O Medina! Where My Prophet Rests

Medina is referred to as al-Munawarah - the Illuminated - taking from the fact that it holds the Prophet who brought light to where once was darkness, and it was from Medina that the light shone and spread throughout Arabia, and then the world.

Coming from the bustling helter-skelter that was Mecca, one who arrives here will instantly recognise that it is a different place altogether. It is clean, well-ordered, peaceful and unhurried. The city, it is said, personifies its most precious resident.

Medina is the most holy place on earth, according to Imam Malik (r.a.), by virtue of its containing the form of the most perfect of Creation, our Master the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.).

Although most other scholars disagree, and opine that the Ka'abah in Mecca is more holy, all of the scholars are in agreement that the plot of land that holds the self of our Master the Prophet (s.a.w.) is more holy than even the Ka'abah.

Other than that, the Ka'abah is the most holy place on Earth. 

Every year, millions of believers converge on Medina, to the resting place of the Prophet (s.a.w.).
Our Master said -
"Whosoever visits my grave, it is guaranteed for him my intercession".

Our Master also said - "Whosoever visits me after my death at my grave, it will be as if he visits me in my lifetime.", and He also said, "Whosoever visits me without any intent other than to visit me, then it becomes his right to have my intercession.". 

A visit to the Prophet's (s.a.w.) tomb should definitely be undertaken by anyone who performs the pilgrimage.
The Prophet (s.a.w.) said - "Whosoever performs the pilgrimage but does not visit me, then indeed he has forgotten me". 

A prayer performed in the Prophet's mosque is of more merit than any other mosque besides the MasjidilHaram in Mecca.

The Prophet (s.a.w.) said - " a prayer in my mosque is better than a thousand prayers at any other place besides the Masjid alHaram.".

The Mudpie family had bought a new set of Hari Raya clothes back in Singapore for this occassion. Mudpie walked out of the hotel towards the large marble mosque in the early morning. The day was cool, the chill of dawn was gone. We walked towards the famous green dome of the mosque, which arches above where the Prophet's resting place lay.

As we walked, the song by Raihan surfaced in my mind -

Alangkah indahnya hidup ini

Andai dapat kutatap wajahmu
Kan pasti mengalir air mataku
Kerna pancaran ketenanganmu
(trans. by me)

How great this life would be
If your face I could only see
The tears would flow most certainly
Bedazzled of your serenity


Alangkah indahnya hidup ini
Andai dapat kudakap dirimu
Tiada kata yang dapat aku ucapkan
Hanya tuhan saja yang tahu

(trans. by me)
How great this life would be
If I could embrace your body
No words exist that I can say
Only God knows the words in me


Ya Rasulullah Ya Habiballah
Tak pernah kutatap wajahmu
Ya Rasulullah Ya Habiballah
Kami rindu padamu
Allahumma Solli Ala Muhammad
Ya Rabbi Solli Alaihi Wasallim ( 2X )

(trans. by me)
O God's Prophet, O God's beloved
Never have I laid eyes upon you
O God's Prophet, O God's beloved
Yet how much I do miss you
God bless Muhammad
O my Lord, bless him and give him peace (2X)

I realised how much I yearned for him.
I missed my other father, my teacher, my hero, my inspiration, my solace.
A wave of emotion seized me, and my breath whispered the words of the song.
It stuck with me all the times I approached the Mosque whilst I was in the city.
In spite of what the Wahabis or the modernists say, I know that my Prophet lives and never dies.
He lives and loves me and he hears me, and he is there - even if I cannot see him or hear him, his spirit lives on and he sees me and hears me.
Before I embarked on this hajj I was apprehensive about how I would feel when I meet him, I thought I would have so much to be ashamed of, so much to be sorry for.
However, when I was there, all those feelings evaporated, like they were never there at all, ever.
In an indescribable way, deep in my heart of hearts I just felt that he was telling me everything is okay, that he forgives me, and he understood, and that he loves me anyway, for whatever I am.
I felt he was telling me that I was not going astray, that I must have faith and patience, that no, the world is not going to the dogs like it seems - it is a beautiful, beautiful world but I must try harder to see with the eyes of my heart and not the eyes of my head.


None of this will make sense to anyone else reading this, but I don't care.
Love knows no definition nor reasonable cause.
And there is no greater humanly love than the unconditional love of the man whom God refers to as rahmatan lil alameen - the mercy to all the worlds.

