The guest of His Mercy. This is where I rather be

Arrived in Makkah at 2 am and soon checked in to room 509 Al-Bousten Hotel. The hotel is 5 minutes from Masjidil Haram. I was sharing with brother Sattar. He’s from Ashton UK and his first Umrah trip. We were from the same Umrah tour company Friends Travel Limited based in Manchester UK. On my hand I was prepared by dinner box from trhe reception as we arrived. Hungry and tired from the journey I ate the whole dinner which was cold and soggy fried chicken with fries. I was waking up Sattar from his sleep when I checked in. He had arrived 3 days earlier and has done his first Umrah.

Umrah is lesser pilgrimage in which one pilgrimage has to do Tawaf( circumambulate the Kaaba 7 times) and Sa’i- A combined walk and run performed seven times between the hills of Safa and Marwah. A re-enactment of the frantic search for water of Hajar - Prophet Ibrahim's wife for her son Ismaill. These acts and spiritual obligations performed at anytime of the year and does not involve going to Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat as during Hajj.

I was in the state of Ihram and ready to go to Masjidil Haram. We took Wudhu in the hotel. Wudhu is an Islamic act of washing part of the body using water in preparation for ritual prayers. It is obligatory before performing prayers or even touching Quran. The act is done in sequent :
 Washing the face once.
 Washing both the arms including the elbows once.
 Touching the forehead, the part where the hair starts with water .
 Washing the earlobe
 Washing both the feet once up to and including the ankles.

Brother Sattar chatted on how to encounter the first sighting of Kaaba. We left the hotel and soon infront of King Abdul Aziz gate I was so amazed with the crowd and the building. It was 3 in the morning. I stepped in on my right foot. In Islam most things are to be done preferably by right hand or right foot. I remembered the entrance gate and which shoe rack I put my sandal since it is the biggest mosque one might forget which gate they entered for the first time.


Inside hearts cry at the first sighting of the Holy Kaaba, overwhelmed with emotion and enormity of the achievement, of finally making it to the Holy City to be His guest. Seeing Kaaba infront of my eyes was explainable. Then I made Du’a - a supplication in Islam. Du’a is the very essence of worship. Islamic Scholars state the first Du’a infront of Kaaba is always accepted. Right after that I started doing Tawaf (circumambulation the Kaaba 7 times). The first tawaf is called Tawaf al-Qudum which means the very first tawaf on arrival of makkah ie the ‘hello’ or ‘I’ve arrived’ Tawaf. I performed 7 circuit around the Kaaba in anti-clockwise direction with the Kaaba on my left hand side (7 circles equal 1 tawaf). The fist 3 circuits performed with the chest forward and shoulders rolling ie walking in fast pace with small steps. I recited ‘Bismillah Allah-u- Akbar at the start of each circuit when I see the hajar Aswad(sacred black stone 4 feet from ground built at east corner of Kaaba) and kiss hajar Aswad at the start of each circuit. It’s always not practicable to kiss Hajar Aswad with the crowd of pilgrims at all time so raised the hand towards it and then kiss the hand symbolically is representing kissing Hajar Aswad. Nearing towards my seventh circuit , I was in tears. An excitement and joyous of being able in seeing and witnessing Allah’s love to His servant. God almighty. Granted my wish to be in His Sacred House! Then I made a Sunnah prayer in Maqam Ibrahim. Maqam Ibrahim is marked by an octagonal sculpture on northeast side of Kaaba. It is where the footprint of Prophet Ibrahim still visible. With the 2 rakkat sunnah prayer, my Tawaf Qudum was finished.

Before subuh prayer( the first prayer at the crack of the dawn) I recite Al-Quran on surah Yasin. Realizing I still have the energy and not that tired I decided to complete the Umrah . As mentioned earlier Umrah is the act of Tawaf and Sa’i. So I did the second Tawaf(the first one was ‘hello’ tawaf) in other word repeating the whole process of tawaf above. After completed I continued to do Sa’i. The sa’i is a combined walk and jog/run performed 7 times between the hills of Safa and Marwah after the completion of tawaf, 2 rakaat sunnah prayer and drinking Zam zam water from the spring in Masjidil Haram. Safa is a hill 200 yards from Kaaba and Marwah is the other hill 150 yard from Kaaba. In the early days the path of Sa’i was and open air outdoor area but nowadays it’s covered and complete with the route for pilgrims with wheelchairs in the middle. It can be performed straight after tawaf or at a different time after completing tawaf.


To complete my Umrah I had my hair trimmed. Soon after , I left Masjidil Haram back to hotel. I took off Ihram and change into everyday cloth. With this my Umrah is finally finished.