Hajj - 10 years ago

Sayup2 kedengaran takbir raya dari Masjid Bukit Sentosa Subuh pagi tadi.... tiba2 rasa sebak... :(( Hari ini hari para jemaah haji mengerjakan wukuf di Arafah... teringat pada rakan2 yang menunaikan haji tahun ini... and that remind me of my own experience 10 years ago back in 2003. Oh wow... 10 tahun dah berlalu ya.... rindu rasanya nak tenguk rumah Allah again....

10 years ago, if people asked me... I would say I wasn't ready for Hajj... with Izzat just 1 year-old and still breastfeeding... terasa macam belum bersedia utk menunaikan haji. Bermacam2 bermain di kepala. Surat tawaran dari Tabung Haji dah kali ke2 di terima (first time kami terima, terpaksa reject as I was pregnant of Izzat). Tapi dengan sokongan keluarga dan rakan2 semua.... alhamdulillah... segalanya dipermudahkan.... Allahu Akbar.... syukur sangat2! It was indeed an amazing experience!! Thank you Allah for the invitation... Thank you Allah for giving me the chance to perform rukun Islam ke 5...  Thank you Allah for everything! Syukur... syukur... alhamdulillah...

A card from my colleagues at work just before I left for hajj... 

They are the bestest!!!! Love you all!! *muah!*

Map of Mecca 10 years ago...  (yes, I still kept this in my album... hehe)

Mecca 10 years ago... Kaum muslimat menunaikan solat Jumaat.... sampai ke jalan raya... subhanAllah... 

Jabal Rahmah.... very2 crowded during Hajj

At Padang Arafah

At Mina... khemah yang sangat sempit dan kurang selesa... tapi alhamdulillah... dipermudahkan... 

Keadaan ketika melontar.... zaman ni kawasan melontar hanyalah satu kawasan bulat dan tiada sistem yang sistematik lagi.... so nak pergi melontar tu bagai pergi berperang.... masyaAllah... tak boleh lupa sangat! Hubby basically had to cover me to avoid terjatuh atau tercedera. Manusia berpusu2 dan bertolak2 masuk dan keluar... memang ramai yang cedera. Sekarang ada sistem in-out yang lebih  sistematik lagi... lebih proper lah.. alhamdulillah.

Still in Mina... right after melontar.

With my Kurshian friends who performed Hajj on the same year as I did... Zita and Nini. As the photo stated above, this pic was taken on 23/2/03. Love this pic so much as these two girls are very special to me! ❤

At ladang unta.... my first experience drinking camel milk. For someone who don't drink milk, I think susu unta is not so bad.... seriously! You guys should try okay :)

I had such an amazing experience performing Hajj! Banyak kenangan manis yang tak boleh dilupakan... masyaAllah... :)) Have re-registered myself and hubby (with kids this time!) for Hajj again... tapi lama lagi la queue nya... huhu! Hopefully dalam masa terdekat ni... dapat lah berpeluang menunaikan umrah with the kids dulu..... InsyaAllah... 

Viva Palestina!!

My hubby is back from his umrah trip! woohoo!! :) Syukur alhamdulillah... he's fine... walau pun now sangat panas di sana. He got these new fridge magnets to add to our collections... :)

And I totally HEART this clock! :)

Wish I could join him visiting Jerusalem... jealous tenguk member posing beriya kat Dome of the Rock... huhu!

But most of all... I wish I could be with him praying at the 3 most important mosques in Islam: 1. Masjidil Haram in Mecca (I am amazed by the changes in Mecca compared to my last umrah trip back in 2009!!)

2. Masjidil Nabawi in Madinah
and no 3. Masjidil Aqsa in Jerusalem....

Kebetulan... our TKC/MGC luncheon this month, there was a talk on Palestine. Details as follow :

LUNCHEON DETAILS

Date: 29/7/2011

Time: 12:30 - 2:00 PM

Venue: President's Room (within Orchid Room) Lake Club

Speaker: Prof Zahurin Mohamed

Title: Palestine: The Untold Story

Prof Zahurin is the Head of Dept of Pharmacology at University of Malaya. She is also very active in Viva Palestina Malaysia. VIVA PALESTINA MALAYSIA, is a coalition of more than 50 NGOs that cuts across racial, religious and political lines in Malaysia. This coalition was formed after the escalation of Israel-Palestine conflict that culminated in the invasion of Gaza. VIVA PALESTINA MALAYSIA works closely with foreign NGOs with similar objectives, and together as a worldwide united front of NGOs, acts as an effective pressure group to governments, pushing for a just and comprehensive resolution of the conflict.

