I'll be going to Umrah.....

Will you be stopping somewhere before entering Makkah? Because you need to put Ihram on before you actually enter makkah when going for umrah.

When you first lay eyes on the Ka'bah, make dua. That dua is extremely special, so make it count. Take as long as you want - there's no time limit.

Also, you should do one umrah the day you get into Makkah. The tawaaf isn't that hard in and of itself but when you add jet lag into it and the Saee (takes approx 40 minutes), you're going to be exhausted. So make plans for the day after and drink plenty of zam-zam.

Lastly, if you are going to stay at a hotel remember: they don't give you a microwave in the rooms, so if you get any food from outside you better finish it there and then. And electrical goods cost as much as they would back home so don't expect any cheap rides.

Pro tip 1: Make sure you know your gate exits - always go for the closest one (especially on your first day as you will be exhausted). Plan your way to the Ka'bah and back from the Saee.

Pro tip 2: There's some pakistani food shops nearby the hilton hotel, I forgot what they are called but they are literally 20 second walk from Hilton. Price is ok compared to other takeaways and food is decent.

Pro tip 3: Avoid KFC/Burger king. They rip you off: 20 riyals for a burger (25+ for meals). Your bog standard vendor will do a (crappy) burger for 5 riyal. Kudu is only good for apple pies - their burgers are expensive and don't taste good.

Pro tip 4: Get a jubah as soon as possible. Shalwar is way too stuffy in that weather.

Pro tip 5: Once you have settled into the new time zone, a typical day will work something like this:
Fajr
(optional rest)
breakfast
(optional rest)
Dhur
(don't bother eating at the shops for lunch. Grab some fruit or eat something at hotel or w/e instead - not enough time)
Asr
Now you can eat some proper lunch
Maghrib
(no time to eat anything in between this and next namaz, Better to stay in Kabah sharif and chillax if you are tired or read Quran etc)
Isha
Now you can eat dinner.
Then rest until fajr.

Remember, you are there to pray so your timetable should reflect that. Overall, the sleeping pattern is not too difficult to adjust to because the only activity you are doing is praying.

Best time to do extra tawaaf is before/after fajr and before maghrib. Less people at those times, so you can go around much faster. We averaged a full tawaaf in 20 minutes at those times. At other times, it took about 2 times that.

p.s; try not to get seperated.

wow ok , so in between reading the namaz can you go and see the other holy sites that are there ???

i've been told that , if your out there looking at some of the holy sites and dont have time to make it back for namaz, you can read namaz there and then.

i know that all the shop's and stuff close when it's namaz.

is that true at all ???

read this insha Allah:

http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/31819/

may Allah accept your 3omrah, ameen. make du3aa2 for the ummah, and enjoy ur time there insha Allah!

format_quote Originally Posted by Hassan1987

wow ok , so in between reading the namaz can you go and see the other holy sites that are there ???

Time is the issue here. Dhur and Asr are very close together, like 1 hour - and in Makkah, they pray on time. Ideally, you'd want to go after maghrib - that way you got plenty of time.

i've been told that , if your out there looking at some of the holy sites and dont have time to make it back for namaz, you can read namaz there and then.

Yes, you can pray at those mosques.

i know that all the shop's and stuff close when it's namaz.

is that true at all ???

Yeah they do close for namaz but they open quite quickly.

Oh yeah, if you want to get zam-zam water for home, it's gonna be a trek. What we did was first buy a massive container. I forgot which shop it is, but it's near the Hilton hotel.

Problem is, guards won't let you bring those size of bottles onto the premises. So you gotta go ninja style: use small 500 ml bottles (that you can hide in your shoe bag), fill those up and transfer to the big container at your hotel or w/e. It'll take quite a few trips but it'll be worth it in the end.

Oh and before you come back home, you'll need to get those containers sealed - otherwise they will leak all over the place. There's a little shop that does that for you in a side street behind the Hilton (everything you need is near the Hilton ). It's near the barber shop. Go in there and ask him to seal your big containers. You'll know you're in the right place because he'll be sealing something when you get there .

format_quote Originally Posted by Alpha Dude

They also have their own sealers at Jeddah airport. In fact, I didn't think they allowed containers that weren't sealed at the airport?

I didn't see any sealers at jeddah airport, but they probably are there. It's probably best to seal the container before one leaves from makkah anyway.

format_quote Originally Posted by Supreme

would other people or the Saudis mind or do anything if you missed out on one of your daily prayers?

