Makkah and its Significance

Today is the day of Arafah. Millions have either arrived in the Arafah plains or still on their foot hoping to reach there before Zuhr today. In Makkah itself, the crowd of hujjaj has thinned and today is also the day for the annual Kiswah changeover. I managed to catched a glimpse on the process of changing the cloth covering Ka'abah telecast live from Saudi Channel 1. Its pleasing to the eyes to see the ka'abah bricks and mortar under the all too familiar black Kiswah. Maybe one day I hope to witness that in person. InsyaAllah.

While in Makkah last year, our group Syeikh Ustaz shared some history and significance about Makkah. Here, I recalled back my memory on the blessed city and what I gathered from the Syeikh.
Makkah is the holiest city on earth to Muslims. It is variously known as Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Umm Al-Qura (the origin of the Cities; Asyu-a-ra' QS26:7), Al Balad (the City; Al-Balad QS90:1-2) , Al Balad Al-Ameen (the Secure City ), and Al-Balad Al-Haram (the Sacred City), Al-Qaryah (The village An-Nahl QS116:112, Muammad QS47:13). It is also known as 'Bakkah' referred to in the Surah Ali-Imran which means congested with people.

Makkah is and has been the center of the earth from the beginning of time and during the period of the Prophet Muhammad it was turn into the Qiblat (direction) for mankind to worship Allah. Evidence are plenty around the city of Makkah which proven it to be the oldest city ever built on earth. People from the Arab jazeera as well as around the world ply the trade route there and made Makkah the center of trading as well as worshipers.

The peace and harmony in the city not only felt by human who live there but also by animals and trees. Hujjaj are prohibited to kill animal while they are assuming the intention to perform Hajj as prescribed in the Quran Al-Maidah QS5:95-96. Those who 'Ilhad' or assume evil intention but have not even commit the offense while in Makkah and the surrounding land of Haram will be recorded as doing a crime and punishment is severe by Allah as also evidence in Surah Hajj QS22:25. Thus is how Allah protect his house the Baitullah Al Haram.

It was said that the Ka'abah was first built by Prophet Adam and has gone through 12 times of rebuilding. The most famous of the builders were Prophet Ibrahim and his son Prophet Ismail who built and raised the Ka'abah as we have seen today. This fact was clearly marked in history as recorded by the Al-Quran in Al-Baqarah QS2:127. Prophet Ibrahim supplicated to Allah to bless Makkah as a safe haven where worshipers of Allah will come to visit and hence it was said that the Makkah land of Haram was declared by him.

Later, Makkah was hit by a major flood that destroyed the Ka'abah and hence it was rebuilt by the Quraisy and Prophet Muhammad was chosen to be the righteous one among his people to reinstall the Hajr Aswad in its rightful place. This took place at a time before he assume the prophet hood.

Now, there are 934 markers built around Makkah to signify the boundary between Land of Haram and Halal. The main entrance to Makkah are Tanaim, Adhat Libn, Asy-Syara'i, Al-Hudaibiyah and Jabal Namirah in Arafah.

Almost all of the major places in Makkah are related to a very big part of the world history. For example, the very foundation of the Ka'abah itself was said to be the first ground that Allah created when he created the earth. While Jabal Qubais where the current King's palace is located is said to be the first mountain that Allah created.
Jabal Qubais and the palace.

The hill of Safa where one begins his Sai'e ritual was the hill that Prophet Muhammad climbed to the top and begin his first sermon to the public when Allah instructed him to perform Da'awah openly. Here on the hill, the Prophet and his sahabah(companion) Abdullah Abbas met a Syaithan (devil) who has lived from the time of Habil & Qabil (Kane & Abel) which proofs that devils are granted with long life. The Safa hill is also said to be the place where a weird animal name Dabbah will rise from it which would signify the end of time.