And at that moment, I was with the one that I loved.
Alone amongst hundreds of other lovers.
Being where he rests makes all that I read and hear and think about him real and present.
There, behind that long wall, behind that grille, lays the one thing that stands between me and the eternal hell.that I justly deserve and that awaits me - the man who I weepingly hope and pray will intercede for me before God and save me.

Since then, whenever I hear or say Allahuma salli ala Muhammad, it has a different, deeper meaning. 
A meaning that only two secret lovers will ever understand.

I brought my 3 sons, one by one, to visit him.
We waited for hours each time to get in to the Raudah - the part of the mosque where the Prophet said was a slice of paradise on earth.
I pointed out how tiny the actual mosque of the Prophet was, and tried to picture the greatness of the man in the smallness of the place.
I pointed out how small Syidatina Aishah (r.a.)'s house was - it now houses the blessed tomb - that it is no bigger than our own living room.
Yet that little hovel is now the most precious piece of real estate in the world, that a billion Muslims would give their blood and lives to keep safe.
We reflected how the Prophet was master of all Arabia when he passed on, but he lived in such a humble abode.
The boys were expecting grandeur, palaces, halls, like from their trips to Europe.
All there is, is just a tomb.
When we walked past the grille enclosing the blessed tomb, I told them - there, behind there, lies the man who loves all of us, more than even your mother and I love you, and he will rescue you from hell.
It was because of him that God created everything, including you and me.
We cannot see him now, but he sees us and hears us, right this minute.
Just as I will be sad if you do not remember me and love me after I die, he is sad if we do not remember him and love him.
We must always remember him and love him.
He is our king and our hero.
The guards shooed the emotional crowd away, and we went outside the building.
We walked around to the outside wall of the mosque, and positioning ourselves opposite the great green dome, we gave our salutations to the Prophet, to the two Caliphs who are resting next to him.

I asked my sons - Just as now I bring you to him, will you promise to bring me here when I am old and weak and reliant on you to meet him again before I die?
All 3 of them said yes.
It was all that a father can ever ask for.

Malay Kids School Performance Drops

The rate of Malay students passing Mathematics at the PSLE fell to 56.8% and for Science to 73.6%, the lowest in 10 years.

Minister in charge of Muslim Affairs says it is not because Malay organisations are not doing enough.

From Berita Harian (in Malay).

Mudpie's take - how can anyone blame Malay organisations for not doing enough? The other communities are nowhere close to the Muslim organisations when it comes to educational assistance programmes. Anyway, the duty of educatiing a child rests with his parents, not organisations. In this blame game, the buck must stop at parents.

Gaza - Required reading

With all that is happening in Gaza, Mudpie is reminded of this book which he bought in Kinokuniya about 5 years ago. If anyone asks him for a book to catch up on what is Gaza all about, he will recommend this book.

You can get it at Wardah Books.

Read it. Even if you are the most anti-Palestinian person in the world, this book will have some effect on you.

This is the Wikipedia entry on the book -

Palestine is a graphic novel written and drawn by Joe Sacco about his experiences in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in December 1991 and January 1992. Sacco gives a portrayal which emphasizes the history and plight of the Palestinian people, as a group and as individuals.

Plot summary

The book takes place over a two-month period in late 1991 early 1992, with occasional flashbacks to the expulsion of the Arabs, the beginning of the Intifada, the Gulf War and other events in the more immediate past. Sacco spent this time meeting with Palestinians in the West Bank andGaza Strip and the narrative focuses on the minute details of everyday life in the occupied territories, presenting the daily struggles, humiliations and frustrations of the Palestinians.

Sacco’s visit to Israel and the occupied territories is presented chronologically, from his arrival to his departure, through dramatic scenes with only a handful of diversions to present the historical and personal background. Most of the scenes in the book are conversations between Sacco and Palestinians, and though the events they talk about are presented visually the dialogue is always present as a form of narration for the events.

Sacco devotes whole pages to drawings of the destitution and squalor prevalent in the occupied territories. Though Sacco is the principal narrator at times he steps aside and allows other characters to present their stories uninterrupted and without interpretation. In his drawings, though most of the panels are presented as a “side view” of Sacco, other characters and their surroundings, there are several panels which present the scene as it looks from Sacco’s point of view. There are also panels which present a bird’s eye view of places like the refugee camps or Jerusalem.

