Hajj Trip - Day 1 - 5 In Mecca
Day 1 till 5 – 21st - 26th Dec 2005I still could not believe that I would shortly leave Indonesia for Hajj with my mother. I left Surabaya to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia with 2 stopover posts at Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam and Sharjah International Airport at Abu Dhabi, Dubai.I left home at 02:30 a.m. to join with other hajj congregants at Al Akbar Mosque. We all wait for morning prayer “Fajr”. My cousin and his family took me and my mother to the mosque. By bus we left the mosque heading to the Surabaya Airport, Juanda, after being told by ustadz what to do and what not to do during the period we would be in the pilgrimage. I was in bus nr. 2. On the way, we were continuously guided to recite :“Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik, Labbaika La Syarika Laka Labbaik, Innal Hamda, Wani’mata, La ka Wal Mulku, La Syarikalaka”. In English will be “‘Here I am O Allaah, (in response to Your call), here I am. Here I am, You have no partner, here I am. Verily all praise, grace and sovereignty belong to You. You have no partner.’All Hajj Congregants left Surabaya at 07:10 a.m. by Royal Brunei BI796, expected to arrive in Bandar Seri Begawan Airport, Brunei at 10:25 a.m. The plane was not bad and I was happy that the departure was on time. I had been told previously by friend that even for Hajj Plus Service, the departure was delayed. It did not happen in my case ( Thank God.Bandar Seri Begawan Airport was good, compared with Surabaya Airport Juanda (. The floor was covered by red carpets. In the airport we had time 3 hours before continuing the trip to the next stopover, Sharjah Abu Dhabi. I took chance to see around the airport. I bought phone card for IDR 50,000 to call my brothers in Surabaya, letting them know that I and my mom were in Brunei, unfortunately the telephone box did not work. I failed to call but I kept the card. We arrived in Jeddah International Airport midnight and we were told to prepare everything. Mentally it is the point of the hajj process starts. We changed our outfit with ihram, we took bath in the airport as it could be the last bath we could get when we stay in Mecca until the process of wearing ihram finishes.
From Jeddah, the organiser provided a big bus to Mecca and took only 2 hours. We arrived in Mecca in the morning, at the time of morning prayer. We headed to Masjidil Haram for morning prayer then we checked in to Hilton Hotel, only 5 minutes walk from Masjidil Haram.
When we stayed in Mecca, I and my mother had chance to do the Umrah, for myself and my late father. When he lived until he passed away in 1990 he had no chance to have hajj nor umrah. I felt a bit mellow when I remember him. May Lord gorgives him.
We were also taken to have sight seing such as Jabal Nur (mount of Light), Gua Hira (Cave of Hira), Masjid Jin (Mosque of Jin), Makam Baqi' (Baqi' graveyard), the first holiest graveyard in Mecca as Aminah (mother of holy Prophet, Khadijah (wife of Holy Prophet) were burried in this graveyard. Pasar Seng, is the most popular folk street market in Mecca amongst Indonesian.
After 5 days staying in Hilton Hotel, Mecca, we were transferred to Madinah. There was a little misunderstanding between the jamaah and the organiser. The organiser at beginning informed that the hotel we would stay in Madinah namely Sheraton Al Karam Hotel. We imagined it would be like Sheraton Hotel in Surabaya, at least. But then we found that the Hotel named Al Karam, without Sheraton.
The room was lesser than Hilton Hotel as well as the facility. But we were always told that out trip was to meet Allah, not to enjoying stay in fancy hotel :)
Mecca to Madinah took 8 hours