Jabal Nur is the location where Hira' cave is located and here is the place where the first verse of the Quran was read to the prophet by the angel Jibrail (Gabriel). Maybe next time if I go to Makkah, i will make sure that i climbed this steep hill and experience myself the harship face by the prophet.
Over the time, Makkah has changed a lot and none of the historical buildings were preserved as the Saudi government hold a strict policy concerning idolization. Many buildings like the house of the Prophet was demolished to avoid from ill-intent worshipers from idolizing the place. Although buildings were destroyed or renovated, the location still remain and over the years people will still pass on the story of places where they were thought to be original location.

For example, the library on the east of the Masjidil Haram was said to be the location of the house where Prophet Muhammad was born. The significant of this building is it is directly facing the Babussalam and hence the Ka'abah door. Coincidence? Not!
The library said to be the ouse where Prophet was born.

The location of the current Hilton Hotel now was said to be the original house of Abu Bakr sahabah and father in law of the Prophet. There is a Musolla by his name inside the Hilton building.

The location of the Sofitel Hotel now was said to be the house of Uthman Ibni Affan, the wealthiest of the Prophet's sahabah.

The Souk-ul-Lail was the night market where the Prophet carried out his business during nighttime when he was boycotted by the people of Makkah for conveying Islam.

The Abi Arqam entrance to the Masjid was said to be the house of Abi Arqam where the prophet teaches the religion in private to Muslim during the first few years.

Masjid Rayyah or more fondly known as Masjid 'Kucing' (cat) to Malaysian hujjaj is associated with the history of the Fathu Makkah (the reopening of Makkah)

Masjid Jinn is the location where the Prophet made a barrier for his Sahabah, Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud for protection against the disturbing Jinn when the Prophet is visiting the Jinn's village.

So, the above are some of the stories I collected from the Syeikh during my month long stay in Makkah. It was an eye opener and made me appreciate more of Makkah as I walk in its street and visualizing how it was back than.

Actually it helps much if we understand Makkah and its history while we perform the Hajj rituals. Once we can visualize the history than it become clear the philosophy behind each rituals. In fact a lot of the manasik is actually reenactment of the past. For e.g. Sai'e relates the story of Hajar, Prophet Ibrahim A.S wife who were searching for water for her son Ismail which made her to run up and down the hill of Safa and Marwah.

It is not so hard to imagine the spirit and feeling of Hajar who was left there alone in the middle of a dessert unfamiliar to her with a new born son, with no food or water. Imagine what she feels like then, her fortitude, her resolution and at the same time exhaustion, terrified, afraid. But she did not give up but fix her faith fully in Allah. Allah will never abandon those who are righteous.

As you perform the Sai'e and watch your wife doing the same you would pray that she would have the same courage and spirit of Hajar.. Amin!

Contentious issues about the real 9 Zulhijjah

First and foremost, I praise Allah over the blessing that He has given me over the past year and has extended another year of my life. InsyaAllah in 2 days we will meet yet again another 9th Zulhijjah, or the Day of Arafah. It is the single most important day for all Muslim especially the Hujjaj whom were blessed to be presence at the sacred land of Arafah.

In a meaning of a Hadith, the Prophet pbuh has said that there is no other day that Allah frees many of His servants from Hellfire but on the day of Arafah. That is why we are urge to fast on the day of Arafah and ask his forgiveness. Another meaning of Hadith on the advantages of fasting on the day of Arafah, the Prophet says that Allah will forgive all the sins of His servant for the past year and the next.

I hope I am able to do the same. And so, many has also realized the great things that is on offer by Allah on the special day. As more and more people begin to understand, than there will be more question. And, being weak human, we are predisposed to school of thoughts and hence we start to argue about the real day of the Arafah.

Especially with Satellite TV, we learned that for this year the day of Arafah is observed on the 18th December in Saudi while in other parts of the world like Malaysia, the day fall on the 19th. So some would argue that we should follow Saudi while other steadfastly maintains that we have to follow the rule of the country.

As usual, in Malaysia we are normally adopts the Rukyah system for reason lost to me. In other countries, like Saudi, they will see the hilal to determine the first day of the moon. Even country like Sudan benefit from Saudi by just adopting whatever decision their neighbor made. Maybe the sky is always clear in Saudi and the mountains are higher that they are more apt than we Malaysian in finding the moon. If this issue is further discuss, it will get more complicated with countries like India and Pakistan who are often 2 days behind than the rest of the world. Weird not?

