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
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