Cheers.

No, there would be no way of knowing if you had prayed. Nobody sits and logs other peoples prayers. Prayer is a personal thing.

format_quote Originally Posted by Supreme

Hi dude.

Can I just ask, seeing as you've cearly been to Mecca, is praying compulsory? I mean, I know it's compulsory for any Muslim, but say a Muslim didn't want to pray- would other people or the Saudis mind or do anything if you missed out on one of your daily prayers?

Cheers.

Sup?

As Dagless said, prayer is a personal thing. Whether you are in Makkah or France, prayer is between you and God. We pray in congregation, yes, but it's not a legal matter.

format_quote Originally Posted by Supreme

Hi! I also noticed this. I think from memory, the Saudis are Wahhabis- that means they're essentially the Muslim equivalent of Nazis. Anything that doesn't fit their (narrow) view of Islam is out, and I heard of their destruction of holy sites. I think they destroyed the graves of the followers of Muhammed near the Mosque al Nabawi from memory, and they also got rid of the Jerusalem quibla in the Mosque of Two Quiblas. No one was facing Jerusalem or using it, but it's a nice bit of history isn't it? They still destroyed it. I also read somewhere they were planning on destroying the tomb of Muhammed when they took over Medina but changed their mind at the last minute.

Correction: Majority of people living in saudi are "wahabis" and this is true for majority of people living in the Gulf (surround nations). The correct term here is Salafi not "wahabi".

In Sunni Islam there are for major schools of thought named after the 4 imams (shafi, hanafi, malaiki, hanabali). Most of the members on this forum belong to one of those schools of thoughts. But at end of the day they all are sunni, no one say i'm shaafi or hanafi or what not. In the same sense the "wahabis" are also sunni who followed imam Mohammad ibn wahab. Only difference between them and others is that they are more strict to follow the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah. The reason they are so "bad" and "extremists" and what not is because of the west's propaganda, and lies. Mohammad ibn wahab called for jihad against the imperialists colonization of the mulsim lands (which btw is obligatory) and this didn't go well with the invaders so naturally lies and propaganda had to be spread. Those same lies are spread today by the western media and naive, ignorant westerners (and sadly ignorant muslims) believe that stuff and get all high-hoe about it.

You can read more about this here: http://islamqa.com/en/ref/36616

The royal dogs are not "wahabis", i doubt they even practice islam at all. They are your secular dogs who only care about their throne and power and will do anything to keep that. There are two kinds of restrictions on Saudi, one is of islam and is good (like covering and prayer) and the other is not related to islam but rather arab backward culture and mentality (like not letting women drive) and oppression by royal rabies in order to protect their throne (like torturing people who speak against the gov't).

No one destroyed any graves of anyone there. What the scholar Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhaab did was level all the graves as required in Islam. Don't think any one destroyed the holy sites either, a guy did come with an army riding elephants but they were all destroyed by birds throwing stones on them by the command of Allah. Kaaba will be destroyed one day by a black tall man who I think will come from Yemen but this won't happen till long after Esa (Jesus) a.s. comes. The Muslims use to face Jerusalem to pray earlier on because kaaba was filled with idols of the pagans. Once Makka was conquered and Kaaba was purified, the command came from Allah to face the Kaaba to face. This was the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The mosque of two quiblas is called Qiblatain masjid and it still stands there today.

format_quote Originally Posted by Hassan1987

Thank you very much for the reply's everyone, it's helped quite a bit.

I found out today that i probably might be going a day earlier then expected on the 24th this month, which is great.

So I've been reading up quite a bit on Saudi Arabia and found some very shocking things

found out that they have destroyed and are planning to still destroy some very special holy sites

My mum's friend that's been to Saudi Arabia has said that the sad thing is in a couple of year's time the holy sites that are there now might not even exist.

the only question i have after hearing all this is WHY

this really just disgusts me right to the core, they should be ashamed of them self's.

Maybe you read from sufi sources that promote the visiting of shrines and making dua to the dead people and prostrating to the graves in the shrine.

I know many people dislike Muhammed ibn abdul wahab cos he levelled graves cos people were making them into places of worship and making dua to the dead people burried there.

I also know they dislike him cos he forbade the wearing of amulets cos people began to put their tawakkal in the amulet instead of Allah,

gosh he sounds like a really bad man, (sarcasm)

Don't Forget me from your Dua'a
الله يتقبل عمرتكم يااارب
if you have any question regarding Umrah Don't hesitate