar, and his son, Ishmael, in the desert while acting on God's instruction. When the pair ran out of water, Hajar ran seven times from the Safa Hill to Marwah Hill in search for water. At the end of her run, the crying baby, Ishmael, stamped his foot onto the ground, causing it to dent. Water started to gush out of the ground where his foot had landed and the water is Zamzam. The amount of water that gushed out was so much that that pretty soon, Arab travellers found Hajar and her son with the new large water source and some eventually settled in the area. Years later, the early Makkan community is formed. Unlike ordinary water where a Muslim is encouraged to sit and drink, Zamzam is best consumed while standing and facing the Kaabah. The constituents of Zamzam is essentially plain water but there are many proven nutritional values to it as compared to simple plain water.

Sa'i (Pronounced Sa Ngee)

After quenching our thirst, we made a short trip to Safa to start our Sai. Sai is the fourth step of Umrah. Muslims would walk from Safa to Marwah and back again seven times just as how Hajar had done thousands of years ago. Along the way, a person could recite prayers or follow what the Prophet had said during the time when he had done Sai. The trek from Safa to Marwah are now furnished with marble flooring and in some places even have air conditioning. Even the rocks on Marwah had been polished and glued over, possibly to prevent pilgrims from cutting themselves on the jagged rocks. Along both routes there is a zone lighted by green lights. When walking in either direction, men are encouraged to lightly jog once they reach the green lighted zones while chanting a specific supplication. The distance from one hill to the other is about 450 metres. There are four levels where one can do Sai, each level with a clearly defined starting and ending point, to cater to times when there are a large crowd doing Sai.

Marwah Hill for Tertib

After Sai, we reach the last step of umrah, Tertib (Conclusion). We stood on Marwah Hill, with an accompanying ustad (a man versed in religious knowledge) leading a mass supplication session. Afterwards, we snip a little bit of our hair three times, even for the women, which would indicate the end of our umrah. For men, it is more recommended that they shave their heads bald after umrah, which most people in our tour group did. The men in my family only did so after our third umrah. That night, we retreated to our respective hotel rooms at 2am.

Saudi Arabia/ Makkah - Places of interest

Makkah/ Places of interest
An interesting fact about mosques in Saudi Arabia: At roughly 4am, the azan (call to prayer) is sounded from the Mosque and, in the case of Masjidil Haram, in nearby hotels to signify the start of the recommended Tahajjud prayer. It is not obligatory to pray this prayer but it is highly recommended. Thus, each morning like a wake up call, the azan rouses us up from sleep for the next day. The azan is sounded from the public announcement system fitted in every hotel room, hotel corridor and even in the lift so it is unlikely for anyone to miss it unlike in Singapore where the mosques are not allowed to sound the azan out in the direction of the public except for the Sultan's Mosque.

Gua Thur (Cave of Thur)

On our third day in Makkah, our itinerary was filled with places of interest to visit around Makkah. There was, however, a hiccup in our transportation. To prevent a massive jam involving vehicles entering the area of Masjidil Haram, only a few vehicles were allowed to enter the area during any point in time. Thus, our tour bus took more than two hours to arrive at the basement of Swissotel. Our first destination was Gua Thur (Thur Cave). Gua Thur is located on a mountain a few kilometres away from the Makkah city. This cave was where the Prophet and his companion, Saidina Abu Bakr r.a. hid when they were escaping from the Quraish clans of Makkah. This happened during the Hijrah (start of the Islamic calendar year), or rather, was part of the cause leading to the Hijrah. The pagan Makkans had grown tired of Prophet Muhammad's preaching and had devised a plot to assassinate the Prophet in his own house one day. At the same time, the Prophet received word from God to migrate to Madinah and thus after Fajr(dawn) prayers, he set out to leave his home. Due to mysterious circumstances, the assassins sent to murder the Prophet had all fallen asleep under their watch and thus, the Prophet left unscathed. He and his companion resided in Gua Thur for awhile before embarking onwards to Madinah. When they were hiding there, skilled Arab trackers trained to seek and hunt managed to track them to the entrance of the cave such that the Prophet and his companion could hear the trackers talking. However, numerous circumstances made the trackers doubt if the Prophet was inside the cave. One, a spider had woven her web over the cave entrance and two, a dove couple had settled its nest near the cave entrance and this left the trackers puzzled. If human had been through here, they would have spoilt the web and their presence would not make a bird settle their nest there. Thus, they left.
Another story that happen during their stay in that cave was that a poisonous snake had wanted to meet the Prophet. Abu Bakr r.a. saw the snake and stopped its approach by covering the entrance it was coming from with his leg. The snake bit Abu Bakr r.a.'s leg to a point he cried in pain due to the poison. After the Prophet got to know about this, he spitted on Abu Bakr r.a's leg and it cured. He then asked the snake why it bit his companion's leg. It replied it heard of a Prophet sent by God who are among the Arabs and wanted to find out for itself but when it had neared the Prophet, his companion had stopped him from reaching the Prophet, so it bit his companion. Thus was the tale told of Gua Thur. We did not enter Gua Thur but we took pictures from the bottom of the mountain. Afterwards, we went back to the bus and headed to our next destination, Jabar Ramah.