In Palestine Sacco positions himself knowingly as the westerner going to the Middle East to confront a reality unfamiliar to his American audience. Sacco does not delude himself that as a "neutral" observer he can remain invisible and have no effect on the events around him, instead accepting his role and concentrating on his personal experience of the situation. Though his goal is to document events and interview Palestinians he is affected by the reality of the occupied territories and cannot help but participate in, and comment on, demonstrations, funerals, roadblocks and encounters with soldiers. Towards the end he becomes even more active as he shares food and lodgings with the Palestinians he interviews and even breaks curfew with them while in the Gaza Strip.

In the book Sacco references Joseph Conrad's Under Western Eyes, Apocalypse Now, and Edward Said's Orientalism to draw links between the situation he is witnessing and colonialism. Towards the end of the book Sacco acknowledges that he has not reflected Israel enough, that it would take a whole other trip to present that side of things.

The graphic novel, published in 2001 by Fantagraphics Books, is an assembly of nine stories first published in comic form in 1993; the single volume edition includes an introduction byEdward Said. In 1996, the comic was awarded the American Book Award by the Before Columbus Foundation.

Helping Gaza

MEDIA STATEMENT

SPECIAL COLLECTION
FOR HUMANITARIAN RELIEF EFFORT IN GAZA

The Rahmatan lil Alamin (Blessings-To-All) Committee established by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) will coordinate a special fund-raising effort in aid of the affected victims of the on-going conflict in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, in which many innocent civilian lives have been lost due to the ensuing violence.

2.      The Rahmatan lil Alamin Fund will be collected through :

i) donation boxes placed at all 69 mosques starting today, Saturday,  10 January 2009. The boxes will be marked "Special Collection For Humanitarian Relief Effort in Gaza”.

ii) Donation in cash, by cheque as well as online. The cheque should be made payable to “MUIS” with the words “Humanitarian Relief Effort in Gaza” written on its back. The cash and cheques can be delivered to the Muis Headquarters at No 1, Lorong 6, Toa Payoh, Singapore 319376. Online contributions can be made through the Muis' E-services (Donation) website. For further clarification, you may also contact Muis at 6359 1199 during officer hours.

3. In addition to the above effort, the Harmony Centre is also collaborating with other faith organizations to raise donations to support this humanitarian cause. More information on this will be issued later.

4.      In the meantime, the Singapore Muslim community prays that the parties to the conflict seriously work toward a cessation of violence and be given the courage and compassion to resolve their conflict by peaceful means. We pray that peace and harmony return swiftly to the lives and citizens of Gaza.

5.      Muis would like to express its deepest sympathy for the victims of the conflict and their families. We hope our small contribution will, in a small way, ease the lives and help to alleviate the sufferings of all the victims of the conflict.
 

MAJLIS UGAMA ISLAM SINGAPURA
10 January 2009

Returning from hajj

Some adabs about returning from hajj -

1. upon arriving at your homeland, recite the following do'a - O Allah, I ask from You the goodness that is in this land and the goodness of its people, and whatever goodness that is in it, and I shelter with You from the evils of it and its people and whatever evil that is in it. O Allah, make this a home for us and give us provision that is good. O Allah, grant us its fruits and shelter us from its diseases and make its people love us and make us love its righteous people",

2. pray 2 raka'at at a masjid before arriving at home. It is not recommended to perform a prostration of thanks (sujud shukur),

3. to pray when you arrive at your home for God to accept your repentance - O Allah, accept our repentance. To You we return. Do not leave us any of our sins.

4. it is sunnat to visit those who have just returned from Mecca and Medina with shaking of hands and embraces, with prayer that God accept their hajj. It is good to say the following to them - May Allah accept your hajj and forgive all your sins and replace your expense.

5. it is sunnat for the returnees to pray for their visitors because the prayer of those who have just returned from the Holy Land is accepted by Allah. In a hadith, the Prophet s.a.w. said - O Allah, forgive the pilgrims and whosoever they request forgiveness for. 

There are several views on how long the period is that the prayer of the pilgrim will be accepted by God - some say up to 20 Rabiul Awal, or as long as he is considered as a recent returnee from hajj, or until the completion of Zulhijjah that year (Allah knows best).

6. to hold a gathering of thanks (majlis keshukuran).

translated from the Malay book,

A Guide to Fiqh by Sheikh Omar AlKhaatib, by M Salleh bin A Hamid

Trials and tribulations

Mrs Mudpie and I have a very simple approach about going to the Holy Land for hajj.  

