April 2022
They say that the invitation to visit Allah’s house comes from Him. For us, this certainly was the case. Some small talk after attending, Dr Ali’s lecture in the mosque transpired into a plan to visit two of the holiest places in the world by Muslim tradition. The spiritual leader and mentor to many, Dr Ali Hazratji, became the architect of the trip and set it up through Sara International travels. The plan was to spend the last 10 nights of Ramadan in prayer and worship at the Prophets city of medina followed by umrah and more ibada at Haram Sharif. Ramadan came and flew by as we reached the fateful morning of our departure. The rendezvous point was Dr Ali’s home in Somers, Connecticut. I was picked up right on time by Shaukat Bhai who brought his usual swagger, free spirit and energy to the trip. We reached Sheikh Ali’s home and he was quick to note our western attire and educated us on the etiquette of the trip. I learnt that this was a spiritual journey and we needed to get into a spiritual state by getting our minds of worldly matters. We were supposed to be a state of Zikr to purify and cleanse the heart and get ready to meet the most beloved human, Muhammad PBUH. Our ride to the airport was arranged by the fourth member of the group, brother Abdulsattar. We were picked up in the Toyata van by a driver from Greece, a fellow man of God who had served at the altar as a teenager. We were his first ride in his new and comfortable van which he had traded in for his Rav-4. Dr Ali started the journey with some prayers and Adkar and set the tone for our trip.
Praising our Lord, we reached the airport in time and the check in process on board the Saudi airline was a breeze. One of our fellow travelers, decided to fly in style in business class but the rest of us kept faith in the economy class. The time at airport passed in Allah’s remembrance and we boarded the flight. All of us were fasting and took advantage of air travel and had aftar served earlier than usual because we were travelling forward in time zones. Most of the prayers were offered in the plane, that was comfortable and unique as it has a prayer area in the back to offer Salah. One thing that stuck out was several people of color that were travelling with us. Based in USA, these people from different parts of Africa wore distinctive clothes and robes. Standing shoulder to shoulder while flying we were able to offer our prayers several thousand feet in the sky. One thing that I noticed was that African women were not shy in offering their prayers right alongside men. Squeezed in the tiny compartment at back, I was pleasantly pushed aside by a group of strong-willed women who were eager to offer the divine retreat of prayer. Our plane ride ended smoothly as we reached Riyad, and the border control process was very smooth. We took a connection to Medina. The ride in between the terminals gave me the first insights to a very barren and desert landscape with very little planation. This seemed very different form the spring blooms I had left behind in my home in New England.
The landing at Medina was turbulent and as we were landing, I could not help but wonder why anyone would ever want to come to this barren and arid land as there was plane desert in sight for miles and miles. Yet it was Allah who chose this land and made it blessed by making it the adopted city of the Prophet, PBUH. We were met promptly at arrival by the staff from Sara International, who transferred us in a shuttle to our hotel called Movenpick in Medina, which is walking distance from Masjid e Nabawi.
My initial thoughts were that the city was nothing like the Agrabah of Aladdin that I had imagined. It was very commercial looking with hotels that surround the holy mosque from all sides. The check in process was handled by Sara International, and all four of us were upgraded to a suite. After putting our things away, we were all eager to leave for Masjid-e-Nabvi. Setting sight on the prophet’s mosque, I was mesmerized with its beauty and grandeur, and it was every bit as fabulous as I had expected and may be more. Humming the tunes of “Muhammad ka roza kareeb aa raha hae” by JJ, I approached the mosque with love, awe, humility and enthusiasm. This was a happy place adorned by spiritual bliss and a calm that cannot be described. As we entered the mosque, Ali bhai gave me an orientation to the mosque. The mosque is built and has been added to over the centuries. The older part of the mosque with the Khutbah pulpit and the prophet’s Roza has a special place and was normally jammed with people. I was able to pray there briefly on our very first night as I learnt the etiquettes for giving Salam to the prophet PBUH. The first two caliphs of Islam are buried right next to him. Nothing can describe the feeling of being so close to the light of Islam, Allah’s beloved creation who brought to us the way to be a perfect Abd and taught us the real meaning of being Allah’s deputy on earth and whose Seerah is a perpetual reservoir of knowledge, which we can access to seek guidance.
