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
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.
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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment