Day 13 (19 August 2018) Visit for more information Ajwa Dates Price in Pakistan
We all had our showers and applied as much Oud on our Ihrams (Non-stitched Cloth) as possible.
We were packed and made our way downstairs after completing Fajr Salah. We waited for our coaches to arrive.
I always loved the breeze of hot air when I wore my Ihram. It was always a nice feeling early in the morning.
I always felt like I was travelling a truckload where ever we were relocating. Maybe it was the body resisting this move, nevertheless, we were now set and on our way.
I was now barefooted and in my Ihram. My disdain for feet is no secret and now am having to travel/sleep barefooted for the next five days.
Off we set from Aziziyah too Mina. All thoughts were crossing my mind during this time. I ended up thinking myself to sleep. Once I woke, after 10 minutes, my eyes were embraced by a sea of white domes (camps) covering as far as my eyes could go. We dipped in and out of roads and underpasses. Eventually, we travelled over a flyover which led us to our camp (Camp 39).
As we disembarked off our coach. I spent a couple of minutes examining the area. The entrance of camp 39 was on one side and on the other side was a huge wall, a wall that reminded me of the one in Gaza, which closes itself from Israel. By the grace of God, ours was not that bad, compared to what our brothers and sisters in Palestine usually wake up to.
As I entered the entrance of the camp, there were two guards who watched all the pilgrims enter. There was a fountain on the left (which I was shocked by) and red carpets on the floor which mapped out our pathway. The Travel Express staff had those post signs every 5 yards. Virtually impossible to get lost.
As we entered, I had a quick look for Q, to see where he was; luckily, he saw me first and quickly flapped his hands to direct me towards the mattress that he saved for me. The camp was fairly spacious, it was separated into two parts, with mattresses across each other. There was also huge metal air vent which went across the camp, and two A/C’s bridged at the top of both entrances. The women’s camp was across ours. As I was entering, the Mauritian aunty had requested that I check over her husband. She was still very worried about him. It was extremely sweet to see an old couple that were still genuinely in love with each other.
After juggling about with my space, I managed to put my luggage behind my mattress. On either side of me; I had a Bengali brother and a Nigerian brother sleeping next to me. On the opposite side was, Q and this Mauritian brother with his 5-year-old child. A nice but shy young boy who was extremely content with being with his father. Normally kids of that age are extremely needy for their mothers.
As I lay down for an hour. Breakfast was served. I shot up in excitement as I had not eaten anything since last night. Everyone was handed a box for breakfast by Omar (group leader), as we eagerly unwrapped the box. We were provided with 4 slices of bread, two slices of tri-angular cheese, honey, salted olives, a cookie and milk. After the shock of what we had been served. I did the best I could to fill myself up. The food that was served, was a huge shock to the system. Thereafter was nothing was a surprise to me.
After Maghrib, I quickly left our camp and went in search for The One Call guys. I managed to locate them and quickly popped in to say Hello.
*Omar, whilst handing out the food, in his loud boisterous voice, jokingly mocked those who had complained about the breakfast in our previous hotels. I couldn’t stop myself laughing. It was true what he said.
As I lay down, there was absolute silence in our camp, you could almost hear a pin drop. It really hit home, where we were and this was a massive shock for me. Although I was extremely uncomfortable with my surroundings; I truly embraced the indiscriminate nature of our religion. What a placed to be truly humbled, wearing the most basic of clothes, having every form of luxury taken away from us, eating basic food and most importantly being surrounded by people from different colours and cultures. This was definitely soul nourishing.
After a couple of hours. Q woke me up so that I could perform my wudu. We both went to the Wudu area which was absolutely packed and we waited 20 minutes in the searing heat. I tried to cover my head, after a couple of minutes, the haram police were raising their voices about why we were covering ourselves. I think a polite naseeha (advice,) would have been more than sufficient. We also had a quick time to examine the toilets. I managed to find two English toilets. Sorted!! The wudhu water was hot which didn’t help.
