Performing Umrah

InshaAllah, I'll be performing the Umrah from June 2-11. I'll be going with with my mum, grandmother, uncle, aunt, and their son.

This will be my first trip to the Masjidil Haram.

I'm in the midst of packing for the trip. I should have started long ago but I simply didn't know what to bring. Now that the trip is barely 3 days' away, I just stuffed things in my bag.

Jaime called a few days ago to bid me farewell. She asked whether I've memorised all the du'as. I regrettably answered in the negative.

It's not that I'm not excited at going... I'm just overwhelmed by the whole thing.
At the back of my mind I kept thinking: Am I really going to set foot in Makkah? Despite receiving the itinerary from the travel agent, despite passing my exams (so I don't have to stay back to resit them), despite the looming flight date, I still couldn't believe I'm heading there. And until I actually set my foot in Makkah, I will still have doubts.

[That's one of the reason why this entry will only be published after June 3]

While NOT memorising and packing my stuffs, I was reading "One Thousand Roads to Mecca - Ten Centuries of Travelers Writing about the Muslim Pilgrimage". The book is edited by Michael Wolfe.

The title is self-explanatory. It contains 23 travelers writing about the Hajj dating from the Islamic Middle Ages (during the Abbasiyyah Rule) to this present "Jet Age".

It contains writing by illustrious figures such as: Ibn Jubayr (1183-84), Ibn Battuta (1326), John Lewis Burckhardt (1814), Sir Richard Burton (1853), Muhammad Asad (1927), and Malcolm X (1964).

The writings show that although Hajj has been performed for 1400 years, the perennial rites remains unchanged. Although camels and vessels have been replaced with modern transportations, performing Hajj still means the same thing. As the editor notes: "...even today's very modern pilgrims, with their ritual choreography and ancient-looking robes, seem to have stepped out of the pages of the Scripture."

Please pray for me that I will perform the Umrah dengan baik - to arrive and come back safely, to manfaatkan the chance that I have as well as I can, to receive Allah's blessings and guidance.