Jazakallah khair brother zAk for bumping this. Sheesh! :rant: :thankyou::statisfie
Hehehe sis Amirah.
:shade:
Mawwadah! Type your story up! Pwease?!
I'm glad you'll enjoyed reading it. :statisfie
Okay, here is the last part...which isn't much. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
On the last day in Mina, the group leaders told us we’d all go to Jamarah together after Dhuhr, and then come back to the tent and leave immediately for Makkah. (The other two days everybody went separately in their own time, but since we had to get back to Makkah that day, we all had to go together.) Also it was drizzling on and off, and it was sunny one minute and threatening to rain the next, so we were kinda freaked that something bad may happen. After Dhuhr we all went, and the weather was pretty good alhamdulillah. Well, as we got closer to Jamarah, we lost the group in the crowd and ended up by ourselves. There were loads of people sitting by Jamarah and they had camped outside there for only Allah knows why. And everyone who was trying to get in to pelt was tripping over these people, it was crazy. The police were trying to evacuate them from there, but they were fighting with the police. Nice scene that was, seeing the hujjaj fighting insensibly with the police. (Pardon my sarcasm.) Anyways, we made it through, and the closer we got to the pelting area, the more scary things got. One guy almost tripped me, and my brother caught me in time, and the guy started fighting with my brother for saving me. :blink: My brother almost started arguing right back, but we made him keep quiet. He was a bit riled up the man was arguing with him, and he didn’t realize he could possibly loose life. :lol:
After a few more incidents like that within the next few minutes, we gave up and we might as well just stick to going after Asr. We went back to the tent… The rest of the group wasn’t there yet, and when they got back, they were surprised we made it back so early. :lol: Anyways, they were packing up and doing some last minute ibadah and stuff, and it was around 3:30 and it started raining.. First it was just the usual drizzle, and then it started pouring. The tents close to ours started flooding and the area where the steps are which lead to the road was flooded knee-high. The water was flowing like a rover, it was scary. We were fortunate though, as our tent was in a perfect area, so we didn’t get flooded much. About 20 minutes or so after Asr, it let up though and went back to drizzling, and the group took a bus to Makkah, and we were left alone. *sniffle*
Anyways, it stopped raining fully about 30 minutes before Maghrib. It was totally easy, cuz mostly everyone was gone, including the people who were sitting outside Jamarah outside previously. Although, sadly, we heard at the time a few dozen Hajji’s and several police officers died by Jamarah, cuz of the rain and they were in frenzy not to get drowned. May Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) grant them Jannah al Firdaus. Ameen.)
The hujjaj were trying to get out of Mina as it was after Maghrib now. They were desperate to get out, and many were elderly and couldn’t make the long walk. The taxi drivers benefited from this of course. They put their prices up to SR 200 for 4 people. A trip that would be regularly SR 5-10! I understand they want to earn money, but over charging elderly hujjaj is wrong.
L We decided to walk to Makkah. Alhamdulillah on our way to Makkah it didn’t rain…
It took 2 ½ hours to get to our hotel. Although that seems long, it was not so bad at all. It was pleasant, and it is a lot better then sitting a car in the middle of traffic and honking horns. At least with walking you’re moving and not restless. The only odd thing was that it was kinda cold. (I mean how weird that is… Makkah being cold?!) hehe. Anyways, it was nice walk. And the way there were Saudi’s who were standing by the street handing out coffee, tea, and ginger in milk. It was so sweet. :wub: I think the ginger in milk kinda helped my cough actually. (Seriously, evil twins, I did have a cough.. lol!)
Anyways, we reached the Haram about an hour after Isha.. We were happy to be close to our hotel, our destination to catch up on ressst. Alhamdulillah we made it safely to our hotel. Our parents called to check up on their crazy children to see if we’re okay and made it safely. After that we slept… The cassette store was at it yet again, but I put the pillow over my head after an hour. I mean I like Sheikh Sudais’s dua, but it being on repeat for hours on end was a bit much, even for me!
Besides, after that they switched to the Muhammad Nabeeuna nasheed. Arg! How can I get sleep to a child singing?!
We stayed for a week after Hajj. And the rest of the days in Makkah are a total blur to me now. Things happened kinda fast and I got badly sick among other things. We did a bit of shopping All I remember now was making Tawaf and looking at the Kaabah.. (That’s all that matters though, innit). Oh, and Sheikh Taalib did the last khutbah, which was nice mashaAllah.
The trip back home was muccch more pleasant. Came from Jeddah to Germany and from there straight to Amrikka. Didn’t have to wait long in the airports either. It only 20 hours instead of 27.
Although, leaving Makkah and entering the International Terminal to be surrounded by non Muslims through me off guard. You get used to being surrounded by Muslims, people always saying salaam to you, dressing modestly, having a kindness about them, and then you see non Muslims for the first time after a month, you feel like fish out of water. (Ignore the fish part Arwa.
) It was even weirder arriving in California, when the police officers get fussy over tiniest things, while in Saudi Arabia the police officers are a bit relaxed. Okay, maybe too relaxed at times. But yeah, being in California again really made me appreciate Makkah and Madeenah more. :wub:
May Allah take everyone of us there. Ameen.
Orite…that’s it really… Ask me whatever you want…I’ll try to answer inshaAllah.
