Saudi Arabia : Makkah & Madinah

Wearing the simple white garments of ihram :

I respond to Your call, O Allah!
I respond to Your call and I am obedient to Your Orders.
You have no partner.
I respond to Your call.
All the praises and the blessings are for You.
All the sovereignty is for You.
And You have no partners with You.

Those sweet words which Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), first heard all those years ago.

Preparing for any journey is, in many ways, almost as important as the journey itself. As I prepared for my journey to Makkah, my heart already began to stir at the enormity of what I was about to do. I had read all the books and consulted all the manuals so that my `Umrah, in sha’ Allah, would be accepted. I learned the prayers in Arabic that I would need to say at different parts of the pilgrimage.

As the plane took off, I said these words. As we flew across the Red Sea and landed in Jeddah, I continued to say them. As I said them, my heart filled with excitement as I traveled by car through the Makkan hills and approached the city. More tears came as I arrived in Makkah and saw the sanctuary for the first time FROM A DISTANCE.

But nothing can describe the feeling of entering the sacred mosque and seeing the holy Ka`bah. I was choking with tears, the mosque left me breathless and filled me with an immense joy. Not even the hardest of hearts could be left unmoved by the grace, simplicity, and majesty of the Ka`bah, which has been on this spot since the beginning of time itself. I kept telling myself that in this very place our beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) walked and prayed, as well as countless millions of other good Muslims through the centuries.

And so I performed the rituals of `Umrah, my heart beating with joy and tears running down my cheeks. For something so profound, the rituals were really very simple. They basically involved walking around the Ka`bah seven times and then running or walking seven times between the hills of As-Safa and Al-Marwa, in imitation of that desperate search for water made by Hagar, which culminated in the spring of Zamzam gushing from the ground. Our beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught us to say just one prayer as we encircle the Ka`bah as follows:

May Our Lord grant us blessings in this life,
Blessings in the life to come,
And save us from the torment of the hell-fire.

Most pilgrims usually finish their pilgrimage to Makkah by spending a few days in Madinah, the city of our beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the first Muslim state ever.

But what can I say? How can I describe an experience so profound and so beautiful? Shall I say that it was the most blessed experience of my life?

I, I cherish the memories of those days in Saudi Arabia in my heart, and I say al-hamdu lillah. I pray that Almighty Allah will give me the strength to be a good Muslim. I pray that I will always be prompt and faithful to prayer. I pray that I will now learn and recite more of the Qur’an every day. And, after the experience of a lifetime, I pray that I will always give good examples to my Muslim brothers and sisters, and that I can show to non-Muslims how sweet and beautiful the message of Islam is. Ameen. Ameen. Ameen.



Thousands of pilgrims from almost every nation on earth may tell you the same experience :

When Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), the intimate friend of Allah, was commanded all those years ago to proclaim the pilgrimage to Makkah, he did so in faith. Standing in what was little more than a barren, inhospitable desert, he called out for men and women to come on pilgrimage to the holy Ka`bah at Allah’s command. He was astonished at the response. From the north, south, east, and west, he heard voices calling out, "I respond to Your call, O Allah! I respond to Your call," and people began to come from all the corners of the earth in praise of Almighty Allah :

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