Thursday, November 13, 2008

Our Hajj

I know it’s been a long time since my last post. The reason I have not been able to write is that .............none of them are actual reasons, I waste time thinking about it, plan to write later and then forget to do so. So let me tell what has happened since my last post. First of all, the temperatures increased again, there was no more rain or hail, but it left a thin layer of cool green grass in most of the visible desert. Alhamdulillah my exams also went well. The result isn't declared yet, another week remaining.

And now the Hajj. I performed the Hajj this time. Me, my parents and my sister. We went directly to the plain of Arafah on Sunday (7th Dec). We went from home at 11 in the morning. We had planned to go by 10. We first went to an area near Arafah called Azizyah, parked our car there and soon got a taxi to Arafah. We reached there by around 12:30. We spent the day there. It was sunny, with clear skies. But the weather wasn't unbearable. We had to exit Arafah at Maghreb (sunset). This time we had a bit of difficulty in getting a taxi. Many people were walking too. The destination was Muzdalifah, around 1-3 km. I don't know the exact distance. It took us an hour to get there. The main reason was due to high traffic, vehicular as well as pedestrian, and also because the roads were being blocked from time to time to control and guide the flow of traffic. After we reached Muzdalifah, we put up a mat at a clean spot we found fairly easily. We ate some food, picked up pebbles, 49 for each of us which would be 196. And prepared to sleep. I slept at around midnight. Maybe around 1. The temperature was dropping. I woke up at 5 in the morning. The sun had not risen yet. Not even dawn. I went to the toilet to relieve myself. There was a line, at each toilet. There must have been 10-14 toilets there, but each had a queue of at least 3-5 people. By the time I was over, it was time for (or had been) Fajr (dawn). I soon prayed the Salah. Then we started walking. Walking to the Jamarah, to stone the Shaitaan (devil). This was the day to stone just the largest one. This is a ritual in which we have to stone a wall (previously a pillar, made a wall to increase the surface area enabling more people to do it in a shorter time). This ritual is repeated following what the Messenger Muhammad (SAW) did. We walked a lot. Maybe more than a kilometer or two. Each of us had to stone it with 7 pebbles which we had collected in Muzdalifah. There were 4 four floors in total, one ground plus three. We took the topmost, as it would probably have the least number of people and would perhaps be least tiring or troubling. Alhamdulillah we did it very comfortably. We could stand in the first row and do it. After we had finished it, we went back to Azizyah; we took our car and headed back home. We still had to shave our heads, but that was to be done after sacrificing the sheep/goats. We didn't do it personally. Previously we had bought a coupon thru which the sacrificing and distribution is done by the government. We were told that it would be done in the morning when we took the coupon. But we didn't want to take chance. So after coming home, at about 9:30 am, we had some food and slept. I slept till about 2:30. Then me and my father went to the barber shop to have our heads shaved. There were many people already waiting there. By the time my head was shave it was past 3:30. My father went after me. I am bald now. I returned home and took a bath. Wore new clothes. And again ate something. I also had a Panadol (basically paracetamol, a pain killer) to make sure I don't have the pains in my legs. I wasted the remaining day lying around.

 
  
Views of the Jamarah Complex (none of them are whole)

 
The Shaitaan (devil), [The Grey Wall]
 Me Stoning the Shaitaan

The next day we again had to go to jamarah in order to stone the devils. This time we had to stone all the three, with seven pebbles each. I woke up at around 1:30 pm. Had some breakfast. We did the same thing, parked our car in Azizyah and took a taxi. We had a walk a lot this day. A third of the distance in Azizyah itself (as the taxi couldn't get us very far due to road blocks), some in Mina and a lot in Jamarah itself. This time we went through the third floor instead of the first as this time we had come through a different way and didn't know where we had made the choice. It wasn't difficult this time too. Alhamdulillah we completed the ritual fairly easily, through the first row again. By the time we were over it was past Maghrib (sunset) around 5:40 pm. We took the same way (or should I say method) backhome. Today we also went to Haram to do our Tawaaf (circumambulation of the Kaabah) and Saee (walking between the two hills, Safa and Marwa, the hills were no longer big enough to be called hills, they had been cut again and again during construction). We could also have done this throughout the whole (lunar/Hijrah) month, but chose today as there would be probably least rush. Only the residents of Makkah are given the time of whole month. All others have to do it in the one of three days of Jamarah. But we did it this day, as the non-resident (of Makkah) Hajis (pilgrims) need to spend the night in Mina, which means that there would be less of those people and the pilgrims also start their Vidaai (exiting, from Makkah) Tawaaf after the third day. We went to Haram between 11-12 at night. But unexpectedly, there still was a lot of rush.We did the Tawaaf and did the Saee from the second floor. There are three in total.