It is not up to you to decide to go, it is up to God to decide that you can come. 

When he decides, nothing will stop Him from getting you there, except your own lack of will. 

You can have all the niyyat and will and preparation to go, but if God is not inviting you, then you will not go. 

And God decides that you will not go because He knows something that you do not know of, and that you are not ready for it.

This year’s hajj was a lesson in this. 

Many people who were approved and had paid up to go, were suddenly rejected when the Saudi government slashed the quota. 

All sorts of recriminations were hurled at MUIS by the people who were rejected. 

There was a lot of accusations of favouritism, unfair selections, and all sorts of other stuff, all of which were negative, and not to mention, sinful and unbecoming of guests of God. Which proved the point, if only they could see it in themselves.

Some people came to me and told me that it was unfair for me, Mrs Mudpie, and the children to be approved, because we were not first timers, and the children were still young. 

Our places should have been given to those who have not gone, and those who were old. It made me feel uncomfortable and guilty. 

Mrs Mudpie was clearer in her conscience. 

First of all, we did not choose to approve ourselves, let alone did we do anything to cause the others to be rejected. 

Secondly, our family registered to go for this hajj as far back as in 2004/2005, and passed over 3 offers of hajj in the previous years before taking up this one. 

True, some people who were older or were first timers were rejected, but they all applied to join the queue only less than 6 months ago. 

Why did they not get in the queue like we did, Mrs Mudpie asked. 

What is the point of having a queue registration system then? 

Should we be penalised for having planned ahead, and should priority be given to those who did not plan? 

We had told ourselves that if we are cancelled by MUIS due to the reduced quota, we would just accept it and plan to go next year, but Alhamdulillah, we were not. 

So I do not understand why others do not see it the same way.

Ah, someone said, what happens if, while waiting for next year, the person dies, or becomes occupied by something else that prevents him from going? 

To my mind the response to that is simple - if that happens then it becomes proven that God did not want him to go then.

Like everything else, God's will is carried out based on His complete understanding of everything, and it is always for the best, even if we cannot see it. 

One should just accept it, and move on.

God knows best. He just does. He works in mysterious ways, and He tests us. 

Some examples - There was a lady with us, a very nice, unassuming lady. 

She had a hard life - her husband died and she had to raise her children on her own, and take care of her late husband's parents as well, as her husband was their only child. 

She had not thought seriously about going for the hajj, as finances were rosy, but a related couple was going, and invited her to join them. 

She agreed, and left all the planning, etc to them. In the end, it turned out that they got rejected, but she was approved - subhanAllah. 

When that happened, she did not even know what her hajj package was, as she had left it all to the couple. 

Such is the way of God - He will bring to His Holy Land whomsoever He wishes.

I made friends with a fellow pilgrim who came alone for his second hajj. 

He had a phobia of crowds and crowded places - he ends up in an anxiety attack in Orchard Road on weekends, and has difficulties breathing when he boards a crowded train. 

When he told his family of his plan to go for the hajj the first time a few years ago, his father asked him whether he was out of his mind? Did he know the kind of crowds he was going to be caught in over there? 

My friend persevered and went on, leaving the matter to God. SubhanAllah - Glorious is God - he said the minute he arrived in the Holy Land, all his phobias disappeared. 

He went through all the crowds and turmoil with no problem. he thought he was cured of his phobia - except when he returned home, it was back again. 

This time, again, the phobia was lifted from him the minute he entered the Holy Land. 

He has no explanation for it, and neither was he looking for one, other than the Divine one.

In my group there was a very prominent person. 

He was a man with one leg. 

He was born with one leg uselessly deformed and diminished, and he grew up without ever learning to use an artificial leg, nor a wheelchair, nor even a walking stick. 

He just hopped on his one leg everywhere he went! 

You can imagine how precarious it all was, everyone was concerned that he would fall or trip or something.  

I got to know him, and learnt that it was his second hajj too. 

He had had a difficult life - never being sent to school as a child due to his disability, and having to work difficult menial jobs due to his lack of education  - on one leg. 

When I talked to him, he struck me as a person who is so full of thanks and satisfaction with life. 

It made me think of all the dissatisfactions I had  felt about not having this or that, or wishing I had more of this or that, when I should be thankful I have a complete physical form in the first place. 

It made me re-think my attitude that I was having - that I was fortunate, thanks to God, that I had the means to afford the pilgrimage for my whole family, whereas most people would just scrape by to afford to go for themselves once in their lives. 

