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.