Monday, December 10, 2007

Hajj - My Husband Makes The Journey of His Lifetime



Alhamdulillah, my husband is making Hajj!

He went with the Al-Mu'adhdhan Hajj Group, Al-Furqan Bookstore, Philadelphia, PA. So far, so good. This group has done a great job, and everything leading up to the big departure day has gone smoothly, Masha Allah.

One of my sister friends was anxiously biting her nails waiting for notification of Visa approval. Alhamdulillah, the approval came and she leaves tomorrow.

My husband's group left Philadelphia on Tuesday, December 4th. They flew into New York City and from there took a flight to Cairo, Egypt. From Cairo, they departed to Jeddah and transferred to Al-Shohada Hotel in Mecca. Hubby tells me that this hotel is very nice, Masha Allah.

I was intially worred because we agreed to text message daily. You know, just "am OK" kind of thing. When I hadn't heard anything from him toward the end of the week, I phoned Verizon Wireless. I thought maybe I had to add something to our cellphone plan, but I was told that Verizon Wireless does not work in Saudi Arabia. Arggggg!. But at last hubby called me from a call center - at 4 a.m. my time! Saudi is 8 hours ahead of us.

He performed Umrah for the first time in his life, Alhamdulillah! He was so excited when he called me that he could barely put his experience into words.

One bad thing did happen, however. When he and his friend leaned into the Kabbah, someone stole the friend's fanny pack. Can you imagine? Stealing right at the Kabbah, Allah (swt) forgive us!

On the way back to the hotel, my husband's sandals slipped off. His friend picked them up, but the crowds were so intense, and hubby and his friend got separated. So hubby had to walk back to the hotel barefoot, lol.

Another thing that happened was my husband stopped to eat at a street vendor. He ordered a sandwich and the meat was on one of those large spools, the kind where the vendor slices it off for the sandwiches. My husband got violently ill after eating there. He ignored the advice of the Hajj group not to eat anywhere, if possible, outside of the hotel.

And today he has a bad cold. There are millions of people from all over the world there and not everyone has total immunity from all the different types of germs.

But all in all, he has not let this ruin his trip of a lifetime at all! He is so happy!

Tomorrow they check out of the hotel and head for Medinah. They will be staying at the Dallah Taibah Hotel. At some point, the group will be transferred to Mena where they will be staying in tents close to the Jamarat.

Alhamdulillah! I am so happy for my husband. I miss him and wish I could be with him to share the experience.

I'll let you know how the rest goes when he calls me.

Oh Allah, Blessed Allah, please keep my husband safe and accept his Hajj/Ameen.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Masha'Allah, that is so great. I remember like yesterday when my husband went year before last with the same group. May Allah accept his hajj and may all be safe. Ameen.

Norma Kassim PhD said...

May Allah swt reward him with Haj Mabrur.

أبو سنان said...

Masa'Allah, I am glad he got the chance to go.

Many of our friends have gone, and we hope to go soon, Insha'Allah. As my wife is Saudi she has done Umrah before, but never Hajj.

As to getting sick at Hajj, it is well known, it is called the "Hajj cold" and often comes home with you!

Happy Muslim Mama said...

Salaam,
Mashallah I am so pleased for you. What an amazing experience and opportunity. May Allah accept your husband's Hajj and accept all of his dua's.
Allah gives us the blessing of the greatest of lessons during hajj: the importance of sabr. We learn that nothing happens as we want, but only as Allah has decided. May Allah keep all of my brothers and sisters safe and well and make this time easy for them inshallah.

Anonymous said...

Alhamdulillah! May Allah bless his journey and hajj, and guide his sage return. Ameen.

Ya Haqq!

Organica said...

It's wonderful that he is making the journey, mashAllah!

Unknown said...

May Allah accept his Hajj and all the dua he made for friends and family. What a wonderful experience. InshAllah khair.

Houda said...

May Allah accept his Haj. My hubby was there at the same time as yours and also got the 'Haj cold'.

May Allah (swt) reward us with our own trips to Haj.

Adventurous Ammena said...

Masha'allah, may Allah (swt) accept his hajj and may we all complete this journey and experience it in this life time. Insha'allah