Hajj Entry No. 6

This will be my final entry on Hajj...Contrary to our original plan, we did not spend too much time in Madinah actually, only stayed there for three nights and two days, I believe. As always is the case with Hajj, time also passed too quickly.

For those who would like to do hajj, I would recommend to go to Mekkah first, follow by Madinah after that. If you have it the other way, I just think that the impact is not as powerful as far as hajj concerned. Then again, it is just my opinion, you need not listen to me :)

Madinah Al Munawarah, a.k.a City of Lights (someone please correct me if I am wrong here). The weather here is even cooler than Mekkah in January (or Dzulhijjah). Morning temperature reached as low as 10 C, but quickly rose to 25 to 30 C during the day. Perhaps this contributed to a more subdued and cool ambience surrounding this city. Even the people seemed to be generally calmer. I could see why the Prophet chose this place as his place to migrate.

The first night we arrived, we did our Isha prayer in masjid Nabawi. Frankly speaking, I have never seen a more luxurious and elaborate place of worship such as this. Once you enter the gate, the vast courtyard area is covered with marbles that seems to absorb the heat, just as the one I experienced in Mekkah. It was cool to the feet. Staring at the main entrance, you can see immediately four small domes on top of the entrance, in white marbles as well. To your right and your left, rows of lampost pillars shined its light, adding to the calm ambience again. I like the way those lights diffused through the low hanging fog, it was quite a view to behold. We quickly went in and took position to do our prayers. Masjid Nabawi can only be entered from one direction, so it is much more easier to navigate then masjid al Haram. After we finished with our night prayer, we decided to go and visit the Prophet's burial. I am not much of an architecture buff, but the interior had a Turkish feel to it. It was also a marvel of engineering and art at the same time. After walking for few minutes, we finally arrived at the Prophet's burial chamber and a small area surrounding it is called Raudhah, or Garden of Heaven. We offered our sunnah prayer here. I was in awe, though surprisingly not terribly emotional as usual :P A simple and illiterate man has transformed a moral and physical desert landscape, spreading a Light that has shone through generations. Here I was, an Indonesian, who never even met the Person who spread its virtues. I had goosebumps when our leader told us that the Prophet could hear us if and when we give our regards to him. There was definitely a deep, yet peaceful feeling of reverence surrounding it, I would be a fool not to feel it. I then proceed to the burial area....The burial was hard to see, as it sits behind a grated chamber, and the lighting was not there. But I could see that shadowy lines in the background, it appeared that the burial place was nothing special, unlike you see back home for our walis. The floor was made of metal somehow, something done because there were many attempts to steal the body in the past, I was told.

I said my regards to the Prophet and slowly proceed to the exit door. Don't stay too long there, or the Saudi asykar will ask you to leave :)....Once we exited, we were on the other side of yet another vast courtyard again. I was too tired to scan the area though, so I decided to head to the hotel and had my rest.

The next day, we spent the morning like a tourist, albeit a religious one. First stop was to visit the Baqi cemetery, where many of the Prophet's companion were buried. Then, we went to masjid Quba. I can't remember though what was special about this place, but we were advised to offer our prayer there. Well, without boring you too much detail, we finally went to Uhud, the famous hill that is very familiar to all Muslims, I believe.


The remaining time there I spent on shops around the masjid, looking for souvenirs, books and dates. I like those dry dates from Saudi, they are not too sweet, chewy and do not feel wet when you consume them. I did not get a chance to tour the area too much, since we did not have too much time. This is probably one area that I would like to spend more next time around. And finally the night has arrived, it was time to pack our luggages again to leave home for the next day........

So there was the whole hajj trip, more or less. There are stories too detailed, which I will keep in my memories, the good and the bad :) I do pray that I could visit again in the future, perhaps not in capacity of hajj, but that of umrah. I do know that if He allows me, I will insya Allah visit again with my wife next time......I hope that for my family and friends who are planning to go, this will renew your spirits and embolden your intention to visit. Whatever it is, the intention is what counts.

Hajj Entry No. 5

Nine and a half hours....that was the time it took us to go from Mekkah to Madinah. We passed through the empty and vast deserts along the way, with few buildings that could be seen. Empty in a sense that almost no vegetations exist, but life does persist. A herd of camels could be seen on the way, patches of shrubs and some birds were also flying around small ponds and oasis. I don't get how those oasis came to be, I mean, I could imagine this place is as hot as 50 C during summer. There must be a lot of evaporation during that time.

