haji... Jan05-Feb05 - a journey that i wouldn't forget.. PART I

wow! sedar tak sedar, it's has been 3 years since my haj.. (but dats the hijrah calendar lah.. if masihi calendar, it's already 4 years)...

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the flashback (Aug03)

after i graduate my bachelor, i decided not to work immediately. i need to settle lotssa things before i can start working.

what happen in between, can't really be revealed here, but enuff said that mom are officially got the freedom that she deserved.

i was unemployed for almost a year. i joined SLG at got my CCNA in 6 months.

after my CCNA course, mom decided to proceed with her haj application & registration. after a short family meeting, i decided to accompany her and CousinZ. it's a requirement for a muslimah who is not accompanied by her muhrim to have 2 related female as a mahram substitute.

so, we decided to inter-mahram-ing. :)

the haj journey begins

the registration.

me & CousinZ register to TH a month after mom.

soon after, we enrolled to the Kursus Haji Bersiri with Ustadz Shamsuddin.

since CousinZ lives in SJ, she decided to follow the one that is nearer to her house and we followed the one in TM.

and yes, it's the same ustadz, same day but different time, of course.

it went well.

untill... the drama begins...

the offer letter.

me&CousinZ did not received our offer letter.

only mom did & due to no mahram registered together, her name was being KIVed again.

we went all out to TH main office is asking advise and procedures on where to go about.

we prayed so hard that Allah will lead us the way.

yes, orang kata, kenalah pasrah, kalau x dapat, but that doesn't mean that we all x payah usaha langsung, right?

our prayers has been answered... Alhamdulillah, with just one appeal letter (our main reason is, MAHRAM) our application went tru and we received the offer letter 2 days later.

ALHAMDULILLAH...

we were then called to attend the Kursus Haji Insentif and Kursus Haji Perdana provide by TH. It is a compulsory course for all registered and confirmed jemaah.

We were so happy and excited.

We were told on how to clean our soul and also to stick with one divine attention going for Haj which is Lillah hi taala...

untill....

job offer.

rezeki kan kat tangan ALLAH.

somewhere in Aug04 (genap setahun unemployed), i received a job offer from one of the anchor bank (which is where i am currently still working).

the day i collect my offer letter, i decided to tell my future boss,ML about my Haj status.
she's not a muslim.

and what did she said?? "Siti, if you were to accept this offer, i will assure you that i will approve your Haj leave".

was i delighted?

of course, Alhamdulillah.

i sign the letter and headed straight home to tell mom the good news.

on Nov04, 2 months after i started working, i got an offer to attend some sort of exam in enrolling to gov, which i applied online during unemployed, a year before.

mom ask me to just give it a shot since it is only an exam. no other assurance or confirmation.

a month later, Dec04, i was being called for an assesment camp for 3days 2 nights. yes, it is the next step if you passed the exam. oh yes, i passed the exam.

when was the assesment?

Jan05!

when will i be going to Haj?

also the good Jan05!!!!!!!!!!

the delima

i pray and pray for answers.

i believe, the best answer will only come from ALLAH.

and then, i sit with mom and discuss.

i gve out my reasons.

Allah gves me rezeki yg berlimpah2, Alhamdulillah...

dengan Haj offer, dapat keje, and now the assesment.

takkan la i nak tamak & rembat sume kan? no no no...

so, i decided to decline the assesment.

InsyaAllah...ada rezeki, ada lah nanti.

the preparation.

we started to shop for our necessary usage.

luggage will be given by our travel agency later.

we bought a wudhuk spray, a zikr counter, non fragrance lip balm&moisturiser, additonal pure white jubah from SriMunawwarah(my fav boutique) and other listed items.

Thnks for my cousin bro, AbgZ for sharing his and her wife's Haj list to us.

the road'show'.

we travel to all relatives house during weekends after our Kursus Haji Bersiri.

reason? to seek forgiveness and prayers for our Haj ibadah & trip.

most of my relatives are surprised as i am going with mom...

"muda muda lagi, dh pegi Haji... takut tak?"

"untungnya... sihat2 lagi dh dapat pegi.."

all that makes me more strong and ready to face Haj.

not only for the Haj journey but also of course, to took great care of mom&cousinZ.

the day.