The camp became bearable now. After Esha we had dinner. Suddenly, strong winds pounded our camp. It had taken us all off guard. As the winds got stronger, people grew worried. The camps AC was vigorously moving side to side, and some of the hinges holding the dome structure, unhinged. We could hear loads of Arab’s speaking with urgency; outside and there were loads of hajj organisers running around. I surveyed the situation from the outside and was taken back by the winds and the flying sand which covered the air and changed the colour of the sky to a yellowish-grey. This was my first time witnessing a sand-storm. In all honesty, it was bad but not bad enough, considering people were charging their phones outside and having a cup of tea.
Omar came into the camp, warning the brothers that were close to the door, that they should keep their distance from the AC, due to the conditions outside. He then looked at us all, and goes ‘why is everyone scared? This is the best place to die, let’s all die together and go to Jannah. This was all said in his strong Somali/Arab accent. I was in hysterics.
Thought of the day:
Day 14 (20 August 2018)
Q wakes me up for Fajr. He manages to find a new Wudhu place (Ablution Place), this one was a bit closer to the camp and far quieter and cleaner compared to the other place. It still had taken us 35 minutes to brush our teeth and complete our wudhu.
Q was pretty chuffed with himself, he managed to have a shower in the infamous shower cubicles. His theory was, if you are going to the toilet, you might as well have a shower. I think we all found our ways in accepting our environment, this was Q’s way.
Nothing of note happened today.
I started growing a bit of a rapport with F (kid opposite me). I was shocked at how attached he was to his father. I also noted that his strict routine in terms of eating, playing and sleeping. I spoke about my observation Q and he explained to me that he was autistic. However, F’s autism was not that severe. He was a very smart and intelligent child. I played with him as much as I could and I managed to win his trust (a little) by bribing him Oreos. I still failed to win him over.
Shiraz aka Dennis the Menace:
Shiraz was a young teenage boy who was part of our group. Young, extremely intelligent, witty and handsome (mashallah). Oh, and I totally forgot to mention, very mischievous and super hyperactive.
He was messing around the whole day and he essentially lightened the mood in the camp. The Travel-Express hujjaj were a pleasant bunch, however, they were not exactly the liveliest, so having a mischievous teenager really helped me. Although a lot of people in the camp grew frustrated with him.
During the evenings Sheikh would provide a mini-talk after Maghrib and Esha. Although most of the talks were beneficial it became difficult to understand what he was saying due to his low-pitched voice. AE (a celeb imam), who also leads another Travel Express group, would provide talks on his mic. His talks were motivating, beneficial and he had an extremely soothing voice which helped. Quite often I would zone-out of Sheikh’s talks and listen to AE’s lectures. I found out a lot of brothers were also doing the same.
In the evening, I sat with the One-Call boys for an hour or two. The unity and brotherhood in that camp was amazing. It was food for the soul spending time with those brothers. I have always found it easy mixing with Bengali’s and this experience of Hajj re-enforced that. There was a brother from Sheffield (Mohammed Farimudus) who was always good to see. He was a lovely northerner who was always cheerful and also shared an interest in boxing. Our conversations would go on for hours.
After late night tea with Q. I spent an hour of that night writing up the last of my dua’s for anyone that I could remember. I was fully focused on ensuring that I had to make the most of this day by any means necessary. Surprisingly, there were no nerves. I was probably a bit numb. I guess that was expected considering the magnitude of the event.
Day 15 (21 August 2018)
After Fajr we were awake. The big day was here!!!! Everyone was super-focused. There was an energy in the room. It seemed like the days, week, months and years of preparation all lead us to this day and this was our day of ultimate repentance and forgiveness. On this day, Allah (SWT) would be the closest to else in the earthly realms, and he would listen to all our dua’s on this particular day. If we were sincere and righteous in our actions, Allah would accept all our dua’s.
