Makkah Al-Mukarammah

We departed from Madinah on 14August to Makkah after Subuh. We stopped by at Bir Ali for our miqad Umrah. It took 5 hours journey (by bus) from Madinah to our hotel in Mekah. We reached at the hotel around 1pm. We had our lunch n gathered back at 2.15pm to perform our first Umrah guided by the Mutawif.

We managed to finish our Umrah at 5.00pm as we had to stop after Tawaf for Saie after Asar prayer. The accomplished for the first Umrah was such a triumph to me. I hugged Mak with tears. It was an amazing feeling.

The weather here in Makkah was not as hot as in Madinah. The maximum was only 40deg celcius but it was very humid. Which I would prefer the climate in Madinah. Part of Masjidil Haram was under on going construction. They were in the processed of extending at the wing of Marwah.

I stayed at the hotel somewhere in Masjid Kuching. It took us 30 minutes to go to Masjidil Haram. We had to go thru the non-stop dusty constructions road. We then squashed ourselves to the only available entrance – the crowded Safa-Marwah.

At this particular time, people are getting more n more. Masjidil Haram was so packed n crowded. We went to the mosque n back to the hotel for every solat time (except Maghrib-Isyak) for an hour journey. We did this for 3 consecutive days until we found another entrance which was better, clearer n not crowded. It was Gate 45 Al-Fath.

The same dusty construction road, a bit further climbed up the hill but we were happy as it took us only 20 minutes. Fewer 10 minutes which was the time we spent squashing, squeezing ourselves thru the crowded Saie area to go to the solat area.

Every trip to the MAsjidil Haram was a trial for us. It’s not just the dusty road but the humid weather which we can feel the sweat running down plus a few times I almost stumbled down hitting the rocks.

Everybody was walking very fast using all the energy that we had to avoid the lorries, tractors n dust. Just imagine we all makcik-makcik with the telekung plus a few layers of dress underneath berpeluh terkedek-kedek jalan!

Alhamdullilah we are the woman with the strong endurance survived with this trial. I and others salute Mak (61 years old) for her strong willpower walking up n down the hill without failure. She sometimes even walked faster than us!