09Jan2005

our flight was scheduled 11:45pm.

during the day, guest non stop at home.

wishing us the best of health and the best of ibadah.

after maghrib, mom & me did our mandi sunat ihram & solat sunat ihram.

after isyak, we read the doa ihram and also doa tinggal kan rumah.

then, all of us (our close family&relatives) gather at our living room. AbgZaidi recite doa for us. tears started flowing to my cheek. now, i realise... this is a big Jihad for me. anything could happen. this could even be the last time i'm going to see all of them, the people i love most.

i seek forgiveness from everyone.

i console mom&myself that, we are doing this for Allah... so, we should be proud & happy bout it. the rest, just leave it to Allah.

AbgZaini recite the azan for us.

that azan... the azan that iring me&mom out from the house.we didn't even looked back.

straight to sis's car we go.

BigD was all the time with me in the car.

dat, makes me cry.

he is very very very attached to me.

yelah, since he was born, i was unemployed. so, i am the one who baby sit him during the day.

sis even told me to doa so that BigD won't terlalu rindukan we all.

sampai kat TH, we gather with CousinZ and another bunch of close relatives.

another heart-to-heart scene.

oh! my cousin saw MishaOmar. heard dat she is sending her parents for Haj.

at sharp 11:30pm, we are called to be in the departure hall at TH.

BigD wouldn't let mom go. so sad.

we even got to lie to him that we needed to go to the toilet and then only sis managed to take him away.

now, just the three of us.

the departure.

at the hall, we were given another last ceramah on the current cuaca, our status, the ring ring card and also on the current exchange rate.

we then, lead ourselves for a wudhuk and perform our solat sunat musafir.

and then, we wore our ihram.

yes, we decided to perform Haji Ifrad. (performing Haj 1st, then, umrah).

and..its 12 days to wuquf.

the flight.
on the flight, bila sampai tempat miqat, all 3 of us, pasang niat ihram.

on flight, we never stop chanting our zikr until we fall asleep and terjaga again n again...

sampai la sampai at Jeddah airport.

we perform our Subuh prayer on flight.

we landed at about 8am.

the arrival.

when we landed at Jeddah airport, we all sume dikumpulkan to this one area for immigration purposes.

and..the queue is veeerrryy looonngggg.

yelah, all around the globe ada kat situ kan?

itu tak termasuk all the mujahiddin yg masuk untuk buat haji sendiri. not tru any package or specific haj visa/passport.

jeddah airport.

TH served all jemaah haji from Malaysia with lunch. nasi putih, sayur campur & ayam masak merah.sedap! Alhamdulillah....
i still wonder till today, nape la orang banyak complaint pasal makan. Alhamdulillah, for us.

then, we perform our zuhur&asar prayer, jama'.

soon after, the bus that are supposed to bring us to Makkah arrive.

and the next journey begins...

makkah al mukarrama.

we stayed here for 30 wonderful days.

sampai je kat Makkah, we all banyak kena stop.

check itu ini... but, dats not a problem to us as all our important docs were with our agent. so, he's the one handling all those questions in arabic.

i always love the smell of makkah. i can sense the smell once we are in town. the smell of masjidil haram... Subhanallah!

all the stops, berebut2 orang2 kaya Makkah, bagi macam2 hadiah...

bagi tasbih, bagi air zam zam, bagi sejadah yg kecik2 tu... bagi buku2 doa...

macam2!

berebut2 umat nak cari pahala...

may Allah blessed them with blessed rezeki, always & forever...amin...

sampai hotel, Alhamdulillah, just around 20m away from Masjidil Haram. we were advised to settle down first.

tawaf qudum & sai'e haji.

we performed our first jemaah in masjidil haram for maghrib.

after isyak, we first do our tawaf qudum aka tawaf selamat datang. soon after, we perform our sai'e haji.

alhamdulillah, all went well. we even managed to perform our tawaf very near to Kaabah.

we did everything like told by UstadShamsuddin... he advise us to do it slowly but surely and most important is... to do it the best that we can.

alhamdulillah, mom was ok and so was cousinZ..and also me, of course.

to be continue.....

Note: all pictures were copied from the internet search