Well, for us, the normal servants and on the street Muslim, we just follow what is being announced by the leader of our country. If Malaysia announced Arafah to fall on the 19th, so be it. InshaAllah our fasting and doa would not go unrecognized by Allah AlMighty and Most Forgiving.

Here are some articles concerning the issue. Read here and here.

Than come a question, if a hujjaj is coming from a country that declared first of Zulhijjah different from Saudi, the caretaker of Mecca and Arafah, should he observed his day of Arafah like his country or Saudi? I think even a kindergarten pupil can answer that. Long answer is, if he stick to his country date, the hujjaj simply can't be called a Hajj when he return because: Al Hajj is Arafah. And Arafah is the 9th day of Zulhijjah in Arafah lah. ;-)
Sunset on Arafah. Last minute to make Doa before the sunsets. You will find so many people there, but the air is so quiet with no voices to be heard. All of them are having private conversation with Allah. Tears melting in their eyes! What a feeling!

In a way, it is good if we have different opinion and argue over it, which goes to show that we are more matured and have more knowledge about our religion. On the other hand, it is bad especially if it divides the Ummah. We pray and hope that one day, all the Muslim Ummah will unite and observe the same day for the first of Ramadhan, Eid as well as the Zulhijjah. Afterall, there is only one moon!

Towards the Ka’abah, and the One

Article about haji, a good read here.

Last night my friend and I were chit chatting about the experience congregating here in Sudan as well as Dubai. Mostly we were reminiscing the culture shock we had when we first got here where we had to control ourselves from breathing the 'aroma' of fellow 'jemaat' during prayer at mosques around here. Well, since water is scarce locals rarely take shower thus explains the sweaty whiff of smells carried by the wind to our untrained nostrils. Overtime, it simply faded as we blended in :-)

We also funnily reflect on the timorous Malaysian Muslim who normally pull their feet away in annoyance or sometime disgust when they strangely felt that the next guy is somehow fidgeting with their toes with his. His first thought would be "What is he doing?" or "Is he trying to be funny?". Actually, it is a misunderstood on our part being Jahil (unlearned) for certain about the practice here in the middle east and Sudan to close the gaps between saf(ranks) in prayer. So the joke is on us, Malaysian so call 'devoted' Muslim.

Normally, Jemaat prayer in Malaysia we would avoid touching or have any form of body contacts with the fellow jemaat next to us. Little that we know that what we are doing is contradicting to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad himself who mandate closing the ranks to avoid devils from disturbing prayer.

Another habit of we Malaysian is that we tend to fill up the ranks at the hindmost of the saf or nearest to the door. Thus explains the huge crowd we normally find at the doors and entrance if we were to arrive late say for Jumaah or Terawih prayer, then chances of praying inside the comfort of the mosque is zero. Malaysian are happy to bring their 'sajadah' and pray under the tree blindly following the faint voice of the Imam who is praying across the road from them. (you can see this at KLCC mosque each Friday).

If you are one of them, you might find yourself awkward in the land of Haram.

Thus the title towards Kaabah from the article in the Star quickly recalls the times when I felt at odd praying at the Masjidil Haram myself.
Pilgrims just crossed your head if they want to get to the front sometime shoving you aside. Even the ladies from certain countries has no mercy on you, instead they blame you for blocking the way. "Hey I arrive here first", you think aloud. Of which you receive a narrow look on the face of the Makcik or Pakcik.

In the Land of Haram, 'Malaysian style saf' is a no-no. Which is a good thing to teach a thing or two about the real way of performing prayer. However, the downside you may find there is the odd mix of man and woman in a saf. Another problem is the orientation of your Qiblat. I'll explain a little bit next.

Concerning mix in the Saf
The best way to overcome this is through knowledge. This is seldom preach by the Hajj crash course, and people tend to miss asking about making the right saf for a perfect prayer. So, since I am not an Ustaz, I suggest you put this 'cepu emas' question to your Ustaz about how to handle a situation should you find yourself praying beside or even behind a woman.