In any case, going back 1400 years ago, the challenges one must face when crossing the desert such as the one I passed must be very daunting. Life was tough then......as for me? I don't think I can survive passing the desert in camel, hehehehe. I love the bus that I was in, air conditioned :P

So we finally arrived in Madinah after making one stop for lunch and passed several checkpoints around Isya time. The hotel we stayed at was again pretty close to masjid Nabawi. Here was the place where the Prophet used to live....From afar, you can see the green dome, which indicates where he used to live, and is now a burial place for him and his relatives. It was a long and tiring journey for one day.....I went to pray, had my dinner and went to bed. I will explain later the experiences during the Madinah stay.

Hajj Entry No 4

So we were back to Mina now, after an exhausting trip that seemingly lasted forever :) For the next 3 days, we basically went to do Jamrah and performed Thawaf Ifadhah to basically complete our hajj. I had my head shaved here, something that I have not done since my college years! It felt really refreshing to do that actually.


Days in Mina were basically filled with doing Jamrah and performing regular prayers. The only major event happened was probably the heavy downpour rain that lasted for two hours, causing a flash flood throughout the area. I kept thinking, it was perhaps His way of cleaning up the area, as frankly speaking, Mina became quite littered prior to the rain.

At the end of the third day, we set out to Mekkah again and spending few more days there. I was really happy to be able to go back here, to see the House again. I really felt that again, time was fleeting and before I knew it, we had to make our journey to Madinah......sadness reigned again that day, for I do not know if I could see the place again in my life time

Hajj Entry No. 3

The stop over in Mina quickly went by, it is time now to go to Arafah. Arafah is not really far actually, only about 20 km or so from Mekkah, even less from Mina. But bear in mind that during Hajj, your time reference is the traffic jam :P. In any case, our ride to Arafah went relatively smooth, we got there right before noon I believe.


From here on, I just want to say that Arafah is basically the Essence of Hajj. Whereas other rituals can be replaced with penalty (aka dam) if you missed them, Arafah cannot. Here is a barren desert, almost devoid of any kinds of vegetation. Here is the place where you can go crazy with your du'a, until the sunset. Complain to Him, praise Him, rejoice in Him, wallow to Him, whatever your heart feels like. If I may recommend you, pick a solitary place somewhere on the hills of Arafah, stand, face the Kiblat and raise your hand to the sky. Look at the all the humanity below the hills and just pray, pray, pray! Cry all you can as well, may your prayers be answered in this sacred ground. I cannot tell you how much emotion that went in this place, but I guarantee you, come with the right heart and mindset, and you will leave the place with its memory imprinted and etched forever within your soul.

Sunset finally came and the time has come to return to Mina again, with a stop over in Muzdalifah. But this time God decided to play with our patience a bit :) The trip that could have taken less than 1 hour turned out to be 15 hours marathon in a bus that had no AC or toilet. I wish I could have just walked to Mina, but there were some members in the group who were quite seniors, so it was not wise to leave them......We spent the night in Muzdalifah in a bus actually and picked up small pebles that will be used later for the Jumrah. Until then............

Hajj Entry No. 2

Over the next few days, I basically waited for the hajj season to start. During these days, we spent basically all the 5 prayer times in the Masjidil Haram. I enjoyed praying in all different locations, something that I cannot do in Japan :). So I tried praying close to Ka'bah from all 4 angles, praying on second floor and on the third floor as well. Just a heads up, try to come at least 40 minutes before prayer starts during Hajj, as otherwise, it would be impossible to do it inside! It's just that crowded, when you have 2 million plus of people from all over the world.

And then it started.......on the 18th, we put up our ihram dress again and went to Mina for a night. This is like a mental preparation before the main event of Hajj....Arafah. Mina had rows of tents that stretches as far as the eyes can see, and this is the place where you will do the Jumrah. We shared the tent with other Indonesians from Tokyo that came in the group. Men slept on one side and women slept on the other, separated only by a piece of cloth that we made ourselves. We were basically sleeping on a futon and pillow that was given by the organizer.

I did not really do a quick scan outside of the tent at the time, I was down with throat infection and took some heavy medication. This was a consequence of doing too much thawaf maybe, hehehehe. So besides doing the obligatory prayers and do many do'a, I was basically sleeping most of the time, to gather my strength again :)

Hajj Entry No. 1

In case you have not noticed, I am actually not too keen on putting up personal/daily experiences on my blog. I do not wish to bore people with details of my life :)

However, this hajj experience is probably an exception, not only because I think this is one in a life time experience, but it is also, hopefully, a valuable information for those who wish to make it someday.