We boarded our coaches. Labaik Allahuma Labaik, Labaik, Lasharika la-ka Labaik, In-al-Humda, Wanyamata, La-ka-wal mulk, La Sharika Lak. This Chorused around the coach.
The plains of Arafat were amongst us as we made that 25-minute journey from Mina to Arafah. Whilst on the coach, I also saw many of the Hujjaj were walking to the plains of Arafah. Yet we had people moaning about the material things within the camp and coaches. I hope people were taking note!!
We reached our destination. As we entered the gates, we were surrounded around camps, with loads of trees and shade. This was not what I Imagined at all. I was expecting what I usually saw in pictures, videos and live footage on Islam Channel. I expected to be on the desert plains of Arafat with millions of pilgrims’ and being close to the erected pillar where prophet Adam (A.s) and Bibi Hawa first met.
Am sure there was some wisdom behind this, nevertheless, I was still taken back. We were told to go inside the canopy as we would be observing the majority of Arafat in the canopy. The Sheikh explained that praying within the vicinity of Arafat is what Allah ordains, there is no farz in praying in the area’s that we are accustomed to seeing on T.V.
We were all told to rest up until Zuhr and then we would have up until Maghrib to make our duas. After the usual breakfast that was provided to us. We managed to get some much-needed rest.
Praise before you request!!!
After Zuhr, I was finding it difficult to stay awake, I was feeling extremely drowsy. So, I spent a lot of time praising Allah (SWT) and thanking him for everything that he has given me up until the point. I recited many of the most relevant duas by glorifying the Almighty. Praise before you request.
*I met brother Barber Ahmed a day before (Local Tooting lad and most importantly famous for his famous extradition trial to the U.S), he gave me some ideas on how to manage my time in Arafat effectively so that helped me quite a bit.
I then found out the brother at the back were awake the whole time because of the A/C. So, I quickly had taken advantage of this and started reciting and making my duas there. I also told a lot of other brothers to take advantage of the A/C.
My duas had started and they lasted two and a half hours. I genuinely felt content reading most of them and was now happy to relax a little whilst also remembering Allah (SWT).
When the sun had gone down and the weather was a bit cooler. We all slowly made our way outside to the camp yard. There were moments of tears, where I let my heart out to Allah (SWT), and I made loads of duas. All the dua’s that one could ask for. Every time I felt I had covered all my duas, I stopped and asked again, and again, and again. This lasted for another half hour. Myself and Q just reflected on the moment. This is the most content and inner peace that I had ever experienced in my life.
It was quite the scene, seeing so many people face towards one direction in this botanical garden. The sky had four gradients (Pink, Orange, Blue and fade of Lilac), the place felt like it had illuminated. I remember scouting the area and seeing loads of brothers visibly breaking down. I remember embracing Brother Amir and Brother Rahul towards the end. What a fantastic moment that was.
After dinner, we quickly packed our bags and rushed to our coaches. We were now on our way to Muzdalifah. The coach was packed with mattresses and bags. Yet we all chorused Labaik throughout the half hour journey. I lost my voice after that and I really needed sleep.
Day 16 & 17 (21-22 August 2018)
Muzdalifah, heated beds and Calais Fences:
As myself and mum arrived, the surrounding lands were totally empty, in my mind I thought this was amazing. I saw Q, Khalida and his mum; they saved us seats. As we were putting our stuff down a Moroccan woman decided to throw her stuff on top of our and insisted that men should not be allowed to sleep here. My logic and my impulse told me to hold my ground. Considering, the noise she was creating and where we were. This was clearly a test, so I refrained, myself and Q found space further down the mountainside, right behind the Sheikh. Late night banter is out of the agenda.
When we first arrived (half hour) it was totally empty and now the place was totally packed. A sea of people dressed in white littered all over the floor. As I lay down, after buying some cold drinks, we laid down and it was the best feeling in the world. Q was uncomfortable because the floor was so hot. I didn’t care I needed sleep and I was happy sleeping anywhere at this stage.