I never really knew how to love Muhammad PBUH more than anything in the world till I reached Medina. It was a sort of share love for the prophet which is just palpable in every worshipper that puts foot in the mosque. The great thing about the place is that you can meet people from any where in the world. I met people from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mali, Senegal, Sudan and pretty much everywhere as we broke our fast each night. There is something to be said about waiting there to say your Maghrib prayers, as several volunteers descend and distribute the iftar consisting of dates, yogurt, piece of bread and the best part Zamzam. I learnt from the Sheikh the special dua for drinking zam-zam and that you to stand up to drink the blessed drink. There is a frenzy around having the blessed water at Iftar. The best part for me was to start a small talk with my fellow world travelers as we shared where we came from and how luck we felt to have been invited to the prophet’s mosque. The time between Maghrib and Isha was very tranquil as we stayed behind as several people went to their hotels to have a more traditional iftar. My preference was to sneak up to the roof as that is a whole other experience. There is normally a cool breeze at this time as the city starts to cool down and nothing beats the feeling of staring at the minarets of the mosque with a green hue emanating from it and listening to the call of prayer. Isha would then be followed by Tarawih prayers where the heart warming recitation of Quran would soften your heart and begin the cleansing process that is needed for Tazkiyah e Nafs. One can feel the inner peace as light of Iman starts to glow in the darkness and cleanses the heart and the soul. I would normally go to the hotel after tarawih and rest up before returning for Qiyam ul Layl. Things that had felt like chores now became religious treats as our Sheikh taught us the zeal for looking forward to each act of ibadah as a treat for a child at the candy store or a teen at an amusement park. He had a special light of excitement in his eyes, and an enthusiastic smile as if he wanted to catch all of the rides in the park before our time there came to an end.
One night was special as our group had arranged for a night after tarawih prayers where we gathered in a space and heard the recitation of holy Quran from from four different Qaris whose voice was so melodious and their style of narration so warm that it brought tears to our eyes. There was also a young Canadian whose family had migrated from Egypt that had moved to Medina and was able to sing Qaseeda Burd-e- Sahrif in English. This was followed by an explanation of why and how it was important to love the prophet of Islam. For the first time in my life, it sunk in on why Muhammad PBUH was the perfect creation of Allah and how much servitude and gratitude is owed to him for spreading Allah’s message to humanity and how important it is to get to know his Seerah. I also recounted some of the knowledge that Sheikh Ali gives us when he asks us that just learning about the Quran in our collective gatherings is not enough. It is merely a start of our journey. The real test is to take practical steps to understand the message and then implement changes in our lives to take steps to become the follower of Muhammad PBUH who was the living example of Quran.
Although I followed my Sheikhs instructions of disconnecting from internet and social media and spent most of my time in prayer and Zikr, I did get one physical indulgence as one night I sneaked out with my friend Shaukat Bhai to search for Pakistani and Bangladeshi restaurants. We found a restaurant called Pakistani Lahori Hotel which was close to the roadside restaurants that we like and were able to have daal, chicken tikka, tandoori roti followed by Karak Chai.
Just like anything, all good things come to an end. Our last night, Sheikh told us how to properly say goodbye to Rasul-Allah PBUH as we came out after fajr prayers, faced his Roza and raised our hands in Dua and gratitude. The dua read by our Sheikh brought tears to the eyes of all four of us. With very heavy hearts and a sense of sadness, we boarded our buses as we checked out of Movenpick, our hotel for a few days in Medina.
