Ignorance&Bliss

I got to know my family and I were to go there when I called my mom at school around April. My parents were originally planning on just bringing Luqman (my 8 year old brother) with them and were supposed to go around December 2014 or May 2015. But well they decided to bring me and my sister Nina along because they wanted us to experience the beauty of our religion in a young age as well. She told me our trip is going to be around early of December. I was happy we were finally going there but I know that meant that I have to miss a lot of debating events during the school holidays, which I was really looking forward to since January to be honest. And frankly speaking, I'm not really that religious, or even ready to be that religious, so I was kinda anxious of going. Especially to the fact that my mom told me ANYTHING can happen at Tanah Haram; and there was a lot of weird stories of people getting lost or suddenly getting sick and stuff. But well, I'm subjected to go anyway, I might as well enjoy it and try to learn something out of it.

Our flight was at 3pm (UTC+8:00) at KLIA on the 3rd December 2015. We went under a travelling agency with hundreds of other people so the airport was filled with people in Ihrams and jubahs. I didn't really did anything much to 'cleanse my soul' before the trip (which made me MORE anxious lol). Heck, I didn't even attend Kursus Umrah hahahaha. But I managed to learn how to do it on my own - with the help of my parents who actually did attend that Kursus. So in line of going to a really holy place I actually wore an anak tudung with my tudung bawal and kept my tudung a bit more labuh than usual (it touched my stomach, the most labuh style I've ever worn outside school haha) It's funny why I still can't keep up the "labuh-ness" til now. I'm still learning though.

After around 8 hours and 40 minutes of boredom and movie marathons, we finally arrived at King AbdulAziz International Airport, Jeddah. Boy it was a small airport. Especially because we were at the Hajj terminal. We were supposed to catch a bus to Madinah - which is 5 to 6 hours away - immediately after immigration check. Thing is, the immigration check wasn't really close to immediate at all. We waited for our turn for our passport check for 10 HOURS. Special thanks to the officers who take 20 minutes to dismiss one person and take 10 minute breaks for every 2 people they approved. To "aid" the situation, there were hundreds of people lining up in front of us. And it was freaking cold in there ! I didn't get any amount of sleep for 24 hours because of that thing. A lot of people gave up on standing for so so long and decided to mark their turns with hand luggage (my family joined in the club as well). So they sat on the corner for back support from the walls and some even unroll their blankets and kain batik on the floor and slept while waiting. I tried to sleep because I was exhausted from waiting and the flight but I couldn't really find an appropriate, comfortable position to sleep on the floor, so sitting and doing nothing was the only alternative, since I couldn't really log in to the airport's free wifi. If i could, I would only get 1 hour of free surfing, which would leave me with 9 hours of nothing as well. Talk about testing your temper, I was super glad when it was over.

But that's just the beginning.

I forgot what was our hotel name, but it wasn't as grand as Madinah Hilton or any other posh hotel. But it was comfortable. The coolest thing about our hotel was it was just 80 meters away from Masjidil Nabawi (The Prophet's Mosque) ! Walking there took less than 5 minutes. On the first day, our Mutawwif said that it was a free schedule we could rest for the day and whatever and wherever we go was up to us. I couldn't really pray during that time, so I slept til Asar when my parents woke me up to go and visit the mosque. There my mother forced me into a jubah and anak tudung and socks and sleeves (hand socks) and a petticoat so getting ready took more time than usual. It was weird that those things felt comfortable while wearing it, as if I was already used to it - when it was actually my first time getting used to all those layers. I got to see the city of Madinah while walking to the mosque (obviously). It was a pretty peaceful place. The temperature was colder than it was in Malaysia (Madinah was 23C on that day, I think) So if you were to go to perform Umrah in December then I suggest bringing a sweater or jacket to keep you warm in Madinah. You don't really have to buy the really thick ones meant for places like London or New York or maybe The north pole. Just your normal average sweater.

Masjidil Nabawi was breathtaking. No no not was. Is breathtaking. Oh well, keyword: I couldn't pray. So I hung around outside drinking zam zam water and watching pretty arab girls with their Nikes and Designer handbags and cool all black abayas. Of course I still prayed (as in doa) a lot there. But one task i like to do whenever I go to other countries - which I occasionally get a chance to do - was observing people. There were people all over the world there. Malays would classify most of them as "Arabs" but I learnt how to correctly differentiate them by region. There were Arabs, and by Arabs you have Arab Makkah Arab Madinah Arab Saudi Arab sini Arab sana (True Arab Makkah, according to my dad, was the most beautiful ones. They have white complexion and they are charming and their jubahs and abayas were specially designed in their particular measurements. I've seen a group or two of them. Yes they are damn heart throbs. True rich kidz of dunya akhirah). And there were Egyptians, Libyans, Iranians, Syrians, Turkish, Yemenis, Pakistanis, Indians, Africans, a group from Sri Lanka, Rohingyas, Bangladeshis, there was a person or two who was English, Chinese, Indonesians and of course Malaysians.