The plane of the Ka'abah, you see is for the tawaf (circumambulation) so the only time that nobody is doing the tawaf is during the 5 prayers. So, minutes before the prayer or just after the muezzin make the call for prayer, you would find hujjaj (pilgrims) praying and the situation is too crowded that the women folks sometime are sandwiched between the men. Sometime, you are the cheese in between the sandwich! So be careful, depending on your intentions you might risk invalidating your jemaat prayer thus losing the reward.

You might find that some hujjaj from certain countries are very tolerant about this. My advice: Don't copy them. Make sure you understood the requirements of your own scholars.

Concerning the orientation of the Qiblat
Although you are in the Masjidil Haram and being in such close proximity with the landmark of all Muslim, does not necessarily mean that everywhere you face there is the ka'abah. If you are praying behind a column or a wall, do double check your orientation as the next person could be as clueless as you are. Lightly taking for granted the qiblat you are facing might risk invalidating your prayer, so be careful. The best way is to plan your ibadah so that you are not caught being late and have to pray outside or on the streets as here the risk of wrong orientation is greater!

A tip
Here I would like to offer the best way to get the first saf for prayer in front of the Ka'abah. However, there is no one way to do it because basically here in Mekah, you have to believe that everything is by Allah’s will.

Getting to the first saf is a daunting task considering the crowd of hujjaj always infront of the Ka'abah. The most difficult corner, I would say is the east side of the Ka'abah where the Multazam and the Hajr Aswad (Black Stone) is. That is where the best place to supplicate so you can imagine the multitude of pilgrims who also have the same wish as you to get to that corner, thus getting a first saf here is quite a feat.

Sometime, depending on the time of day you would see a lot of shoving and shouting and people sometime loss their temper here. Please avoid getting yourself mix up with the crowd, I am sure you would regret it. If yo really want to try, the best time is late at night but maybe around 11pm-1am where the crowd of Isha’ has thinned and the crowd for the night prayer has not arrived yet. Besides it is not too hot so you can concentrate. Again, be aware that you won’t be the only one who have the same idea.

But, I am digressing here. I wanted to offer the tip to get to the first saf right? Ok, lets get to the point. The surefire way to get the first saf each prayer, at least in my book is to positioned yourself near the Hijr Ismail just before the prayer time. So, you may try to do a Tawaf sunat around the Ka'abah but make sure you end it about half hour to prayer time. Then slowly make way to the innermost circle during circumambulation by getting as close as possible to the Hijr Ismail (preferably north west corner near the entrance into the Hijr).

Note: If you are still performing tawaf, you risk invalidating your tawaf if you step to close to Kaabah by stepping on the Hatem or touching the Hijr as it is a part of the Kaabah built that one is not suppose to trespass during tawaf.

Once you are close to the Hijr, try to get to the west side of the Ka'abah and positioned yourself there like you are stopping to make supplication. Trust me, 30 minutes is not a long wait for trying to ensure yourself on the first saf. Before long, when the muezzin make call for prayer and hujjaj nearest to the ka'abah tend to sit down, also the mosque officials would normally direct them to sit down and arrange the fist saf. Should you were ushered away by the them, follow the instruction but don’t get too far to observe how to get the first saf the next time. Once you get it, trust me, it’s the most beautiful feeling you would ever feel while in prayer. All your life performing prayer to an unseen qiblat, now right in front of your eyes. Your sujud sometime would touch the hatim and.. hmm..I can’t share you my feeling.

I tried doing it around the other corners of Ka'abah but is less successful due to the fact that many hujjaj tend to stick themselves face and body to the wall of Ka'abah as well as the long queue to kiss the Hajr Aswad spoils my intentions. However, normally the west side of the ka'abah is less congested. You would experience the same when you are doing the circumambulation.