As I was about to fall asleep. The men started raising their voices. The women who initially stole our sleeping area decided to move behind us. The men were incensed and refused to sleep near women. I watched a bit of the commotion until Sheikh interjected. The ruling is, sleep wherever you can subject to your Mahram being with you. The women left. Nevertheless, Karma best dish of the day.
5 hours later I woke up. My throat was throbbing like crazy. Q was still awake. I stayed up as I was in no fit position to sleep. I made Wudhu and was awaiting Fajr. Myself and Q decided that we should leave straight after Fajr. So, we moved all our bags to our women’s side which was at the foot of the entrance. After salah we literally ran to the front of the women’s side, however, a cue had already built up. The entrance I chose to leave from, my mum and the others didn’t use. I managed to find my way out, however, the whole of my group including my mum and Q’s family were stuck inside.
It was now a full 3 and a half hours after Fajr. The whole of our group was still stuck inside the cage. I was stuck with a bunch of maniacs who had no idea of being cordial and patient. Some Canadian-Somalian brothers decided to lock the gates on us and people were acting like animals to get out of the . However, as I was at the front, I brokered deals to get some of the elderly or the ones in poor health out. People realised I was just and fair and Alhamdulillah so they all listened. Nevertheless, once that door opened people stampeded out, rationality went out of the window. One woman had fallen so I quickly decided to pick her up because there was a strong possibility the heard would have trampled over here. Picking her up came at a cost. I lost my neck rest.
The reason for such terrible a queue was two-fold. Terrible organisation by the authorities and there are only being 4 coaches for over 20, 000 people. Plus there was an accident.
Some of the pilgrims were angry, in protest, they jumped over the 7-foot fence. It was a spectacle seeing a man climbing over the fence with the Ihram. I saw sisters doing it with their abayas.
As I was outside, I had taken it upon myself to look after the old women from our group. They were feeling faint so I just entertained them with conversation, motivated them and used the spray bottle to keep them awake.
Whoever reads this blog and you have done well to get this far. PLEASE by yourself a big bottle of water spray when you’re completing your hajj. My bottle spray, benefited loads of people in Arafat and in Muzdalifah. It kept everyone hydrated and cool when the heat started rising.
Finally at around 9:30am our group was let out on the understanding that they walked back to Mina. Considering the amount of time that was spent locked up everyone agreed to walk. After speaking to Rahul on the phone, I assured him that Bashir Snr will be making sure the four elderly women would be coming back by transport. In doing so, we were left behind.
After walking 500 metres to catch up with the group. I saw Shiekh Hussain Al-Azhari standing in the middle of the road with Mohamad-Muridi (Travel Express staff) with 100 kgs of equipment. We decided to help him on our 3-mile journey back as we could not leave him stranded with all that equipment to carry.
We had regular breaks for many reasons. Firstly, we had been wearing our Ihrams, the equipment was heavy, we were carrying our hand luggage, and there was stop/start human traffic. Along the way my mum found a Pakistani family that was lost and we found other elderly members of the group that were stranded due to poor health. By the end of our journey there was an entourage of us returning to the camp.
For some weird reason I still had a lot of energy. Nevertheless, I headed straight to the toilets to have a shower and change into my Ihram. In that time I had my shower (5-6 minutes), we were informed that we would be leaving for Jamarat, pelting stones at the shaytaan. No rest for the wicked.
Jamarat (Throwing of the stones at Shaytaan?)
We all made our way to Jamarat. The expected walk was meant to be only 2 miles. The walk was an in incline, by the time we managed to make our way up to the pelting walls, we were all tired. We went through at least four tunnels. Every so often we would be hit by the wind of the giant turbines or the kind officials/pilgrims that sprayed water on us. I was walking around with my own spray doing the same.