I was blessed at an even more basic level than that by God - that my family and I had health and complete physical forms in the first place. I suddenly felt very privileged to have what everyone else had - except this man - a complete pair of feet.

Reminded me of the Sufi saying - I went to the mosque to pray for a pair of shoes, and God showed me a man with no feet - I ended up thanking God that I had feet, forget the shoes.

Whilst I was there, I saw very old, feeble pilgrims, struggling to make every step of their way in the midst of maelstorms of crowds pushing about. I saw women from remote villages from remote parts of the world confused and frightened by the size, crowd and bustle of the pilgrimage. People who were experiencing their first ever ride on an escalator. An Indian man who read from his own, very old, yellowed and dog-eared copy of the Quran, instead of reaching out for one of the thousands of new copies provided at every pillar of the mosques. An old African woman marvelling at the wonderful embroidery of a Malaysian woman's telekong. I saw thousands of pilgrims from all over the world just sitting for hours, reading and re-reading the Quran, most of them not knowing Arabic, and many with accents and reading styles strange to our ears. 

For some reason, reading the Quran is something that one naturally desires to do in the Haram - somehow God's word being spoken through one's tongue in His house, as if He is speaking though you.

It is said that for every hajj, the prophets Khidr and Elyas perform the pilgrimage as well, and one could well meet one of them there unknowingly. 

The truth is, if you look about, you will see the Prophet's spirit in the eyes of every one of the pilgrims. 

Their externals may appear peculiar and different from us, and they may appear course or rough by our standards, but inside each one of them lay their own story of why they made the journey to the Holy Land. 

It is most apparent when they first arrive and set eyes on the Ka'abah - there, at that precise moment, all that is in the heart bursts forth in an unexplainable and inexpressible manner of tears and relief. 

You may not see it on their faces, but in the heart of every pilgrim is the heart of a saint - one yearning for the One, and being reunited with Him.

On the Day of Judgment, when I meet my Lord, I hope it will be with the same sentiment.

Observing 'Ashura

Ashura falls on 10th Muharram, Tuesday, 6th January 2009.

Some points -

1. Our Master (s.a.w.) made it a choice to fast on that day,

2. Such a fast atones for the sins of the preceding year,

3. next to the fast of Ramadan, this fast is the most excellent,

4. you can fast from the 9th as well, as our Master the Prophet (s.a.w.) had intended to do so, but passed away before he could,

5. you can fast all the way from the 1st of Muharram if you wish to as well.

Historically, the following events took place on the 10th of Muharram -

1. Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) accepted the repentance of Adam ('Alaihis-Salaam) after his exile from Paradise; 

2. Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) saved Noah ('Alaihis-Salaam) and his companions in the ark; 

3. Allah extinguished the fire in which Abraham ('Alaihis-Salaam) was thrown by Nimrod; 

4. And Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala) spoke directly to Moses ('Alaihis-Salaam) and gave him the Commandments. 

5. Ahab ('Alaihis-Salaam) was restored to health (from leprosy); 

6. Joseph  ('Alaihis-Salaam) was reunited with his father Jacob ('Alaihis-Salaam), whose sight was restored from blindness; 

7. Jonah ('Alaihis-Salaam) was taken out from the belly of the fish; 

8. the sea was divided as the nation of israel led by Moses ('Alaihis-Salaam) was delivered from captivity and Pharoah’s army was destroyed. 

9. the kingdom of Solomon ('Alaihis-Salaam) was restored to him after he lost it; 

10. Jesus ('Alaihis-Salaam) was raised to heaven.

Now, Ashura is commemorated with a great deal of significance amongst the Shi'a Muslims. 

So, if you are a follower of the Ahlussunnah wal Jama'ah (Sunni for short), you would do well just to note the above list and not get yourself involved in any other acts, as they would be forbidden to you as bid'ah.

 The Shi'a have their own reasons and basis for what they do, and these would not be compatible with the beliefs of the Sunnis, so if you are Sunni, beware, but be respectful and let the Shi'a have their way. 

God knows best, and God is the best of Judges.

There is also the issue of cooking up a dish for Ashura which the Malays call bubur Ashura (Ashura porridge). 

Wahabis would consider it a bid'ah, so if you are a Wahabi, don't do it. 

If you are not a Wahabi, then you may want to make such a dish, and not give it to a Wahabi. 