There the people will call you "hajji" if you're a guy and "hajja" if you're a woman. We teenagers who are stuck in between being "cute little kids whose cheeks they pinch and hair they stroke as they pass by and get free chocodates while theyre at it" and "real deal adults who are in awe of these little kids" are ignored by the pilgrim society in presence. We often get random names like "Khadijah" or "Fatimah" or "Maryam" or "Maimunah" (or maybe "Muhammad" if you're a guy idk). Trust me those were the names I was given by the shopkeepers there. And they use the word "Yala" a lot. I dont really know what that means specifically. But I assume it meant "come, come" or "hurry" or "out" or something like that.

Most shopkeepers there can converse in Malay, surprisingly. Maybe not fluent, but just enough to communicate with the customers on prices and the quality of their products, And also to promote and attract customers (MALAYSIA BOLEH! hahahaha) But most visitors will talk to you with THEIR OWN LANGUAGE which was the hardest thing of all during the trip. To enhance the difficulty, they don't understand English either. Which was kinda weird because I thought english was an international language or something and everyone is meant to at least understand the basics, but I can't really blame them (or their governments for not taking that thing as serious as...I don't know, Malaysia maybe?) So the only way to know what they are saying is to understand their body language and with the right amount of common sense. (See, you Imaan isn't the only thing that is supposed to be strong and high when you step foot to Tanah Haram) Once there were two girls asking to take a picture with me infront of Masjidil Nabawi. I didn't understand them at first but then they kinda showed me their phone so yeah i was like "OH PICTURE YES OK" and at first I thought they were asking me to take a picture of them but then one of the girls opened up their front camera and raised her phone up high and I was like "...oh with me". Then I asked for a selfie with them too (I still have it haha) Then I think they said "thank you" (well I can only understand English and Malay and un peu francais sorry for not being foreign friendly) and I just laughed and nodded and they went off. Strange.

Anyway our Mutawwif brought us to visit Jabbal Uhud, where the Uhud War was taken place, and Masjidil Quba, the first mosque ever built, and the Date farm (No not a farm for dating, date as in Kurma) The dates there were queerly twice as sweet and tastely than they were sold in Malaysia. And we got to taste any kurma we liked for free! Talk about Murah Rezeki for the hawkers. We passed by al-Baqi' and went to Raudah (Maqam Nabi Muhammad SAW). It was so cool to be in the places where Islamic History has taken place and where The Prophet has been before. It gave me the feeling of content inside. We were kinda lucky enough because no one pulled our arms to ask for sadaqah or to buy our products. But one thing is, if someone really did ask you for a spare change, don't make it obvious that you're actually giving money to him or her. Unless, you wanna be attacked by a swarm of other beggars. It sounds kinda harsh but that's just the rule somehow. We give to the people who don't ask for it in the first place. Like the cleaners at the mosque or someone who you think he or she looks really poor. But sometimes if he's the only one asking for sadaqah then we give jugak la.

One thing was, I really miss Madinah, It's like the most peaceful place in the world.

I'm not questioning or doubting the "holyness" of Makkah but there are some distinctive reasons why I like Madinah over Makkah.

1) Makkah does seem more developed but there were construction sites EVERYWHERE, even Masjidil Haram was in the process of renovation, and I breathe in dust everyday.

2) There were soooooooooooo many people there. like too many. The place is so crowded. I wouldn't mind this fact much if the first statement above wasn't true though.

But I was there for ibadah so those things didn't mind as long as your heart is set up to Allah.

We had 7 days to spend in Makkah. On the first we did Umrah straight away when we arrived there. Thankfully it wasn't as packed as I imagined. So we completed it in around 2 hours or so and by the time we arrived at the hotel it was already 2 in the morning. Makkah wasn't as cold as Madinah (legit 9C there) and because there was so many people contributing to carbon dioxide and radiating body heat and also geographical factors which I have less information of so I guess it, insyaallah won't be as cold as Madinah. You can now keep your sweaters safely inside of your luggages. The next day was free day for us. After Zohor my dad brought us to buy Ice Cream and drink their juices. Their ice cream was AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG. Like, BEST. ICE CREAM. EVER. We eat ice cream everyday from that day on. Especially since it was hot there kinda like Malaysia's hot but we weren't sweating.