Jabar Ramah

Jabal Ramah is actually the site of a historic moment in Human History. It is now marked by a pillar of stone painted half white and half black and stood atop  a small hill. The story goes that after eating the Forbidden Fruit in Heaven, Adam was casted down to Earth to somewhere in present day Sri Lanka. Eve was casted down to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. The word Jeddah literally means grandmother (Jaddahti=grandmother) and is where the main international airport in Saudi Arabia is situated. After years, they officially met at this point near Makkah, at Jabal Ramah. Many people offer supplications at the foot of the stone tower, asking God for help in finding a life partner or to bless them with a happy marriage or family. Some people even wrote on the tower itself thus you can see love messages on the stone pillar. Offering supplication or prayer to the pillar is not allowed, of course, thus one would face the direction of the Kaabah instead. A large billboard pointing the Qiblat (direction of prayer) can be seen from atop the hill. At the bottom of the hill there are many shops selling goods. Ice cream trucks selling very affordable ice cream can be found lining the road. I bought an ice cream for 2 riyal (about 80 cents in Singapore) and happily licked it as I ventured around the large plaza. There are also camels which offer rides and quads you can rent to ride around the plaza. I managed to take a picture with a camel, although when the camel veered suddenly in my direction just when I took a picture, she startled me and I ended up with a rather unglam photo with the camel! After a brief moment at Jabal Ramah, we headed back to the bus to continue with our tour.

The bus drove through seemingly endless rows of toilets, trees and campsites as we head away from Jabal Ramah. We were, after all, still in Arafat where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims would have to settle here for a night during Pilgrimage season as a requirement of Hajj. A large sign which said "Arafat ends here" signal the end of the Arafat plain and in the distance from the bus, I could see the Qiblatain Mosque. Later on in the week, we would be starting our second umrah from Qiblatain Mosque. An interesting fact about the Qiblatain Mosque (or Masjid Qiblatain, in its proper Arabic name) is that half of the mosque stands in Haram land while the other in Halal Land. Thus, it is a perfect place for one to say their intention for pilgrimage there. However, just like what our tour guide mentioned, one should be wary of their position in the mosque when saying their intention or praying before they make their intention lest they overstepped into Haram Land when they "rukuk" or "sujud" while praying, thus rendering their entire pilgrimage unaccountable. In the distance, the majestic Masjid Qiblatain with its four minarets grew smaller and smaller.

Valley of Mina
The bus journey took us along lengths of rocky hills on both sides of the road. It is an awe-strucking moment just to marvel the uneven structures of the rocky outcrops of the Saudi desert. However, around the valley of Mina where our bus travel through, we passed a large settlement of empty shelters and an abandoned modern rail line reminiscent to Singapore's LRT system. The tents look similar to those found at Arafat but now, they are congregated into campsites. Each campsite form a zone with their own localized toilets. Each shelter is white, forming a canopy over its inhabitants and its roof have a characteristic arrow tip made of the same cloth-like roof but it enables better air circulation. I assume this is essential during the pilgrimage season where the weather would definitely be way hotter than now, perhaps around 40 degrees Celsius, and the campsite would be full of pilgrims. Now, they just appear abandoned like some creepy ghost town bereft of any sign of life. The rail transport system, on the other hand is said to only work for a few days a year to cater to the pilgrims. One might think it is a waste of money, but the tour guide assured us that the Saudi government never have to worry about a lack of money to finance such luxuries. Just look at the amount of oil money the government profits from! As our air conditioned bus rumbled on, I noticed several high rise buildings amidst the hill in Mina. Our tour guide mentioned that soon, the small valley of Mina would not be able to accommodate the wave of pilgrims coming in for Hajj. There are plans to consult religious leaders to understand, given the circumstance, if staying in a multi storey building would still constitute as staying in Mina for the requirement of pilgrimage.