The significance of this dish is purely historical and not based on Quran nor Sunnah of our Master the Prophet (s.a.w.), so do not do it with such an intent in mind. 

The significance is purely to replicate what the Prophet Noah (a.s.), did on the day of Ashura, when the Ark arrived on land. 

He collected all the remaining food on board in order to celebrate and give thanks, and all that was left of their food stocks were small amounts of beans and grains, which he cooked and fed his surviving family. 

The replication of this act, that is the cooking of a dish comprised of beans and grains, serves as a commemoration and reminder of the event, and of how God tests the prophets and believers and then he saves them when they remain true to Him. 

Which is actually the common message in all the stories listed above.

God knows best.

Pilgrim's Preps

I went for hajj with Shahidah Travel & Tours.  

I must say that I give them a resounding 5 thumbs up. 

There was nothing significant that I could complain about. 

They were perfectly-organised, and virtually everything went as planned, and even if it did not, they handled it perfectly.

The guides were all experienced, cool and always smiling. 

I was most of all impressed by the organisation of the stone throwing ritual - how they had a team dedicated to it, complete with walkie-talkies and up to the minute reports of the safety situation. 

The stoning exercise went like a military assault operation, with briefs and re-briefs, equipment checks, close group movements. Excellent.

Anyways, that brings to mind the issue of how important your hajj travel agent is. 

It is the advice of the Prophet (s.a.w) that whenever more than 3 of you set out on a journey, appoint one as the leader (amir).  

This is a very important spiritual issue often neglected by pilgrims. 

Hajj is not your usual holiday. The amir is your guide, both physically and spiritually. 

So I listed the desirables of a hajj travel agent. 

He/she should be a person we trust with our lives and property to be kept safe and to be led to and from the holy land safely. In this regard, I would rule out most of the smaller, less experienced agencies. A large agency would have the resources to attend to your needs better.  Whilst I was there I saw some agencies which did not have enough staff, which meant that the pilgrims had to do a lot of things themselves, like carry and check in their own luggage, etc.

Second, he/she should be trustworthy. Some travel agencies have had chequered records of the past, even including lawsuits and fights between guides and pilgrims! 

Third, how is the spiritual guidance? For Shahidah, the principal ustaz (there are several) is Ustaz Yusuf Ali. He is over 60 years old, a senior imam at Masjid Khadijah, and has been bringing pilgrims to the holy land every year since 1994. He is a friendly, no-airs person, very fatherly and has a great sense of humour. In addition, Shahidah had a team of 3 ustaz who actually live in Makkah. They are Indonesians (including the father of our local hafiz Ust Alayna). All these ustaz, inclusing Ust Yusuf, were fluidly conversant with the Arabic spoken locally, and this was a great advantage for practical purposes.

A principal consideration for me in this regard is that the ustaz is of the same spiritual approach as my family’s (i.e. Sufi-oriented). For example, I know someone who went with a Wahabi travel agent, and she was very disappointed that there were none of the zikrs that she was accustomed to when they were in 'Arafah. You see, when you are in 'Arafah, you are surrounded by all your neighbouring travel agents, who would all be blasting out their zikrs over unavoidable sound systems, and if you are not into this, then it could be quite a problem. Of course, if you are a Wahabi who \is against the loud zikr sort, then if you choose a travel agent like TM Fouzy which has round the clock zikr pumped through state of the art performance sound systems, then you would have a problem too. Thus it is important to check this sort of thing out beforehand, as it is a matter of ibadah, and ibadah is precisely why you are going there for.

Now, most travel agents conduct pre-hajj classes. This is also very important. The ustaz conducting the pre-trip classes should actually be the same ustaz who is going with you to the holy land. You would be surprised at how often this does not happen. For some agencies, they have a well-known ustaz conducting pre-trip classes, but then at the Holy Land, someone else takes over, in at least one case I known of, it was not even a qualified ustaz, but a guide.

Use the pre-trip hajj classes as your gauge for shopping for a package. They are all free and open to everyone, regardless of whether you decide to go with their respective travel agency or not. The agencies use them as advertising, so go for them; Mrs Mudpie and I attended almost all the travel agents' pre-hajj classes at least once each to have a feel of things and ask questions.

Another consideration which I didnt realise then, but I would add now, after the trip, is how flexible is the religious programme? TM Fouzy has a whole day timetable from pre-suboh to post ishak - if you prefer a preplanned programme, then that's good for you, but if you dont, then maybe that could be somewhat smothering.