I swear to Allah that I cried during the first time I set eyes on the Kaaba. There was just something inside my heart that was touched by the sight of it. I couldn't really believe that I was finally there. In front of the holy Kaaba. I've been seeing pictures of it online and now it's right there in front of my eyes woah subhanallah. We get to pray right in front of it during our stay. Only that me and my mother missed Jumaat prayers because haha we forgot that anything is permissible at Al-Haram. The security guards at Masjidil Haram wasn't as strict as those in Masjidil Nabawi (as in you can't take pictures inside of the mosque and such) but only that they were more guards there because there was more people there than there were at Madinah. There were so many uniforms there I couldn't really identify which one did which. (Exaggeration)

People here are probably similar to those who I described earlier at Madinah. So no need to elaborate much on that. In addition to what I have mentioned earlier, one thing I learnt here was that Islam was really easy. Or is it because we were at Al-Haram anyway but whatever you get my point. And what was really making Islam seem complicated was the Malays . Here women pray and tawaf with the attire they originally worn throughout the whole day. The Turkish women wore jeans and no one judged about whatever apparel they choose. The imams at Masjidil Nabawi and Masjidil Haram didn't do wirid or recite any specific du'a post mandatory prayers. Everyone rushed to get a spot at the front saf. People would pray in front of the nearby shops leaded by the Masjidil Haram Imam. It was like people gathered there all to search for blessings and no matter how weird they seem to earn it, they didn't care what other people think. Which made other people accept whatever they do anyway. And that's one of the reasons it's hard to get converts from our non-muslim society in Malaysia.

Gladly, there was this woman from Cairo who sat beside me during zohor could actually speak ENGLISH YAY. She said that "We Egyptians love your country" and that "your country is beautiful" and that "Our president visited your country and told us how beautiful it was" I find her the nicest among the strangers who talked to me during the trip. I wanted to ask "which president?" but i was afraid that it will get into sensitive matters haha. And she even said bye bye before she got going to leave. And there was also this woman from Indonesia, who spoke in Indonesian with me. It was weird that our languages were so similar but I still could not pick up whatever she was saying. I did manage to catch a few words. She asked about my exams and told me that in Indonesia the people my age were taking their exams on that week like wow for real finals IN DECEMBER. Maybe it has been so long since I watched my last Sinetron (Upik, Abu dan Laura) lol. I regretted not taking Bahasa Arab at school. What am I supposed to do with french anyway....

We visited a bunch of places too but we were forbidden to see CAMELS :( because of this disease or virus or something with a really weird name. But my favourite place has got to be Jabbal Annur. (No not jabbal rahmah where people ask for their jodoh, I did ask for my jodoh there though, but no not my favourite place) Jabbal Annur is where Gua Hira' is located. And to get there we have to climb a bunch of """"""stairs""""""" volunteers """"built"""". Yes they did build it but the stairs weren't really the average flight you see at school or batu caves, they were like extreme stairs which are really slippery and rocky and slope-ish and dangerous and with a high inclination. In order to get to Gua Hira' you have to get to the peak of Jabbal Annur first. Which takes a person with a distinctive amount of stamina like me around 25 - 45 minutes + rests because the rest of your family have different energy levels. So for an average person who doesn't really work out or exercise much I bet you 1 hour or so. Minus rests that is. To make things even scarier, we went there at night. And we couldn't even see the stairs clearly. Our Mutawwif said, other than the amazing view of Makkah at night, It was for "pengajaran".

I rather go on a cross country than to climb Jabbal Annur. Because it was damn tiring and I was wearing a jubah and it was freaking dark because it was already 11:30 pm when we started. There were a lot of beggars asking for a riyal or two for sadaqah and some even scared the shit out of me because i didn't see them coming. I imagined it like it was MSSM merentas desa at night during nightwalk in the woods for a motivation camp. I did want to spare something for at least one of them, but thing is I wasn't really bringing any riyals and my parents were left behind because Luqman, Nina and I were strangely hyper that night so we turned down every single beggar no matter how hardcore they begged. It was kinda scary though, them, I mean. I taught Luqman to say "La, La" as in "No, No" and "Syukran" because our Mutawwif said that they were the ones who built the stairs for us to climb, so at least a thank you would be nice right? I dont really know how to say sorry in Arab. They were ALL like "malaysia boleh" and "cucu salamat" and "masyaallah cucu salamat" and "sadaqah sadaqah" and "Malaysia good" hahahahaha. I also taught Luqman to say "no money" which made them laugh at Luqman because Luqman was cute and they really thought we had money. But hey guys we were telling the damn truth.

The funniest thing about the climb was that at some point of our journey there was this Pakistani (who was supposed to be a beggar or a fellow worker too i think) who was carrying a box full of his stuff and maybe was on the way to Gua Hira' as well hiked near the three of us and shouting "Malaysia TAK boleh" then Luqman (YES LUQMAN, MY 8 YEAR OLD ANNOYING BROTHER) would reply by saying "EHHH MALAYSIA BOLEH LAH" then he would turn to us, repeating what he said earlier "MALAYSIA TAK BOLEH" , and Luqman would again shout "MALAYSIA BOLEHHHH". hahahahaha that really made my night, you guys should've been there to witness it. Then we had to wait for our parents and then made our way to Gua Hira'. It was really small and you have to go through this narrow tunnel to actually get to it. And then we had to CLIMB DOWN jabbal annur. The three of us was like "oh great another round of Malaysia tak boleh". Overall the climb was really physically and mentally challenging. When we got back to the ground it was already 2 a.m. I bought those one of those little stones that costs 2 riyals which you could make necklaces of. It was a reminder and proof that I have survived, and I can survive something challenging.