Some people have asked me how I came to do hajj at a relatively early age in my life. The answer is simple, I have been meaning to go and do this ever since I have the ability to earn income. The process started more seriously about two years ago especially, after my move to Japan. So I setup a piggy bank and started to put a regular amount of money every month. I was amazed to find out that I had saved up quite a good amount to be able to perform hajj! Alhamdulillah, thanks also to my parents' constant prayer and the bounty from Him.

Now, onto the hajj itself. I left on Jan 13, 2005 from Tokyo to Jeddah, with a stop over in KL. From KL to Jeddah, it was interesting because for the first time in my life, all passengers are muslims, or at least, appears to be muslims. Now, the original plan was for us to go to Madinah first and wear our ihram dress from Madinah, but God decided otherwise on that fateful night we arrived in Jeddah. We found out that we could not go to Madinah, and instead, we went straight to Mekkah. So all the members in the group, 29 of us, changed to our ihram dress in Jeddah, said our umrah intentions (part of Tamattu' hajj) and performed the tawaf and sa'i straight away. Mind you, this was done after 7.5 hours of flight, another 5 or so hours to Mekkah, complete with jet lag too! However, I found out later on that it was actually really good that we went to Mekkah first, for I think the experiences I had was much more emotional. This would be my recommendation for those who wish to perform hajj.

However, with all that feeling of tiredness, I didn't really feel it was a burden at all. All the time on my way to Mekkah, I kept thinking," will I be someone who will change for better?", "Will the mysteries of life be revealed, at least partially?", "Will I experience something out of the ordinary?", "Will I be able to enter the Owner of the House?" Fear, hope, love, shame, arrogancy, all creeping up inside of me.

We dropped our luggage in the hotel, which was only about 100 meters from the Masjidil Haram. Initially, my feelings were somewhat casual to see this grandeur, only after I started to enter it things became much more intense. Here it was, the house built by Ibrahim AS, of which I was about to enter. Butterflies were flying in my stomach as I started walking to the Holy Mosque, felt so nervous somehow to meet the House. Walking through the King Abdul Aziz gate was like dreaming and my knees felt weak. Finally,l I could not hold my tears anymore and my eyes were immediately swollen with tears when I saw it. Here it was, the House which I have faced since I knew how to pray 5 times a day. I had to constantly remind myself that the House is not the one I worship, but it is the Owner. It was very simple House, cubical, with black drapes around it and beautiful calligraphies made of gold threads. I didn't remember what happened next, but I immediately did the thawaf, guided by our teacher. I was practically crying the whole time, a cry of joy and happiness. A joy that He let me circumbulate His house, Wisnu, a nobody, a lowly muslim whose deeds are so few when it comes to contribution to this Deen.

Sa'i followed after that. By this time, I think I stopped my tears already, and instead, I was already feeling elated. One thing though, I did not know that sa'i was quite long, hehehehe. After these were done, I had my first hair cut. the first task of tamattu' was completed. Happy and relieved, but extremely tired by this time....by the way, we could not get into the hotel room yet! Some Egyptian guys were occupying our hotel rooms and left verrrrry late. I think I had a nap in the lobby for a short time :P

Wow, this is long enough....on to the next journey, later.

A New Life Reborn....Well..Almost

Alhamdulillah, thanks to everyone who have wished me and prayed for me for the safety of my Hajj trip, I have returned to Japan safely.

As I mentioned few weeks ago, this was exactly as I wrote, a trip where I went there "dying" and return to feel different. Perhaps not to the level of being completely reborn as I mentioned, but a more heightened sense of awareness and understanding. I apologize if I cannot express it in a better way, it is due to my poor skills of English language. Whatever it is, it comes down to a sense of ecstasy of feeling really close to your Creator, a closeness which allows you to really have a direct and frank conversation as often as you want.

It was really hard to leave Mecca for me, if I could have my way, I would like to stay there forever. I am already missing the place now, everyday. In a way, I don't know if I can keep it this way, for I think I might get sick thinking about it too much. But believe me when I say that after this, I don't think there is any trip that will evoke such intense emotional experience such as Mecca.

I thank Thee for the opportunity, may those who wish to visit Your House be allowed the chance.

In case you are all interested, here are pictures that I have taken during the Hajj, you can check it out here: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/wisnu73/my_photos