Whilst there I saw some agencies with ustaz who were not the ones who conducted the classes back home in Singapore. This is not desirable for many reasons, not least of which is that there will inevitably be mixed messages and confusion. Some of the ustaz who conducted the classes in Singapore have not been for the hajj for a few years, and as any experienced hajj guide will tell you, the developments that take place there are on a year to year basis, so what was experienced 3 years ago is now out of date. So - next point to check - when was the last time the ustaz went for hajj? It should not be more than 3 years ago. (Umrah does not count.)

Another factor is, of course, notorious - that Shahidah flies SIA and not Saudia. Saudia is probably the most crappy airline in the world. I mean, what airline actually brings earlier the date of departure by a few days (as happened to my cousin last year, and he had to beg his boss to release him early) and often delays return, sometimes by up to days? Also, everyone knows that Saudia never keeps to its schedules, so your family could be left waiting a long time at the airport for you arrive - late. Also, SIA gives greater allowance for your luggage weight than Saudia, and their stewards and stewardesses are friendlier and more helpful. I had been on a Sudia flight for umrah before, I can tell you, it was miles behind. 

One factor came up just as we were choosing packages and agents. 

TM Fouzy was pushing for us to take their package which houses in a place called Aziziyah. This is an apartment district in Mecca, but of some distance away from the Masjidil Haram. 

The assurance is that you do not have to go to the mosque all the time, so you just stay in the apartment, where they have arranged an impressive array of programmes to keep you occupied every waking moment, lectures by Ust TM Fouzy, a lot of singing of nasheeds and zikirs, etc. It was all fine and good, and I have nothing against TM Fouzy, except that I am not going all the way to Mecca to attend classes and sing nasheeds, TM Fouzy though it may be. 

I was going there to go to the MasjidulHaram, and see the Ka'abah. 

Why would I travel a few thousand kilometres there and go to a place just a few kilometres away? 

TM Fouzy or MasjudilHaram - no prizes for the winner. It did not make sense to me, so I insisted that we stay at a hotel next to the Masjidil Haram. The TM Fouzy lady who was manning the counter told us that we had to stay in Aziziyah and there was no choice. She didnt seem too interested to think of how to help us anyway. I guess business is already too good for them, so they could afford to lose some of ours. I felt (rightly or wrong;ly) that this was not a good indicator of the type of service attitude we would be getting. So we went over to Shahidah.

At Shahidah, they had no more rooms near the Haram. However, they listened to our concerns and bent over backwards. They cleared one room meant for their officers, and gave it to us instead. It was a triple room, but there were 5 of us. They arranged with the hotel to squeeze one more bed and treat the 5 of us as a  group of 4. 

2 of my smaller sons shared a bed. We were close enough to hear the azan, qamat, and every takbir of the imam during prayers as if we were in the Haram itself. In fact, we the hotel was at the edge of the Haram itself. We were able to go to the MasjidulHaram 5 times or more a day, every day - which we did. Alhamdulillah.

Summary – choose a package where you maximise your stay in Mecca at the MasjidilHaram itself, and do not fall for those where you stay half the time in Azizyah instead.

The hotel we stayed in was a small building. This created an advantage - the whole hotel was booked for Shahidah, and so they had control of the whole hotel. They could thus take over the dining hall, and provided Singapore food for breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner. The dining hall was also used for lessons, briefings, etc. And, because we were the only people in the hotel, all the pilgrims became close friends with one another.

Here is a pic of the hotel.

 

Now, one piece of advice I think I can give to intended pilgrims. Just because you are going to pilgrimage and performing a selfless act of worship, do not assume that your travel agent has to help you and act like a charity. They have a business to run, staff to pay, and a profit margin to maintain. They are not mosques or Muslim organisations, which do things without a profit motive. You get what you pay for, and if you pay less, you get less.

Someone said that preparation is half the battle won. Hajj is a major battle, on more than one front, both spiritual and physical. I found that the physical preparations such as choosing an agent also start to prepare you spiritually for the trip, because it forces you to imagine and think of the trip before you actually go.

On the first day

When I arrived again in Mecca the Blessed, I could not help but pick up the speed of my stride to the Grand Mosque. My heart started to beat faster as I walked down the corridor of tall ornate pillars as I tried to peek through the heads and backs in front of me wearing caps and clothes of all sorts from all over the world. It seemed to take so long - and then I saw glimpse of a corner, a wall, and then I saw it - the Ka'abah, and I felt an unexplainable reaction in me. It was a wave of relief and reunion, my eyes were moist and my voice was breaking as I explained to my little son what to say when he sees the Ka'abah - Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, wa lillahil hamd - God is great, God is great, God is great, and for God is all Praise.