InsyaAllah, depend on your intention, Allah will grant you your wishes as long as you don't hurt others in the process. Do remember that Allah never abandon his righteous worshipers. Amin

Duyyuf-ur-Rahman

This is an obligatory post on Hajj. The final and last pillar of Islam, once one completed the rituals he would surely feels that he has completed his duty as a Muslim and as a servant of Allah Al-Mighty. It is not a simple task to complete, and the journey is full of hardships that each individual will face and experience. One experience would be totally different from the other depending on the eye that views it and the soul that experiences it. One would feel humility and is humble by walking on his two legs to the mosque each time while another would feel that it’s the worst thing that he has to go through in his entire life, what with the heat and the multitude of pilgrims and beggars that he bumps into on the road. All of them however, have the same objective and target and all on the same path, the path that the Most Gracious, Most Merciful has shown.

It is a privilege for the one who is chosen to be present on the day of Arafah amidst millions of people, but in numbers the percentage is significantly small maybe 0.004%, a fraction that one can't help but feel grateful to be able to commit to the journey.

Hajj is a specific rituals perform at a specific time and place and the only way that one could ever hope to accomplished it is through knowledge and education of how and why to go about it. There is no short cut to learning the rituals as relying on chance or copying others is not the way, but would only leave you with empty hands and maybe sin. One may have all the money in the world and still cannot even make the journey simply because he or she does not understand the ‘Manasik’ of Hajj (Manasik=jurisprudence?) and its significance. Bottom line, if he is not the one on the VIP list of Ar-Rahman, he could never make it nor even think about it.

The Preparation
Before he leaves his home, he has to remove from him all his clothes and wealth and wear only 2 piece of unsewn white cloth: one covering the waist to the ankle and another piece is thrown over the shoulder. Thus, he enters the state of Ihram! He can’t help but feel that he is but a corpse and that his love one had wrapped him with 2 pieces of white cloth before sending him to his grave. Such is the emotion!

At that time, all his family has only well wishes to complement him that reinforced his spirit to leave his comfortable home and begin his long awaited journey. His children may cry and made a ruckus of a scene at the bus terminal but no tears were shed, at least not until his completely alone waiting for the bus that will take him to the plane.

All the pilgrims wear the same white cloth, the women in white veil, a symbol of unity and together they chant the Talbiyah:

"Here I am, O God, at Your service! Here I am at Your service! O Lord, no partner do You have. Here I am at Your service! Truly, all the praise and the favor is Yours, and the dominion. No partner do You have”

Hearts melts, voice hoarse, tears running each cheek, the feeling deep inside that pulls you, shredding your emotion, grips your belly, sadness, fear, longing and a 1001 emotions rush through you are the allegory of feelings you get as you repeat the Talbiyah in the state of Ihram!
Than calmness takes over and you feel peaceful once again and you give yourself up completely to The All Mighty, thus is ‘Redha’ and ‘Tawakkal’.

Allahu Akbar, how I wish I am bestow yet again with the same feeling I had then and let it remain with me through thick and thin. Human forget. I forget. Have mercy on me.

Last night, I saw the live Isha’ prayer from Masjidil Haram on Huda.TV and the imam recites the verses from Al-Hasyr (59:21) consequently inspired me to post this blog.

59:21. Had we sent down This Qur'an on a mountain, Verily, Thou wouldst have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of Allah. such are the similitudes which we propound to men, that They may reflect.

I remembered the disquieting feeling when the Imam recite the same verses when I was there, praying in the sight of Kaabah… Subhanallah… lembik lutut beb!!

My Baby

Yesterday my baby Amirah Aiesyah turn 2 month old. She visit her Doc yesterday for her shots and recorded yet another above average growth. In fact all my baby did that. I felt happy learning the news that she's doing fine, but at the same time I cant help feeling slightly depressed for missing entirely her growing up. By the time I get back end of this month, she's probably all grown up and ready to take on the world .. well maybe not quite yet lah.

Come to think of it, I am seldom around for all my children at some critical point of their life. I left home the day I learned that my wife having a Baby Bintulu (Nuaim) in her belly. Again, I left Baby Acheh (Nu'man) behind to go to Sudan when his barely 2 months old. And now, Baby Mekah (Aiesyah) my beautiful daughter barely knew her bapak when I left home.. she was only 2 weeks old. Poor kids for getting a bad bapak.
Oh well, I hope I can make it up to them soon. If only they forget...and wife forgive..

