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| Kaabah |
There are two big topics for Umrah that we should learn and know before flying to Saudi Arabia for Umrah.
1. Rukun Umrah
- Niat (intention for Umrah)
- Tawaf
- Sa'ie
- Trim / cut the hair (tahallul)
- Tertib
2. Wajib Umrah
- Niat for Umrah at Miqat
- Avoid all forbidden stuffs while in ihram
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| For tawaf, if we want to be closer to Kaabah, enter via this door (Access Door for Ihram). |
Experiences for tawaf:
- Advantage for women, this door is open for we anytime. While for men, you need to be in kain ihram to enter this door.
- Otherwise, you need to get to first floor to perform tawaf. Same goes to if you have someone with wheelchair to tawaf along.
- Other alternative - use the scooter on top of Masjidil Haram (but I have not much knowledge about this)
- Although there are LOTSSS OF PEOPLE, keep in mind that Allah will surely provide area for us to tawaf.
- Just... to get closer to Hajarul Aswad is very challenging (especially for Asian girl like me). Same goes to praying in Hijr Ismail. It is possible, I strongly believe. Just I would recommend for us to complete the umrah first, then come again for tawaf sunat and attempt to touch Hajarul Aswad / pray in Hijr Ismail etc
- For shoes - if we believe the shoes are clean, put into our bag and tag along. If not, just tawakal and leave the shoes at the spaces provided.
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| Outside tawaf area. |
- Keypoint - be patient. Sabaaaaarrrrr banyak banyak.
- People can push us every single time. I would recommend if we perform tawaf with healthy men (husband / brother / father), ask them to tawaf behind us.
- Hold tightly to our group. We may lose sight of one another there but be careful to search as it will distract us from tawaf and cancel that round of tawaf.
- Pray hard that we will always be in wudu' here. Please try our best not to be in need of toilets. It will be quite challenging to take wudu' / to go to the toilets. For wudu', yes, we can always use spray but be careful not to expose our aurat.
- After tawaf, don't forget to perform solat sunat tawaf and drink zam-zam at the places provided.
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| Post tawaf. |
Chance to pray closer to tawaf area.
My tawaf was all uneventful, I mean alhamdulillah all of them went well. There was one time Emak and I had the chance to pray right in front of Kaabah. We were stucked actually as we didn't want to start tawaf yet as Asar was approaching. But, the guards kept on instructing us to move forward. Once azan began, people started to put their praying mats and prepared for Asar. We followed and wow, fortunately the guards didn't say anything.
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| Praying area. |
Attempt to touch Hajarul Aswad and making du'a at Multazam.
There was one time I went for tawaf sunat alone with the plan to attempt to touch Hajarul Aswad and do the rest possible ibadah afterwards. Tawaf was okay, alhamdulillah. After the 7th round, I slowly moved towards Kaabah. Managed to feel the kiswah (cloth that cover the Kaabah), it was beautifully made with silk and embroidered with gold thread. Not even that, when I touched the cloth, it smelt so good! SubhanAllah. No wonder we are not allowed to touch Kaabah when we are still in ihram - the fragrance.
Then, slowly I waited for Hajarul Aswad. I was close enough that I could see a glimpse of it. It was a good position for me at that time though - in front of me was a woman from Brunei and at the back was few women from Indonesia.
Unfortunately, suddenly a few Indian men crushed onto us - well imagine they were obviously larger than us, the Asian ladies. They were really aggressive that I felt so sick. Kena himpit camni pun dah sakit, macam mana lah Bilal dulu kena tindih dengan batu. T___T
After few minutes stucked there with no signs of movement, I decided to abort the mission. Takpelah, belum rezekinya. But, to step away from that huge crowd was not an easy task. :D Hehe. Kenangan betul lah.
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| Kaabah from rooftop. |
Tawaf wada'
Tawaf wada' is compulsory and done when someone is going to leave Makkah. In my case, Makkah was my first destination, then we would move to Madinah.
My eyes usually focused to the floor and Kaabah alternately just to make sure I would be in the right position (like bahu kiri kena menghala Kaabah dan jangan terlari)
The interesting part was suddenly I saw a glimpse of Maryam and her family. Hahadoii :) We were there with different agents but same dates, same routes. Punyalah berdoa kot kot jumpa masa tengah nak solat ke... ini tengah tawaf. I just smiled to myself and continued my tawaf.
Similar point to mention, we may feel excited to meet or to see someone we know, but that's a challenge. One of the rules of tawaf is we walk around Kaabah with the one purpose which is tawaf. Once we start looking around to search for them in the crowd, this may cancel our round of tawaf.
Next post will be about sa'ie :)
Till then.
SS, Perak, Malaysia
180110
