Disclaimer: I attend a Tazkeer Bil Quran (Reminders from Quran) course at Al-Mawrid Institute Canada, and my instructor is Mr. Malik Faisal Aslam. I take notes in order to be able to remember important points from the lecture/discussions and decided to share the same in synoptic form here, as and when I am able to. My only objectives are …
Wednesday, September 14, 2016 We left Mina and were dropped off at the bus station on the outskirts of Makkah. From there, we went to Masjid Al Haram for our “sign-off”. What you see above is a son helping his mother perform the Tawaf. It was beautiful to see but brought regretful sadness for me. I …
Tuesday, Sep 13, 2016 We were done with Tawaf az-Ziyarah after midnight. While we were at Abraaj Mall, I recalled that one of my old work colleagues from Pakistan was also on that Hajj. I mused that it would be a real shocker, if I would come across him. Lo and behold, Iqbal Jutt is …
Monday, September 12, 2016 Muzdalifah Reached around 1AM. Prayed Maghreb and Isha and started collecting stones for Jamarat (near Mina), where stoning the devil takes place. This was an interesting exercise, whereby every Hajji scours the area for stones (mostly small), to prepare for next day’s “venture”. The organizers distributed meal boxes to the Hajjis …
Sunday, Sep 11, 2016 On September 11th at around 1:30AM, we were asked to gather outside the canopies and prepare to move to Arafah. The Ministry of Hajj allocates each organizer, specific time slots to organize the move to various venues of Hajj. This is done to ensure safety. When you have 2-3 million people …
Friday, Sep 9, 2016 Missed Fajar, as I was really tired from Umrah the night before. Barefoot walking is not easy for me. We prayed Jummah at a mosque behind our hotel, had pizza for lunch, and got ready with the Hajj ihram (didn’t need to for another day, as we found out later). Reached …
Day 1 – Thurs, Sep 8, 2016 I remember looking forward to the Hajj trip in the morning. From what I have been told all my life, all past transgressions by a Hajji are forgiven by God on completing the process. My expectation and desire was to have that done and start afresh, with a clean …
I had the profound privilege of performing one of the 5 pillars of belief in Islam: Hajj, in 2016. I recorded the Hajj while performing it. The idea was to try and provide a glimpse of what a Hajji goes through, at least one who is a resident of Saudi. You may find it a …
So many things change so much, and then some things don’t change at all. Hajj is one of those experiences, which have the potential to be absolutely transformative for an individual. In many ways, Hajj has become so much easier than centuries, even 65 years, ago. I came across these video clips on Facebook and …