There was the Ka'abah- a large cube the size of a house, but dwarfed by the massiveness of the square of the giant Grand Mosque. It was attractively still and silent, surrounded by a humongous hustle and bustle of the million of so pilgrims, of which a few hundred were, like me, recent arrivals every few minutes, adding to the anonymous sea of souls. It was the object decreed to be the point towards which all Muslims all over the world must face 5 times a day for prayer. Now here I am before it. It is not God, but the focal point of all our prayers. When I die, my body will be laid in my grave to face it, according to the Muslim burial laws.

I was in the holy of holies of Islam. It was decreed that no non-believer is allowed to set foot in the Holy Land of Mecca, from miles out from this place. In this Holy Land it is forbidden for any animal or plant to be killed, and for no person to sin against another nor think of bad thoughts towards one another - retribution is swift and divinely enforced.

Internet access is deliberately not provided in Mecca. This cuts the pilgrim off from the outside world - any former pilgrim will tell you that in the month he/she was on the hajj, there was no news from the outside world. One is excised, forcibly, from one's usual world. All the daily trappings of life - newspapers, television, even being around people speaking our language - are ripped away. There is nothing to do, but worship and contemplate. It takes at least half an hour to get to a seat in the mosque, and half an hour to get out. You go back and have your meal, and soon it is time to get ready to go back to the mosque again. Very soon, your whole day revolves around prayers at the mosque.

Overheard - "We must constantly pursue the afterlife, because we are constantly being pursued by the world. If we hesitate, we will be devoured by the world and forget the afterlife."

4748

End of Act Two

I went for hajj for the first time in 1994. I was still young, having worked for a short number of years, and blew my bonus on the hajj package. Hajj was a natural;  continuation of my life journey up to then, I had learnt praying, fasting, zakat, so hajj was a must.

Since then, to me, there is something about going to the Holy Land, more than just an act of worship or obedience to God. I could not place it until stumbled on it when I was reading a few weeks ago. 

Hajj is a returning. We do not go to hajj, we return. We return to the navel of God's earth, around which all circumambulate, like water down a sink. We kiss the hand of God on Earth (the Black Stone is described as such in a hadith by our Master). We chant, "Here I am, Allah, in response to Your call". And we shed our outward trappings accumulated in our life's journey up to that point, shed our clothes for the pristine ihram; we have our hair shaved off, just like when we were born a long time ago, and start afresh. A new lease of life. 

A new Act in the play.

After my rebirth from the first hajj, I underwent Act Two of my life. I bought a home with Mrs Mudpie, had 3 sons, went through a recession, earned a lot of money and prestige and lost all of it. Learned what were the true things of value. Learned that money is the most desired but least important thing in the world. That kindness often comes from strangers, and the stranger is no more than just a tool of God's infinite Destiny, so I should try my best to be that stranger to someone else as much as I could. I learnt that mastery and obedience of rules and regulations alone do not make a saint, and then realised that ignorance and disobedience of rules and regulations alone do not make a sinner.

Things happened that tested the Me in Act Two. At the start of this Act I had a great confidence in my religion, and I believed with all my heart that the Quran and Sunnah were the only 2 pills that we needed to take everyday before bed, and all the world's headaches would go away. Slowly, things happened which made me re-consider that position.

Now I realise that the Quran and Sunnah are just slogans thrown by people to justify whatever it is they want to do. Suicide murderers can do it all the time. It made me search for new directions. 

Sufism and traditionalism were the obvious contrasts to literalism. However, I found weaknesses in them as well. Sufism is too tied to personality cultism - the shaykhs have too much influence and too little mission beyond their circles. I did not see them as possibly becoming a force of change for the world today. Traditionalism was initially attractive due to its high level of intellectualism, but that is also its failing at the same time. In a globalised and flat world, ideologies cannot take popular hold if it cannot be mass marketed in easy sound bites.

So now I have reached the end of Act Two. At which point I return to God and will try to kiss His hand. I will journey to visit my Prophet at his house in my full Malay traditional costume, with my children in tow, and introduce them to him, and we shall all ask for his forgiveness.

Act Three - where will it bring me?