Some time later, on a distant hill whose foot is littered with these shelters, there is a small structure which looks simply like a beacon on a hill. That spot was marked as the spot where Abraham almost sacrificed his son Ishmael after receiving word from God to do so. The story goes that God wanted to test the resolve of his Prophet, Abraham (Peace be Upon him) in following His orders, and to do so, he instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son on this hill. With a heavy heart, he obliged. As he could not bear looking on as he slaughter his son, he blindfolded himself. Alas, a miracle happened when he took off his blindfold and discovered he had slaughtered a sheep instead! Muslims around the world now commemorate this event which signifies trust and obedience to God and do so by slaughtering a sheep on Eidul Adha, one of the two main celebrations for Muslims around the world, the other being Eidul Fitri to commemorate the end of Ramadhan, the month of fasting.

Jamratul Aqabah
Near this spot, at a distant from the highway we were in, we could see Jamratul Aqabah. One of the requirements of Hajj is to stone the devil and the place to do so is Jamratul Aqabah. It is a large building complex and its main feature are these pillars in the complex where satan and devils are said to be chained by God to these pillars. Muslims have to throw stones from a distance at these pillars during one of the days of Hajj. There are stories of course, of emotional pilgrims, angry at this entity of the devil for perhaps his or her misfortunes or mistakes in life, went on to throw all they could find at the pillars, including their slippers! A sad true story happened a few months ago on 24 September 2015  before our trip. There was a stampede amongst pilgrims in one of the campsites as a group of pilgrims heading to Jamratul Aqabah went ahead of their scheduled timing issued by the Saudi authorities. This led to overcrowding in one of the streets heading to and away from Jamratul Aqabah. Compounded with the heat of the hot summer desert, the congestion resulted in a massive human crush and eventually a stampede. The incident claimed an estimated 2400 pilgrim lives!
 As our bus sped onwards, we passed yet another place in history where an unfortunate accident had occurred. We managed a glimpse of the al-Ma'aissim Tunnel. Back in July the second 1990, there was only one tunnel heading from Mina to Jamratul Aqabah and back which cuts through the hills of the Saudi Arabian landscape. (Due to the rocky nature of the hills, it is almost impossible for one to climb over the hills) Thus, there would be an inflow of pilgrims heading in both directions in the tunnel. That, by itself, was an accident waiting to happen. 1400 pilgrims suffocated in a stampede in the tunnel when the lights and ventilation ducts in the tunnel was turned off. The circumstances leading to the incident was rather inconclusive. The official report after the incident was that there was a blockage at one end of the exit when the railing on a bridge full of pilgrims just outside the tunnel melted due to the heat, causing a number of pilgrims to fall at the mouth of the tunnel. When a bottleneck occurred as a result of massive amount of people coming into the tunnel from the other side, people started to turn the other way round. A power failure then occurred, said to be also caused by the heat. In the darkness of the 600 plus metre long tunnel, chaos ensured. The bulk of the casualties are Malaysians, Indonesians and Pakistanis. The story propagated by the Malaysian/Indonesian government was that the power failure was cut off by Iranian saboteurs who during that year, had an ongoing vendetta against the Saudi government. The conclusion to that sad incident was a statement by the Saudi government: "This incident had been decreed by God." After that incident, massive steps and precautions were taken by the Saudi authorities to improve the safety standards of the Hajj. One of which was to drill through the rocky mountains to build another tunnel so that now, there are specifically one direction of flow for pilgrims going to and from Mina. In my opinion, it would be unfair to solely blame the Saudi government for the incidents. The Hajj itself is a logistical nightmare with millions of Muslims heading to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj each year. The facilities we use have to be constantly upgraded (and they are constantly being upgraded) even while hundreds of people are using the facilities, like in the case of Masjidil Haram. The least the pilgrims could do is to follow the timetables set by the Saudi authorities to ensure the incident in last September never occur again. Thus, we travelled on, past the grimy history, and out from the second tunnel and into the light of the afternoon sun.

