Hajj Posts

Makkah how I miss thee......and stalking Shaykh Sudais.....

Alhamdulillah, I had the blessed opportunity of performing Hajj this year. I wanted to share with you all some posts I put up on on a discussion forum whilst I was in Makkah.

Posted on: Jan.-10-2005

I guess not doing excersise since whenever is coming back to haunt me. Alhamdulillah I got to touch and kiss the Hajr Al-Aswad (The Black Stone) the other day. Insha Allah I'll share some tips when I come back. But let me tell you. It took me over an hour to reach it. It was like being in a grinding stone. Every muscle of my body is killing me! I can't remember the last time I was on our treadmill Folks, if you wanna come for Hajj, jump on the treadmill at least a month before, cause even the tawaf is quite a distance.

astaghfirullah...i'm at Hajj and on the internet....
k...gtg...salam

Posted on: Jan.-13-2005

Alhamdulillah I got to touch/kiss the black stone for the second time. This time it only took me ten minutes Alhamdulillah. A group member picked up on the tips and reached it very quickly as well.

I don't know for whatever reason, the cantthinkofausername name, keeps on popping up in my head when I am making dua. Oh well.....about being unfit....yeah...I admit it ....I usually go for tawaf and stuff early morning like one or two and there are not as many people as in the day time....but the tawaf (7 circuits) on the first floor takes about 50 minutes altogether if a person walks briskly.....I can't remember the last time I walked for 50 mintues....plus trying to touch the black stone for the first time really took it's toll on me...it's like playing footie (soccer/football) after a long time....the body aches for the next couple of days....but alhamdulillah.....the ache has gone now....it's worth it though.....

Alhamdulillah, the king of qurra(recitors), Shaikh Sudais, has been leading Fajar prayers for the past two days. Two days ago, after fajar prayers, I see some guards escorting someone out of the Masjid, so I'm like wondering who could that be? And I see the person walking right past me, and omg...omg....it's Sudais! Then he disappears ahead of me in the crowd. A minute later, I see a car pulling out of the king's parking lot....and my sixth sense starts tingling...I go....that's sudais in there fo sure.....and then his car moves ahead slowly in the same street where I am walking. Cause it's immediately after fajar, so the streets are packed with ppl. Then his car passes ever soo slowly on my right hand side. There was a kid sitting in the back, so I asked him, is that Sudais, and he goes yeah. So I quickly sprint forward two meters and I'm out of breath(lol). Then, I peer from the windshield towards my man Sudias, and with the motion of my hand, I say Salam, and to my surprise, he raises his right hand and says salam!.... And then his car disappears in the darkness of the early morning.

But it doesn't end there........That was yesterday morning.....today morning....I feel like a stalker....lol.....He leads prayer again. So I'm like waiting for him in the same place and I make sure I reach there before his car reaches there. When his car comes up, like yesterday, I did Salam to him gesturing with my right hand. But today (being the cheeky (british slang) guy that I am, I also did a major bidah....and made him do it as well...lol......after saying salam by gesture, I brought all my five fingers together, took them to my lips, and kissed them, and kind of like motioned them towards my man Sudais...lol.....

The arab people, when they wanna say you are soo sweet, that is the same thing they do and they say, "Anta Hulw", which means you are sweet. I'm sure I caught him by surprise....so a second later, sudais, does the same thing, and then he gestures with his hand and throws it back at me with a smile on his face.....lol.....then I look towards the driver and he has a big smile on his face as well....I gotta pull another stunt tomorrow morning....any ideas anyone?.....

I guess one of the hardest things for me in Hajj is to constantly hear my wife calling me (jokingly) a talko (baldie)...lol......that's really cold to us zulfa loving ppl...oh well....it's life....

You are all in my duas. Please remember me as well.
Salam,
The Stalker in Makkah