Naeem's Blog

Just got back from a quick 24-hour jaunt to Mecca and Madina. Amazing and spiritually rejuvenating as always. It’s an inexplicable blessing how every time I go I unfailingly feel a sense of spiritual awakening. I fear for the day when I go to the House of Allah (swt) and come back in the same state.

The one thing that really stood out for me was the timing of our trip. Looking back, it seems as if Allah (swt) Himself wrote out our itinerary.

Our original plan to go was to leave Sunday, but one of the brothers couldn’t make it, so we postponed it a day. That enabled us, through no conscious planning on our behalf, to be in Mecca on the night of the 27th.

Secondly, we just happened to arrive there at 1am, which enabled us to perform our Umrah in sync with the Tahajjud prayers (which last from 1-3am). Thus, when we finished our Umrah, it was at the exact moment of the Witr dua’a.

So there I was standing on the mount of Marwa (where the Umrah rites are completed), joining the millions of supplicants in making dua’a to Allah.

Could we have planned it any better?

On a more logistical note, the crowds were unbelievably congested. Every year the Saudi authorities allow more and more, which really bothers me as it seems the objective is purely economical.

It's very troublesome, especially when one considers that the Saudi government could very easily provide better welfare for the locals (they have oil, if you haven’t heard), but instead choose to loosen the quotas and allow millions more than what the local infrastructure can support.

It truly puts a damper on what ought to be a super-spiritual experience.

Anyways, my exposure to the overcrowding was very limited. We were there for only a few hours. We did our Umrah, ate Suhoor, prayed Fajr, and moved on to Madina.

Madina, as always, was much more serene. We gave our salutations to our beloved Prophet (saw) and returned back home.

But before we left, I was blessed to meet up with the great MrEspy, who is doing some sort of pseudo-‘Itikaaf, which enables him to leave the Haram as he pleases.

I have only one thing to say about my encounter with the good brother. I’ve been to Madina more than 10 times in the past 4 years and never has my car been towed. Never. That is until now.

Good thing Muslims don’t believe in bad omens.

Oh and he never kept his promise about sharing his wife’s samosas when we would meet in Madina.

What a fraud.