Masjid Jinn and Masjid Shajarah (Jinn Mosque and Tree Mosque)
Our bus traveled back towards Mecca. As we traveled to the heart of the city, we passed a lovely stretch of pavement full of pigeons. A couple of men was hawking the passing cars selling pigeon feed. Those who bought them had the luxury to throw and watch the birds fly around their car, chasing their afternoon meal. As a person walks past the flock of pigeons, they flew and made a beautiful passage for the passer-by. The city of Venice is famous for this kind of picturesque setting. We finally made our way towards Masjidil Haram, the epicenter of Islam. As we neared we passed the sites of where the famous Islam pioneers had once lived, the famous Companions (friends) of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon him). These pioneers had lived around the Masjidil Haram, the place being the place where travellers once went from all directions of Arabia to worship the idols there. Thus, the city grows organically around Masjidil Haram. We could only visualise how the city once feels like or looks like as almost all of their homes had long been gone, instead being replaced by markets, shops and buildings. Some special places like Masjid Jinn and the Masjid Shajarah(Tree Mosque) was specially gazetted centuries ago to commemorate the importance of these places. Our bus drove past these special places and our tour guide explained the importance of these mosques. As with specially remembered places, there is always a special story behind them and an intriguing one these two places carry!
One day, the Prophet told his Companions that he had been commanded by God to preach to a group of passing Jinns, a race of beings created by God which normal humans are unable to see. Jinns are beings capable of free will and is said to have a population far outnumbering the humans. The former meant that they too are capable of choosing the religion they wish to abide with. Nonetheless, the best of Jinns are described to be the worst of humans. Supernatural incidents like possessions are said to be caused by Jinns, not the devil, in Islamic context. I bought a book titled "Essays by Ibnu Taimiyyah on Jinns" later in Mecca and had a compelling time reading it. I also had bought a biography book about Ibnu Taimiyyah back in Madinah and I was impressed with this extremely smart and wise man who had fought (academically) against waves of Islamic heresy during his time when Islam was expanding and engulfed in a myriad of new external cultures and religion. This man was apt in whatever field he chooses to study, even surpassing those who had spent years studying a particular subject. Thus was the power of his blessed photographic and sharp memory. In the story of Masjid Jinn, none of the companions dared to follow the Prophet to witness him preach the Jinns except Abdullah bin Mas'ood. The prophet brought him to this spot and drew a line of circle with his foot and instructed Abdullah to sit in it and told him to not get out of this circle. Then the Prophet began reciting verses from the Quran. Slowly, waves of Jinns appeared out of thin air and moved towards the Prophet. Based on Abdullah Mas'ood's account, troops upon troops of Jinns came such that they blocked his view of the Prophet. The Prophet continued reciting Quranic verses and talking to the Jinns where a remainder of Jinns remained until dawn. That spot, Masjid al-Jinn, now marks the spot where the Prophet had once talked to the Jinns.
The other story is about The Tree Mosque. One day, a group of disbelievers had rejected the invitations of the Prophet Muhammad to Islam. They asked for a miracle to happen. The Prophet prayed to God to show him a sign so that after which he would have no concern to the people's rejection. A nearby tree suddenly stood up and moved towards the Prophet and then extended its greeting to him. The prophet then instructed the tree to go back to where it came from and the tree obliged. After which, the Prophet said, "I now have no concern for the people's rejection." The spot now marked the place where this incident had occur.