 
A View of the Kaabah from The Second Floor 
 Almost Half of The Saee Area (The Closest Bald Head is Mine)

The third day we were supposed to go early. By early I mean after Zuhr (noon) which means after 12. Thats my early. I woke up at 1 pm. All of us had very light breakfast. By 2 we set out. There was a lot of traffic today. The main reason was because the stoning had to done by Maghrib (sunset). Which means about 3 million pilgrims in 5 and a half hours. If we was completed after sunset, it had to repeated the next day. So after being stuck in traffic for some time, finding a taxi in some more, we still had a walk a lot more than before because although the roads were not blocked by the officials, they were blocked due to the large number of buses and pilgrims walking. We walked half of Azizyah. Then we finally reached Jamarah by 5. By jamarah I mean just its beginning. There was a lot of walking left. We tried to hurry. We again went through the same third floor because of the same reason as before, we didn't know where we had to make the choice. This time there was a bit more rush than earlier times. But Alhamdulillah we completed it fairly easily. We did this 10 minutes before sunset. So we were saved from the trouble of repeating this the oher day by 10 minutes. All of us very hungry by now. Some hotel outlets are located at the end of Jamrah. One of them is the very popular Al Baik. Although no broasted chicken was available, the broasted nuggets were available. WE bought two boxes. The nuggets they were selling here were smaller in size but 12 in number. In other places larger were sold but 10 in number. In volume the 10 would propbably be more than these 12. All of us ate. My sister ate two, she was feeling sick, my mother ate four; and the remaining 18 were eaten by my father and me. I think I had eaten more than my father. On the way out we bought come caps, Islamic caps. Although there isn't much Islamic about them, they are worn mostly by Muslims. These are very similar to the skull caps, just bigger.We returned home.

Our Hajj was over. This was my Fard (obligatory) Hajj. After this I may do it only if I want to. It is no longer required. But I hope to do it again some day.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Physics, Rain, Hailstorm, Rain, Math

I had my physics practical examination yesterday. There were four practicals in total. I got one in which we had to trace the path of a ray of lights passing through a glass slab. The experiment just fine but I don't know much about the viva-voice. The examiner was expressionless, silent and didn't ask me my roll number  (could also be because my viva was taken last) or seemed to put to tick while he was hiding the marks sheet. But I know I gave the right answer. I was asked what was refraction. The remaining day went on as usual.

At night, around 11:30 it started to rain and it got rough. Soon there was a hailstorm. There was a lot of noise due to it because it was falling on the ACs. Some even came into our home through the small spaces between the ACs and the walls they were attached.  My mother picked up some of the ice (hail) and gave it to my little brother and sister. After taking it into their hands they started laughing loudly and jumping. I turned to look at what my other sister was doing only to see that she was also jumping around and laughing but slowly. It lasted for around an hour. Then the rain slowed down for some time only to start again. There was also a lot of thunder. When I slept at around 1:30 it was still raining. I don't know what happened after that.

I woke up at 6:30 in the morning. I had to go to school as I had my math test today. It didn't seem to rain now. I got all ready for school, packed my bag and was ready to get out. Suddenly I could hear rain. A lot of it. I went back into my room and searched for a jacket. I soon found mine and put it on. I wore my spots shoes today as I didn't want to ruin my other formal ones. I got out of my home and headed to my stop. It was raining  but not as fast as a few minutes earlier. As I was heading towards my stop I saw that a tree (or two maybe) had fallen. The whole road was wet and had a lot of water especially near the pavement where there was almost difficult to walk. My bus came a bit late today but it didn't matter. It was even raining more than halfway into the highway. I saw four accidents. In two of them the cars were badly destroyed.

Near Jeddah there was not much rain just a lot of sunlight. I reached school about 15 minutes late than usual today. There was still a lot of sunlight. In some time my math test started. It wasn't the best test I have given. There wasn't even enough time. I forgot some formulae in between but did as much as I could. There were even two six-mark questions in the test.I thought it was absurd as to put two six-mark questions in a test whose total was 25. Thats like almost half the marks. I hope I get good marks in this test also. And I will have to study a lot for the fast approaching exams.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Rain In The School & My Math Practical

The weather was cool today as well. While I was in the school it started to rain around 11 o'clock and must have rained for more than an hour. But it didn't rain too harsh or too much just the right pleasant speed though there were newspaper reports that it rained much yesterday and today in other regions. We had a free period during some of the time it rained. During that many students from my class went out into the ground to get wet along with many others from other classes. The whole ground was full. Some of the students (the senior ones also) were playing in the dirty, muddy water after the rain had finished. For some reason the water was stagnant in the ground possibly because of an absence of a proper drainage system.

After the free period I had my Mathemeatics practical. It went very well Alhamdulillah. I got the first set of question papers (there were two in all). There was a chice between two questions; either solve a system of linear equations graphically or verify the Pythagoras theorem experimentally. I solved the given pair of linear equations. And Alhamdulillah I got the right answer. My viva-voice also went well. I was just asked the formulae for volumes of a cylinder, a cone and a frustum of a cone. I got'em all right.Alhamdulillah.

Tomorrow is my physics practical examination. Inshallah it will also go well. I am only scared about the viva-voice part as the teacher taking it takes it tough.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

The Cool Blue Sky

Today while I was going to my bus stop at around 6:30 a.m. it was a very cool weather. There was no proper sunlight to seen. Its been similar to this since the past few days but the sunlight could always be seen. It was different today. I liked it. Since the past few years Makkah has been cooling a lot. Mostly in the last 2-3 years. Earlier there used to be no winter or rainy season; just a summer with the last and forst few months being a bit more pleasant or less hot than others. But now there is cold. Cold in which we have to wear some insulation instead of the one we could just enjoy and live just with a fan swithced on in the room. Even int he school it was pretty cool. At time and time again the sunlight was completely covered and it seemed as if it was evening school. When I was returning home it was still very clody and cool instead of the sweating heat although I had to walk just about a minute or two. I am sure it will be getting colder by day. Just about a week ago (or less than that) it was still hot with night time temperature around 36 degrees celsius but now it is around 24.