Today, I got a nephew. My Sis gave birth at around 5 pm today.. Congratulation, and welcome to the world baby boy! Quick give him a name so I can include him in my prayers...InsyaAllah

Roti Canai ..Again

I promised this will be the last post on roti canai. Obsessed lah I ni! Hah. Well, my motto is practice makes perfect. But no matter how many time i practice, (3 times jer baru..) I'm never able to quite make a decent roti canai. This time my mistake is in making the dough balls to big!. Yes, too big! Thats a complaint or polite critic depend on how you would take the feedback from others.
Well, honestly I found Mizang's critics were valid since he was the "Master Menebar" and I could see that my dough just doesn't smoothly expands during the tossing motion like it should. Furthermore, a big ball of dough makes a thick roti canai and its not as nice lah. So I accept that I still have room for improvements but don't count me out yet from serving morning roti canai... for now..

Here's how the pro do it..tossing or menebar.. If u fail here, don't expect a good roti canai lah..

Another aspect of making roti canai I learned yesterday is u could do without margarine or oil in the ingredient of making the dough like I did previously here. At least, I think it would make a healthier roti canai. Unless u can do without the ghee to coat the balls overnight and oil to fry the it, roti canai wont be such a healthy dish after all as u would expect. Infact, it may not be roti canai at all.
Still, there is no harm to try substitute cow's ghee with vegetable ghee or cooking oil with olive oil and try bring down the 'fatty' level attributed to roti canai. But then, if u wish to sell his roti canai, don't take my word lah. This recipe is strictly for love ones only. But if your loved ones are sweat junkies or jog 5km everyday, why bother.
Anyway, the ingredient for the dough i tried yesterday with guidance from Mad Bee is as follows:

1kg multipurpose flour
1 tblspn of sugar
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
1 level tblspn of salt, dissolved in one cup of water
1/2 cup of water

Mixed 'em all up. Add water (the 1/2 cup) sparingly while kneading. Knead until clean. Leave it to rest for an hour. Make into balls 20-24. Coat in ghee, leave it over night. Start tossing the next day and fry with oil on pan.

I made 14-1/2 balls yesterday..so u can imagine the size of my balls... err roti canai I mean.

Roti Canai and Nasi Lemak

My friend forwarded an email concerning Roti Canai and Nasil Lemak here.

The article mention that eating a single piece of roti canai is equivalent to jogging 5 km. Thats like 35minutes of runnings, pheww! I am a fan of roti canai and that means I never take one piece in a sitting, normally two. 3 pun selalu jugak. No wonder I never lost that spare tire I have around my waste although I was bleeding 'teh cap orang kampung' and did jungle trekking every single day at Tanjung Kidurong, Bintulu last time. Not to mention the man 'tits' i have, euw ugly!

The article further mention that Prof. Ungku Aziz don't eat nasi lemak like Malaysian do, thats why he is so clever. Patut lah I never aced my maths. I always take at least 2 packs of 20 cents nasi lemak eversince I am a kid. ( You cant find them nowadays...). And till now, the habit continue. Today, most restaurant is self service and I tend to overdo the rice and the spicy anchovies for RM3 so one can imagine how sleepy I would be at my workstation.

Having read the article, I suddenly find myself in a fix considering the current situation of playing cook and enjoying my own cooking. Guess, I have to find healthier alternative as ingredient. I did tried to make 'mad bee' style roti canai the other day by not using any oil in the dough preparation and on top of that I went jogging 4.5km before I start menebar (chewahh! healthy lifestyle konon). But alas, the %$*#@ rats also thought that my dough was healthier food source and got to it first. In the end, I had to throw them all away and until now i haven't fully recovered from feeling disappointed about it. Penat oo jogging. hehehe!

If only I can eat as much as i like with my sneakers on and can be considered as exercise.