Days in Mecca
Our next few days was spent mostly performing two more Umrah (mini-pilgrimage). We went to Masjid Qiblatain a huge spacious mosque which I previously mentioned at Arafat and Ji'ranah to start the second and third umrah respectively. During our free time, we would either choose to spend time in Masjidil Haram to pray our 5 daily prayers there or to perform tawaf (circling the Kaabah). Breakfast, lunch and dinner was served in the Swissotel restaurant, a peculiar culture of the Arabs. The food there is spectacular! One can find almost anything one would wish to have for a good meal. I personally had a great time feasting on kebabs, dam rice, sausages, hashbrowns, pancakes and all kinds of cake. Gaining 8kg out of this trip was no surprise in the end and I had a punishing time getting back in shape when I came back for work a few days later. While the choice of food was sinfully varying, I did get bored of them after more than 4 days eating there, thus I decided to explore the surrounding malls around the hotel for food with my elder brother. There was KFC, Burger King and Haagen Daas among its offerings. It's menu slightly differs with that found in Singapore. A particular meal I bought at KFC had a burger whose patty was almost twice as big as a long chicken burger patty in Singapore! But my favorite turned out to be from Gulf Fast Food Restaurant which offered a variety of fast food at almost half the cost of the more international brands. The fries though was not as juicy and nice as a KFC's fries. Me and my brother also spent a lot of our time shopping and exploring the malls. The prices of books and food are much greater than in Madinah and unlike Madinah where there are all kinds of shops springing from the sidewalk selling outrageously cheap goods, the shops in Mecca are all in brick and mortar set in shopping centres. A great find though is at al-Safa mall, next to the great clock tower (which only house luxury branded goods) which houses these 2, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 riyal stalls. 2 riyal translates to about 1 Sing dollar, It is basically a Daiso-like store with interesting finds such as perfume and camel key-chains, for example. I particularly enjoyed shopping at the 30 riyal store which sells greater quality clothes and merchandise. I eventually bought a pair of lounge pants and a full Chelsea kit at the store. Of course I went to scour for books in the various bookstores and found several gems of books which was interesting. A lot of the make-up of the shops remain the same since 3 years ago when I came for my first umrah, thus it served as a pleasant recollection of my time in Mecca which I so cherish now.

Gua Hira (Cave of Hira)
On our 5th day in Mecca, we were given an option to hike to Gua Hira (Cave of Hira) atop Jabbar Nur (Mountain of Light). We were warned that it would not be an easy feat as the stairs are steep and the journey arduous. Gua Hira was another historic place for Muslims because it is the place where the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon him) first received Word from God, through the archangel Gabriel. At age 40, the Prophet had made his way to this cave to reflect upon life. It is a common thing for him to take a few days off to hike to this cave far from the city of Mecca where he would spend a few days with some provisions just thinking about life. From this cave, he is able to get a clear view of the Kabbah from a distance. On one of his ventures to this cave one night, he was suddenly washed in a bright light. A voice commanded him saying, "Read!" The Prophet, who was illeterate for he was raised a shepherd, replied, "I do not know how to read!" The voice commanded again," Read!" Again, the Prophet repeated his answer. The voice then commanded,


"Read! In the name of the Lord who created; Created man out of a clot of congealed blood! Read! And thy Lord is bountiful! Who taught men by the pen, Taught men which he knew not!"


In Arabic, what was said is much more eloquent. As with any language a word's meaning can never be replaced by the meaning of a word in another language. This would be how it would have sounded: Iqra! Bismi rabbikallazi halaq! Halaqal insa namin alaq! Iqra! Wa rabbukal akram! Al lazi ngalama bil qolam!" 5 verses of the Quran was sent to the Prophet on that hill. The Prophet, scared by what he was experiencing, fled down the mountain (which was very dangerous and steep, as we will soon find out) and ran back home. There, his wife, Khadijah, consoled him and wrapped him in a blanket. When he told his wife what had happened, his wife immediately believed him and became the first Muslim believer in history. When he was wrapped in blanket, the archangel Gabriel sent his next verses to the Prophet, words from God to be told to the disbelieving human population.

