Hajj Experience 2012: Tips and Others Advice

Exactly three year ago I wrote this on my facebook. This may be useful so I'm posting it here for the meantime.

*My Hajj Experience 2012*

A lot of people ask me for tips and advice so best I write everything down in my facebook wall. It saves a lot of time.

Two days I started with: There's about 15 minutes to go before iftar/breaking fast. Will this be enough time to write about my Hajj experience last year? (The answer is no).

We had been putting off Hajj for some years. Most recent reason was because my husband still had not finished his specialist training. So the moment he graduated, it was decided that we will go on the very next chance. And that was last year, 2012.

Early during the year we registered with a private company called company Z. This was based upon my brother-in-laws recommendation, as he had just went the previous year (2011) with his wife and her parents, and they were happy with the services that company Z provided.

The year we performed Hajj was 2012. In 2007 (five years earlier), I went to Tabung Haji to register. At that time, I was given 2017 as the year for performing Hajj. I was shocked and the person registering saw the look on my face. He said "don't worry, by 2012 you can write an appeal letter (surat rayuan)". But we were not going to rely on appeals. We paid a deposit with company Z and had our hopes high that we would be going that year.

All in all we attended 3 or maybe 4 preparatory talks at the masjid in Batu Tiga Shah Alam. We missed a lot of the classes due to demanding schedules.

Then the time came and pilgrims started to leave the country for Mecca. There were a lot of television programs about Hajj. We waited and waited for any news. We even had our bags packed with all sorts of items advised by others to bring on the holy journey like food, clothing, hangers, soap, instant noodles and other miscellaneous things.

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15 minutes was not enough time, so now I continue with part 2 (this was written early yesterday morning after subuh/morning prayer):

But the call did not come. I remember one point where my husband started to take things out from his Hajj bag. (He took one sachet of his favourite 3in1 coffee). I was disappointed. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember thinking "It ain't over until it's over". The airport was still open. There is still hope. Keep praying. God is known for miracles.

And then Agong left for Mecca. That was pretty discouraging. But who knew, we would leave after Agong's flight. Talk about VVIP experience.

Other friends started to leave weeks earlier, one by one after getting 'the call'. For us, it was 'the wait'. And wait we did. We did not lose hope and we asked everyone who was going to please pray in front of the Kaabah that we will be joining them soon.

Finally, on friday afternoon, agent Z called to congratulate us. Apparently there was a quota problem, the Saudi government was doing renovations and did not want too many pilgrims that things would be unsafe, so they kept reassessing the situation, and released quota as they felt was right. According to our Ustaz though, it was nothing to do with the Saudi quota. I was just that God had decided we were going for Hajj that year, end of story.

Somehow, we did not go on the next available flight, like some friends did. Instead, we were left in limbo until the very last flight out on the 23rd October 2013.

It was low key, I am not a fan of goodbyes and I discouraged people from coming to send us off. We just took a taxi to KLIA. It was difficult saying goodbye but I knew God will take care of my kids while I'm gone.

There were about 600 pilgrims on the same flight. During the flight they made the announcement when we flew over the miqat to make our niat/intention of performing Hajj. We were officially in the state of ihram.

A few weeks before departure myself and hubby made some simple shopping, I would encourage others to buy the telekung ihram which is slightly shorter than the usual telekung, making it easier to move around in, especially in the public toilets. My hubby's kain ihram was provided by the Z company. Other useful items are the water spray for taking wudhu and hangers plus laundry soap to wash and dry clothes,and yes, bring the clothes peg as well.

Hajj is a very physical and practical form of worship. There is no real memorisation involved. All prayers/doa are not compulsory. But there is a need to understand how to perform the hajj correctly. This knowledge has to be gained prior to arrival, or in my case, have a spouse who knows everything, and can teach you, is good too.

We arrived at the airport, once outside the heat did hit me. It was 2 am. I think. Then we caught the bus to our hotel, but we were stuck in the bus for some eight hours because the driver seemed to have missed the pilgrim registration point and we were going in circles although already near the Kaabah. It was a strange experience.

Before going to Mecca, everyone hears the horror stories that whatever you say or even think, you will be paid in cash. There are so many examples I can't mention them but I'm glad I went knowing, so I did my best to control my words and thoughts that way.

Eventually we arrived at the hotel, had some food, and escaped the introductory talk because my husband was adamant we would do tawaf qudum and saie before going to Arafah that evening (yes, we arrived JUST in time for Arafah, thank you God for making my wish come true).

It was the first time I laid eyes on the Kaabah. It is difficult to describe the feeling. It was about 10.30am and not too warm. The crowd was intense. I could never have imagined what tawaf was like despite seeing it on television many times. The experience was very different. After making the seven rounds, nearing the end of it the heat was almost unbearable as it was nearing afternoon. We left and headed to Safa to start saie Haji. We had to stop in between in order to perform zuhur prayers, again, an experience I will never forget as pilgrims immediately formed saf and heeded the call to prayer during saie.

After completing the saie I felt a huge feeling of accomplishment, imagine after more than 24 hours journey, we went straight for tawaf and saie without proper rest and sleep. We headed straight back to the hotel, had a shower and laid down on the bed. The next thing I remember was a knock on the door. We almost missed the bus to Arafah, but the Z company officials did make sure no one was left behind.

We had the big bag and the small bag. The small bag was packed with clothing and other essentials to take to Arafah. We bought lip balm, cream and soap which was fragrance free although some Ustaz did say it was ok to use those with fragrance. We also brushed our teeth without toothpaste for the duration we were in ihram (total two nights only). I had even cut my hair extremely short hoping it will make the ihram experience more bearable (you can't brush or comb your hair during this time, which is a small form of sacrifice).

First time seeing dates on trees. Very impressed Subhanallah.

I slept a lot on the bus to Arafah. I was so tired. My husband was always my pillar of strength. He even fasted during the day in Arafah. We were taken to our tent. It was open, just a tent above the head but it was spacious enough to fit all of us. Our tent had carpets. I heard the other pilgrims from the same company had mattresses because they came earlier and it could be organised. I was happy enough to lie on the ground. I didn't sleep very well but I did get some rest. There was some lining up at the toilets but it wasn't that bad. It really struck me how difficult it must be for the frail and elderly pilgrims as I saw an old lady get up from her wheelchair and walk up a flight of stairs to reach the toilets.

Because of this I tell everyone to go when you are young, go now, don't worry about the kids and other matters, it is a challenge even when you are young and healthy.

To be continued...end of part 1 for now.