Before we left, we wore the ihram. This was my first experience. Nothing can prepare you for a feeling of nothingness as you shed away worldly possessions and wear the ihram. You feel humble, simple, and mostly human. You prepare yourself for an invitation to the center of the whole universe which pulls you towards itself as if you were meant to go there. To Allah we belong and to Him is our return. As I was taking the steps down the stairs chanting with the group and announcing to my creator that I am voluntarily surrendering myself to Him, I understood what it meant to be a Muslim. It is an act of giving up everything that we run after in this world and returning in an act of submission to our Lord, the Lord of all creation. We were going to take a fast train to Mecca and going to our cart, I was overwhelmed with emotions as I felt part of something much bigger than myself. At that moment, nothing mattered, not even my family. It was a solo journey and at that moment everything disappeared from around me and the only thing relevant was returning to the singularity, my Divine Master who is the one and only God and is Alone in His Splendor and Grandiosity.
The train ride was fun and fast, and we were kept entertained by small children from a beautiful Arab family that was sitting right next to us. Reaching Mecca and going to the Haram had a special meaning. Most people will miss the calmness the of Medina to be replaced by the hustle bustle of Mecca. I found the Masjid al Haram to be magnificent and the architecture to be splendid. It had a fitting sense of class that belongs to the House of Allah.
Nothing prepares you to the first site of kabbah. I held my breath and kept my gaze low as we walked towards the Kabbah. When you finally do see it, it is like a site no other. The simplicity of the place blows your mind as the energy of the house pulls you towards itself in submission as you prepare to take the customary counterclockwise rotation around it. Kabbah, the house of GOD stands mightily as people from all over the planet gravitate towards it. The pull, that divine force is pretty strong. The act of tawaf is an ibada like nothing else I have experienced as I held on to my Sheikh’s backpack and surrendered myself to the crowd of spiritually hungry worshipers that were circling around the Kebba, all stripped from worldly possessions, big houses, fancy cars, our false pride, sense of self importance, as all return to Allah with nothing but a longing to be reunited with Him. I had decided to stay with my Sheikh who takes deliberate slow steps as she makes Zikr and says the stipulated supplications. People seem to melt around him and he completes the circle on his pace. He was patient to teach me the meaning of specific duas as we made our way around. After performing the ritual, we were able to pray right at Maqam e Ibrahim which itself was a miracle with Ramadan crowds.
The sheikh than explained the significance of Saee which is one of the integral rites of Umrah. The meaning of this word in Arabic is to strive, walk or pursue. Saee in Umrah refers to the ritual of walking back and forth seven times between two small hills of Safa and Marwa, which are located adjacent to the Kaaba in Masjid al-Haram. This is a tribute to Hajar’s search for water in the area when she ran out of provisions after prophet Ibrahim left her in the valley upon Allah’s command. The space between the two mountains in which the pilgrims walk is called al-Mas’aa. In between, we were able to quench our thirst with Zamzam. This act of Ibada was followed by dua led by our beloved Sheikh which in itself was almost an hour long where I learnt the need for expressing gratitude, for his infinite blessings and remembering each and everyone in our community and beyond.
The next few days showed me the power of Iman and how worship if done right can be a marathon in which you pace yourself and build to a culmination except there is no Finnish line in my Sheikh’s book. I was amazed at his energy where on little sleep he would spend hours at stretch in ibada and his spiritual thirst, his dua and expression of gratitude could not be quenched. This was new to me. I wanted to keep up. Being youngest in the group, I thought I should be in better shape to stay for these long acts of ibada but I was the weakest kink in the group. Yet my training was profound, and I did a long stretch on the 27th night of Ramadan which for my humble beginnings will stay with me for a long time.
In between, we did have a buffet here and there filled with delicious food and desert and it was the company of all four travelers that we looked forward to every night. Another observation was the night life, the sit outs at outdoor café sipping on Turkish coffee with Shaukat bhai in between Tarawih and Qiyam ul Lail and the walk together for morning prayers and really understanding the meaning of why Salat was better than sleeping.