Hiking up Jabbar-Nur
 At around 10pm, me and my family, together with the rest of our tour group waited at the hotel lobby in our hiking gear. I had on my jogging pants, jogging shoes and my thick uniqlo jacket. The weather is around 20 degrees Celsius in Mecca, I expected the top of the mountain to be a lot colder! We waited for quite long for the catered transportation to take us to Jabbar-nur. At around 10.30pm, the vans arrived. The van experience is by itself an experience to remember. The drivers drove recklessly, weaving in and out through traffic; honking at any signs of traffic disobedience on the other commuters part. Just like our bus driver the other day who brought us to Halal Land to start our pilgrimage, these drivers would honk and drive like they own the road! The reason why we rode on a van soon became clear. As we approached the foot of Jabbar-nur, we drove along narrow and steep roads. If we road on a bus, we would have to start hiking way further than if we rode the van. At the foot of the mountain, there are shops selling walking sticks, and what an astute buy the stick would be! After regrouping, we then started our trek. The steps at the foot was rather nicely built; even and easy for a foothold. The steps are lit by light from the city and the moon, thus it was only dimly lit. There are numerous steps and several pit stops for one to rest in. By the time we reach the first pit stop, which was barely 1/10th of the journey up, several of our group members had decided to give up, them mostly being the elderly. An important note to know about is that there are numerous beggars living on the steps of Jabbar nur. They would call out for donations as we move past them, and they have learnt several languages to ask for donations from passing visitors. For one, they called to my tour group in Malay, offering blessings and seeking good (and money) from us. Some even took the liberty of "working" to maintain the steps of Jabbar nur. As we soon find out, the steps near the top of Jabbar nur became more and more dangerous. They were steep and uneven. The beggars would sweep and clean the steps, each one taking a particular section of the steps while some would even cement over the step to smoothen the steps. I find it comical because, three years ago, they were still cementing and "fixing" the same steps. It could not be the case that they had not finished doing the job all this year isn't it? Nonetheless, their calls pierced the silence of the mountain. I was wrong about the weather. It was still 20 degrees, but with me sweating underneath my jacket (which had wool, by the way), I was burning up in my attire, thus I removed my jacket after around halfway up the mountain and rolled it around my waist. When I turn to face back, the view of the city got to me. It was beautiful, just observing this foreign city. It's light. It's inhabitant. It's sleeping life. The car racing in the streets, bereft of the day's traffic. It was magical. And the higher we went up, the greater the view became. Soon, we were able to spot the great clock tower next to Masjidil Haram. After about an hour of hiking, we finally reached the summit.

There is a shop up here selling drinks and merchandises such as rings with precious stones in them, Beside the shop is a praying spot, pointing towards Masjidil Haram, We walked past this patch of flat ground and found ourselves having to descend a short while down a flight of stairs. We arrive in a stone like opening to our right and a railing, skirting around and above the stone opening to the left. If we enter to the right, we would reach Gua Hira's entrance. If we go to the left, we would arrive at a spot overlooking Gua Hira. We chose the left because there was a lot of people at the cave's entrance. We traversed the sides of the stone opening, hugging the rocks and hoping not to slip, because slipping would result in certain death. We traversed this portion very slowly and carefully, Finally, we arrived at a flat opening overlooking the cave, From our aerial view, we could see, everything. The cave, the people coming in and out, and we could see Mecca city unobstructed. It was beautiful. The cave is small, It can only fit two people at a time, but the important thing is, the cave opened out of the mountain and looks over Masjidil Haram. One would get to feel as how the Prophet felt when he reflect about his society and life from the cave he dwelt in before his Prophethood. At that moment, I also remembered about the steps. How on earth did the Porphet climb all the way up here? Even with all the steps, dangerous as they are, it was extremely arduous to reach here. The Prophet had to climb the steep slopes and rocks in order to reach here, like some mountain climber! Three years ago, I and my twin brother had been to this exact spot after a couple of South African visitors had led us here. Together with our then tour group youngsters, we chatted and got to know our fellow brothers from South Africa. And what an interesting viewpoint they have about their country! That night, we learnt about apartheid, the Muslims in South Africa and the beautiful unspoilt lands of their country. My brothers and I took some photos at the picturesque spot at the top of the world. Then, we lapsed into silence, taking in the moment.

Later on, we descended back to where we came from, hugging the rocks and traversing the steep rocks. At that place, we actually spotted a mountain goat, lying atop a jutting rock outcrop beyond the safety metal railing. I did take pictures of it, although even with the Flash mode on, I could barely get a good picture of it. Other than goats, there are cats too at the summit of Jabbar-nur and according to our tourguide, even baboons, although we never got to see one. The descent down the hill was almost systematic. One-two-three. One-two three, down we went. The descent was quiet and rather uneventful, although it did take quite a portion of our already dwindling energy. Finally, we arrived at the foot of the mountain. An accident had occurred involving one of our tour group member; a healthy young man in his 20s. He had apparently slipped on the descent and sprained his ankle. Thus, we saw him being helped on by other men to the van. I asked him if he could turn his ankles around in circle, and he could, although in pain. I confirmed with him that it is a sprained ankle and not a fracture or anything worse. We took the van back to our hotel and arrived at around 2am. At 4.30am, the azan was sounded in our hotel rooms to rouse the sleepers for Tahajjud prayers. I performed the Subuh prayers in our hotel room and proceeded to sleep till Zuhr.