Quick fact about Jamarat. Jamarat is an important part of the Hajj. Pilgrims are required to pelt the shaytaan. However, the pelting of Shaytaan is heavily misunderstood. The objective of the pelting is aimed at throwing stones, which conflicts with your naffs. So, anything from backbiting, lies or foul language etc. It is hugely important that once we throw these stones we should make a conscious effort to abstain from committing the same sins.
The locks have gone:
Brother Amir and Brother Rahul brought their own shavers. After seeing the wild job of these illegal barbers, some of the brothers lost more blood than hair. Brother Amir kindly shaved my hair and I was now free from long hair. I had a quick shower and finally, I could change into my normal clothes. Three days of Ihram was uncomfortable and it does wear you out plus it makes the Mina experience much easier.
Everyone had recognised my cut and I got loads of nods of approval. I think people thought I was going to bottle out of cutting my hair. Little did they know, I really did not care about my hair. I simply followed the rules and trimmed my hair for my comfortability purposes.
I checked up on the Mauritian uncle. He was a bit down that he couldn’t jamarat due to his heart condition. I did my best to make him feel better but nothing was working.
Exhaustion, the Rothschild and Racism:
I was super exhausted but so relieved. Now we could finally rest for a little while. I managed to get some sleep for two or three hours. By Maghrib I was a new man. I was revitalised and full of energy.
The camp was in good spirits. After Esha my throat went. After dinner, I sat with the one call boys. Brother Maz managed to provide me with some sugar-coated Ginger, I had a couple and it did relieve me for a while.
As I was about to fall asleep. Q asked me to accompany for a cup of tea and collect some stones. I didn’t want to go but me and Q were good friends. Ever the good Samaritan, he saw the beast incarnate, he invited him to join us. The beast incarnate brought a fourth person with us, Faysal.
Am not going to bore you with the details of the next three hours. He lectured us with racism and conspiracy theories. I use the word ‘lecture’ as it literally was a monologue. He manged to bring in a conversation about women of Jeddah and their figures. Everyone looked at their cups of tea’s and decided to call it a night. My voice was totally gone and so was my level of shock.
Day 18 (23 August 2018)
Last full day at the camp.
Shiraz is right next to my bed early in the morning (permanent fixture). He was on my case. The Bengali man next to me was irritated by him. He would always ask me in Bengali what was wrong with Shiraz. I used to always tell him that he was just a bit hyper than the usual kid because he was home schooled, there was nothing else to it. As much as it irritated me at times, I remembered his innocence and that ultimately he was responsible for making the camp as lively as possible. Shiraz was a lovely kid all the less.
Nothing much to report today other than Shiraz showing Q where all the drinks were kept. This was fantastic news for us. Just for the record, the weather averaged between 45 to 50 degrees. At certain times during the day you could not risk wearing your flops, in the fear that you might burn your foot.
Q’s wife asked for a Coke. Q told Shiraz to bring one for her. Typical, Shiraz, bought a whole crate back. We hid them in the water barrel filled with ice.
At Zuhr, Jamarat was confirmed, shortly after Asr. I thought I would be going on my own to Jamarat, as I thought mum would be too tired.
I saw Amin reading the Quran, however, it was on his lap. I politely reminded him that you should not rest the Quran on your thighs. I also explained that I was corrected in respect to this matter recently myself. After Zuhr, he decided to ask the Sheikh the same question. The Sheikh responded the same. When he asked that question, everyone who heard me advising him, were visibly confused why he would ask such a question? Logic would only dictate that a holy book is not suited to be positioned near someone’s low posterior. I have my reservation as to why he asked the Sheikh.
An hour or two before Jamarat. I really gave myself a serious massage. I soaked in as much Vaseline on my foot. Jamarat went well. I was entrusted to look after Shiraz by his mum. My mum came again and I was super proud of her.