Some of us did more umrahs than others as we made our way to Masjid- e-Aisha which is outside the boundary of Haram and where you can do Niya for Umrah. On one such trips we met this Pakistani driver from Lahore who was completely uneducated and came here as a teen and driving a cab here for 12 years. With the money he earned he has been able to build a home for his parents, get his brother married and take care of his sisters. As if this was not enough, he is now memorizing the Quran. When you see this sort of acts of selflessness, you feel humble by so many great people that live in the world and the spirit of sacrifice that they imbue.
Such stories are not uncommon. You see a lot of Bangladeshis that are at servitude at the prophet’s mosque as well at the Haram. Each one is there making and sending precious little to their families back home. COVID did hurt these folks. I guess the economic cost of shut down was more profound in other parts of the world where money was not generously dished out as USA. These guys were rounded up and lived in concentration camps like environment unpaid as they waited out the pandemic. I feel for the devotion of this group and the rewards for their service to Allah and their families.
Our sheikh had warned us that this was a trip for God and not to be distracted by shopping and the lure of big malls outside. Mostly we listened to his advice and left shopping for the last two days. The blessed nights passed as well, and we reached Eid prayers that were offered outside the Haram right after Fajar attended by more than 2 million people. The sheer mass of people was astounding as you saw people everywhere, in and outside the Haram, prostrating together and feeling blessed to spend this day at the House of Allah.
We had decided to spend the day taking a trip to Taif, the hill side town at the outskirts of Mecca where Mohammad SAW had gone to spread his message and was given a hostile reception. The story was narrated by our sheikh in detail and we decided to go to the site where the prophet of Allah had rested after being stoned by people of Taif. There is now a mosque there named after the slave who had offered prophet SAW food and fruits. The road to Taif is perilous and it is difficult to fathom how some one would hike all this way to reach the hill station.
We were able to take the road trip as we went up the hills with our driver who drove like one of the guys from fast and furious and got the blessings of our sheikh who is known for his own driving flair and has a reputation among friends of fast but safe driving. Taif is a great escape from Meccas heat with its cool evenings and great weather. It is knows for its gardens, local honey and assortment of fruits. We were able to visit several Ziyaras which in Saudi style are unmarked but do bring tranquility and longing for the beloved. The trip was wrapped up with Maghrib prayers at the mosque on the hill. I cannot explain the serenity that I felt sitting there on the top of the hill doing zikr gazing up into the night sky at the crescent of new month and wondering how the prophet SAW must feel as he sees his faith being practiced now by 2 billion people across the world. It was here in this Town where he was stoned for giving the same message. The perseverance, determination and resolve at battling against all odds is another lesson for us from his beautiful Seerah.
On our way back, we picked up some local fruit and made our way to dinner at a local Pakistani restaurant called Sargodha restaurant which offered up some great food followed by Karak chai as usual.
The next morning was tough as we knew that our invitation at Mecca had come to an end and it was time to go back. Tired and sad at the same time, I learnt that the Sheikh had decided to do one more umrah as he left earlier in the day and got to spend some quality time right next to Kabbah and Hajr e Aswad as the crowds had petered out and he had the best seat in the house. We also offered our farewell Tawaf and read out our dua to Allah as we took his permission to leave and hoped that He would invite us back soon.
Our adventure was not over yet as we had to take a trip to Jeddah board our plane to Riyadh and leave for JFK from there. We were given a ride in an old van, the kind of which you see in old Hollywood movies driven by a Yemeni teen who we later learnt had never driven to a big city. Jeddah is a true metropolis adorned on all sides with malls and shopping plazas. We were able to board the plane on time and went to Riyadh where we were all able to upgrade our flights and travel in style and comfort as we made our way back home to be greeted by our loving families.
Although the hearts are heavy and there is longing for Medina and Muhammad SAW Roza in all of our hearts, we hope that Allah gives us all the ability to travel together and go back to make more memories together. Ameen
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