My time was spent mostly in Masjidil Haram and venturing the malls surrounding Masjidil Haram. By now, my hair had been shaven clean, a procedure I had done after my 3rd umrah. Right after Tertib of the last umrah where we cut snippets of our hair to end our umrah, we journeyed out of Masjidil Haram and made our way to the basement of one of the main malls around Masjidil Haram. There, there are lines of barber saloons with waiting barbers for the many pilgrims finishing their pilgrimage. They charge only 4 dollars for a clean shave of the head and gave a choice to the customer if they wish to have their head shaven by means of machine or by razor. The razor would shave your head entirely, but the machine allows one to keep at least a centremetre of hair if they wish for it.

Reflections on Mecca
One of the most emotionally powerful moment I had in Mecca was the reflections I made as I sat facing the Kaabah, reflecting about life and about God's blessings. An eternal wave of gratitude flowed through me as I sat for hours between Maghrib prayer and Ishak prayer. The times I spent marveling my situation and reading the Quran in the sanctuary that is the mosque was evidently stress relieving. Sort of one of those existential medication one takes to heal from life. I remember performing tawaf around the Kaabah on the third floor, the highest floor available now, in the morning after Subuh. The view of the Kaabah was mesmerizing, I swear I almost cried. Researchers had done research on the size and measurements of the Kaabah and it appears it conforms to the golden ratio which is found in men and the natural world.

The way back
Like all journeys, it had to come to an end. I will not delve too much into the journey back, as it is not my intention to write about that, but rather to write about the journey itself. Apparently, there was a delay in flight by Etihad way back in Bangkok. As all flights had fixed schedules, this caused a pushback on all subsequent Etihad flights. We waited for 6 hours at Jeddah airport, before being told by airport controllers that we had to take the next flight home tomorrow. Thus, we spent the night at a hotel near Jeddah before coming back the next day to take a transfer flight to Abu Dhabi. I was not complaining. The hotel had cable television with a wide network of television channels. The hotels I had lived in Madinah and Mecca had a wide network of channels too but they were mostly television channels in Arabic. I only ever watched the BBC news, Al-Huda channel and soccer channels. The latter was in abundance but they were mostly all either the Saudi league or the league in Egypt and UAE. Thus, it was a breathe of familiar air to watch a typical English language film after so long. Half of our tour group took a transfer flight to Istanbul and arrived back in Singapore the day after we arrived in Singapore. When we touched down, Ustad Jallaludin himself came to greet us. All in all, it was a memorable journey, one of healing and reflection. I would strongly encourage all Muslims to undertake this journey to Madinah and Mecca, because it would expose to them the true meaning and foundation of their religion. Until the next travel, Wan.

Suits

Mike: Why the hell do you think I'm here?
Father Sam: I don't know. Why are you here?
Mike: I told you, I want advice.
Father Sam: No, no, people do not need the protection of the confessional to get advice.
Mike: I did that to protect you.
Father Sam: No, you did that to protect you. So you tell me right now, why are you here?
Mike: It's not that simple.
Father Sam: It is that simple.
Mike: I can't.
Father Sam: Why are you here?
Mike: Because I'm afraid!
...
Father Sam: What are you afraid of, Michael?
Mike: They left me all alone
Father Sam: And now you've found someone who loves you, and if you stop being who you are, you're afraid she'll abandon you too.
.
.
.
Father Sam: Michael, I think you came to see me because when people are in crisis they're searching for something more, usually something they've lost.
Mike: I lost my parents, and I'm not getting them back.
Father Sam: No, Michael, you lost your faith. [gentle music]
Father Sam: Michael, if you're worried about Rachel leaving you if you stop doing what you're doing, I don't think she will.
Mike: How do you know?
♪ ♪ [cries]
Father Sam: 'Cause I have faith.

