Jeddah was the first city to visit. It was amazing. It'd been a long time since my last trip abroad so the 'scenery' of the airport made me lost my words (noraks dehs).
People say a hajj journey has its own ways of testing your determination. There came my first test. All of us must wait for the plane to Medina in the Jeddah airport. It's delayed for the next 12 hours. Oh boy....
After we reached the hotel in Medina, I had a nose bleed. It was coooollllddddd there. The city is quiet and it has its own persona. The mosque? Oh wow. It is physically beautiful. The beauty reaches into your soul, warm it up, remind you who you are and who He is. Of course it's never empty. But when I entered its gate by gate and finally I was inside, I felt that it was just me in it and He was watching me there, at the end of the room? It was amazing.
In Medina,I had one unforgettable event. There, my parents began to feel unwell. I wanted to go to the mosque and see the Prophet's house and tomb but I couldn't go without them and walk by myself. If there's one thing I was afraid of was the way those Arabs look at me. They would scream something like 'subhanallah' and call me 'Zulaikha' after looking at my face. My friends had warned me about this and advised me not to wear anything that would attract any attention. Because that technique obviouslny didn't work, it's wise to have a company when leaving the group.
Eventually, the desire to go won the battle against my fear. I went to pray and visit the house and the tomb. Alone. I walked very fast and avoided eye contact. Then, I was inside. I approached the gate inside the mosque, the sign of the tomb complex.Some women cried frantically with their hands up in the air. I stopped my walk as if large hands were holding my shoulders. Standing in the middle of the carpeted mosque floor about ten meters from the house, I was still. Then tears suddenly fell down my cheeks. Hundreds of them, falling to the thick red and yellow carpet. It's like I saw flashbacks of the Prophet's stories I've read since I was a kid. How noble, how kind, how persistent, how smart. I bent my head till my chin touched my chest and began my prayer. I just thought that's the best thing I could do.
People say a hajj journey has its own ways of testing your determination. There came my first test. All of us must wait for the plane to Medina in the Jeddah airport. It's delayed for the next 12 hours. Oh boy....
After we reached the hotel in Medina, I had a nose bleed. It was coooollllddddd there. The city is quiet and it has its own persona. The mosque? Oh wow. It is physically beautiful. The beauty reaches into your soul, warm it up, remind you who you are and who He is. Of course it's never empty. But when I entered its gate by gate and finally I was inside, I felt that it was just me in it and He was watching me there, at the end of the room? It was amazing.
In Medina,I had one unforgettable event. There, my parents began to feel unwell. I wanted to go to the mosque and see the Prophet's house and tomb but I couldn't go without them and walk by myself. If there's one thing I was afraid of was the way those Arabs look at me. They would scream something like 'subhanallah' and call me 'Zulaikha' after looking at my face. My friends had warned me about this and advised me not to wear anything that would attract any attention. Because that technique obviouslny didn't work, it's wise to have a company when leaving the group.
Eventually, the desire to go won the battle against my fear. I went to pray and visit the house and the tomb. Alone. I walked very fast and avoided eye contact. Then, I was inside. I approached the gate inside the mosque, the sign of the tomb complex.Some women cried frantically with their hands up in the air. I stopped my walk as if large hands were holding my shoulders. Standing in the middle of the carpeted mosque floor about ten meters from the house, I was still. Then tears suddenly fell down my cheeks. Hundreds of them, falling to the thick red and yellow carpet. It's like I saw flashbacks of the Prophet's stories I've read since I was a kid. How noble, how kind, how persistent, how smart. I bent my head till my chin touched my chest and began my prayer. I just thought that's the best thing I could do.
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