The Jamarat experience was amazing. Every so often, Shiraz would squint a gush of water in our faces. His aim was never to re-energise us, he got a kick out of wetting people. Myself, Rahul and Amir did a rendition of You Never Walk Alone for like 10 seconds. The nicest part of being in Jamarat was bumping in to so many brothers from different parts of the world. I remember seeing brothers, from France, Japan, Niger, Kyrgyzstan, USA etc.. All under one melting point for one reason.
We arrived soon just after Maghrib. The mood in the camp was amazing. The old Mauritian uncle was gleaming with happiness. I asked him why he was so happy. Finally he was able to complete the Jamarat, so I gave him a huge hug. For him this was a moment of happiness and redemption.
F still after four days was stuck with his dad in the camp. The father saw my efforts with his child and felt comfortable leaving him with me. On two occasions, he sat on my mattress and gave me a hug. Considering his reserved nature, I was quite privileged. After four days of hard work it finally payed off.
At the end of Esha. A couple of the officials came in to our camp and gave us a warming message. Shiraz used this to cause mischief in the other camp. In all fairness me and Q egged him on to water a couple of people from AE’s group. As always Shiraz went too far and the lads from AE’s retaliated back. As humorous as it was, the Sheikh kept looking towards my direction as Shiraz was having his battle from my mattress. I tried to control but to little avail. I was just praying the Sheikh doesnt pull me up on it.
The food became unbearable. So, I decided to take Amir, Rahul and Sameer the Hardees near the camp. The night before, myself and Rahul had a halal wager. If, I was able to find a Hardees close to the camp, he would wheelchair me to Jamarat. As the whole camp watched us, we indulged in the burgers, and the happiness was evident for everyone to see.
Day 19 (24 August 2018)
Breakfast for the last time. I don’t think I will be missing it. Jamarat was confirmed for around 10:30am
We packed our stuff away. The Bengali brother next to me, who was in his 40’s, was like my father when I was in camp. Always watching over my shoulder, checking if I wanted any of the extras, and having a bit of a go at me because of my clumsiness. He checked if I had remembered everything.
Bless him, he was lovely. I didn’t have the heart to say anything to him. As I knew he had good intentions, he was just a bit old school.
Since I was packed and after doing a bit of reading and praying. I decided to nap.
After an hour of napping, a debate was taking place. Quite possibly the worse debate, which madhab is right. Both individuals (both young and educated), were getting personal and raising their voices about matters in deen. I decided to intervene and moderate. Although it was pointless and un-needed conversation. The conversation got no-where..
The issues today, is that everyone has an opinion, and the other is always trying to refute the others opinion. Trying to find middle ground and being able to work on the basic’s goes out the window. The four imams were great scholars of their times, they did their best to preserve the sunnah, and most importantly they were never refuted in the last 1300 years. Suddenly, we have a new wave of young zealots, who feel that they can criticize these great scholars. May Allah (SWT) may have mercy on them.
The last jamarat was super chilled. Today we all decided to wet Shiraz. He was drenched by the time we reached the camp. These memories would stay with me forever.
The Jamarat served a huge purpose. Am not going to disclose all the details of my personal flaws but I did make a lot of dua to ensure that I do not fall foul of these sins going forward, Throwing the stones was not the only purpose, making dua to change was the goal of any hujjaj whilst performing this ritual at the Jamarat.
We quickly picked our bags and left for the coach. Everyone eagerly awaited the return to the compartment.
I closed my eyes and sunk in to the mattress. Not like I thought about a bed in Mina; I really appreciated the mattress and the ability to spread my hands and legs, without having to worry about the person on the right and left of me. I ended up napping for 10 minutes. I was trying to fathom whether I slept out of comfort or exhaustion.
After I awoke, I applied my facial and hit the showers. With the cool air rippling through my skin and after my long-warm shower; I felt like a new man. After reaching our compartment ,the fought of staying for the 13th night in Mina went out of the window.
*Staying on the 13th night is hugely rewarding. They say by the 13th night, Mina becomes a ghost town. Literally everyone leave on the 12th night. May Allah (SWT) reward those who stayed on the 13th night.