/ / The wondrous thing about Suits is how it portrays the different sides of people; how the cockiest, strongest person is so vulnerable and how the scheming, evil villain have a terrifyingly pure, good heart. People are never just the simplistic person they are, unlike a Star Wars film where evil is just evil. (Say what you want, Star Wars conspirators, Star Wars is a straightforward evil-good franchise) Suits explore each character's personality really well and with depth and reasoning. I particularly enjoy how every bit of a person's personality can be linked to a history they had  experienced, like the above-mentioned transcript from Season 5 Episode 10, "Faithless", where Mike lost his Faith when he was a child when his parents died in a car accident and ever since then, he relied on hard work, reasoning and material accomplishments to achieve and give meaning to his life. But when he finally met his match where he does not have an answer for the future, he had to rely on Faith to paper his vulnerability. Aesthetically brilliant.
The themes Suits explore like Faith, Bonds, Trust, Family and Love is superbly fabricated into the overall storyline with constant plot twists which tests the emotional and mental endurance of the characters. The morals in the story often leaves a bittersweet emotion; sometimes leaving me in two thoughts to either want to laugh or to cry. At the end of the day, what kept me following and watching Suits was how satisfied I would feel upon completing an episode. It leaves me with a temporal sense of intrigue, "cockinest" even, but ultimately a deeper sense of gratification and inspiration. Who wouldn't want to be cocky winner, Harvey, upcoming talented Mike, know-it-all Donna and the sly but oddly pitiful and charming Louis.

The main casts of Suits almost nearly revolves around the same people; Harvey, Mike, Donna, Louis, Rachel and Jessica. And that is part of Suits charm. The writers get to delve into each character rather thoroughly and the viewers get to know each character inside out; we understand the reason behind each character's character. Throughout the 5 seasons(so far), the waves of crises they battled together and sometimes even pitted them against one another shows us the relationship between the characters really well. I have never watched another television series which had created such real characters with real emotional justifications and rationalisation. Characters which enters or mixes with the main casts have an actual reason for entering, be it as competition, to sow enmity or to teach a lesson. For example, the recent inclusion of a senior partner at the law firm into the storyline, Jack Soloff, an extremely crafty, ambitious villain in actuality have personal reasons for his enmity towards the main casts which made me feel respectful of him and even sympathetic of him. He turns out to be a good person after so many episodes which had left me hating him. The most satisfying thing about the cast could also be how well each actor or actress could portray their character. I think Gabriel Macht, Patrick J. Adams and Rick Hoffman and in fact, every other cast members did their job really well, which can be seen by the emotions they managed to instill in viewers through their deliverance. I especially marvel at Rick Hoffman's portrayal of the emotional Louis Litt. The episode "Faithless" in particular made me offer a round of applause for the characters acting and of course, the story plot.

The music used in the episodes are really appropriate and reflective of the emotional rollercoaster of a drama Suits is. They mostly incorporate indie music, in particular songs by The XX which gives a feel good and classy vibe to the scenes. Sadder less known songs are incorporated in sad scenes and the memorability of the scenes makes one search for the music portrayed, a good indication of the quality of the story plot.

The story plot is another thing to behold. What can one expect of a story with only 5 main characters? Apparently a lot! Not knowing about law does not impinge any viewer. Sooner or later, the viewers will understand some of the law terms used such as subpoena. But the exploration of the crises the firm faces each season is a marvel. Each new villain or mistake would put one of the character in an almost impossible situation to get out of. Each move made is like a piece on a checkboard where the end may be unexpected. The beauty is, Suits takes into account of its character being human; prone to mistakes and oversight due to their own preconceived judgement of what the other person thinks. The 5th season especially was a case which not even the great Harvey Specter could solve. Aaron Kosh, the principal writer for Suits said he loved putting the characters in impossible situation and then racking his brains to find a solution for his characters to get out of the situation. And what a good job he had done with each season of Suits! The only thing better than the plot could be its smart dialogue and use of wit to out-talk anyone else. I personally enjoy reviewing episodes just for the pleasure of a hearing again, and if possible using them, the witty snapbacks, talk and words used in the lawyers exchanges. The script is indeed well written.

In all due conclusion, I have to admit, Suits is one hell of a television series. It's story plot, dialogue and characters alleviate the drama to a point of artistic revelation. For now, I will continue watching Suits, an episode at a time and when one particular episode strikes a distinct chord in me, I would view it several times. For those who have not entered the realm of Suits, I do ask them to simply watch the first episode of Season 1 to understand how interesting the television series is. Of course, Suits does not have all out action like shooting or such portrayed in recent popular television series such as The Flash or Limitless, but they offer something more intellectual and emotionally fulfilling. So, until the next episodes, Wan, Suits fan.