Prof Zahurin in action - a very interesting topic indeed!

My menu this week : Linguine Mama Chef (again!). This time around, it wasn't so spicy... sedap! :)

I am just happy that darling hubby is back... and Izzaty has just finished her UPSR trial :) Her result is not out yet but mama sorang ni sudah berdebar2.... huhu!! Soon in August would be PSRA trial... followed by the REAL UPSR exam and PSRA in September.... my prayers for you my girl... semoga mendapat keputusan yang cemerlang.... Aamin.

Makkah al Mukarramah

From Madinah... we all singgah makan kat one local restaurant... first time makan dalam dulang ala2 orang Arab! Sedap jugak!! hehe.

Excited to share food in the same dulang :)

We reached the holy land of Makkah about 8.30pm I think. Then we were told by Ustaz Mahmod that hotel kami ialah 'Hotel Hijaz'. And dari belakang kedengaran Pakcik Hj Yaacob cakap "Alhamdulillah"...... so I assumed this is a very good news lah! Which is true.... our hotel is just about 50m away from the Masjidil Haram! Alhamdulillah. Lepas dinner (masa tu kami je dari Andalusia yg dok kat hotel ni... so makan pun tak yah queue panjang, alhamdulillah!) and rehat for a while, kami berkumpul semula di lobi to perform our first umrah (I mean fifrst for this trip). Walaupun penat (and I wasn't that well after Madinah... flu and batuk makin menjadi pulak... dugaan.. dugaan) kami usahakan juga sebab tak mau dlm ihram lama sangat. Alhamdulillah.... segalanya dipermudahkan Allah. Lepas tawaf tu, I realised ramainya orang berposing depan Kaabah.... wahh, now so senang meh? Dulu nak posing luar masjidil haram pun susah!! Saie was a bit a challenge... memandangkan I did not exercise for a long, long time... so badan tak lah fit sangat kan... But again... alhamdulillah... dimudahkanNya :) Balik bilik around pukul 1 pagi... merayu2 kaki ni lenguh... aduduuu... dugaaaannnnn... :D

Our room in Makkah.... small and cosy... alhamdulillah..

On 2nd day, we decided to take it easy... tak de lah ke Tanaim to do umrah on our own. Cuma buat Tawaf sunat and ibadah lain aje kat Masjidil Haram. Subhanallah... dah lama rindu nak tenguk Kaabah... rasa peaceful sangat bila tenguk!! Seronok bila dapat solat dekat2 ngan Kaabah. Walau pun tak dapat solat kat area dataran tu.... asal dapat solat area yg nampak Kaabah pun dah seronok! :) After Asar, ada ceramah by Ustaz Redzuan at our dining hall - Quite interesting! :) Malam tu Pakcik Hj Yaacob tanya if we'd like to join him to eat at a local restaurant.... katanya nasi best! So kitorang pun mesti lah tak mau lepaskan peluang! hehehe. I was to share sedulang nasi with hubby... tapi tenguk nasi tu macam utk 4 orang you!! Gila meriah!! Sedapppppppp!!! End up mesti la tak abis.... membazir sangat rasa.... tapi nak buat camne... perut dah tak leh masuk lagi dah nih! Rasa dah macam ular melengkor je lepas makan tu kekenyangan :D

Bersandar kekenyangan.... *burppp!* :D See 'extra' nasi kat atas aluminium foil tu... sangat2 membazir... *sigh!*.

On 3rd day, after breakfast kami ke Tanaim ramai2... buat umrah :) Since ada hajat nak buat satu umrah for my arwah ayah... so kali ni I do bada umrah for him. Syukur alhamdulillah... kali ni kuat sket bila buat saie.. :)

Ni gambar curi!! Since ramai yg curi2 ambil gambar depan Kaabah... hubby pulak buat! Ishh.. sib baik tak kena marah ngan Pak Arab you!! Tapi Kaabah dlm gambar ni tak clear sangat kan??

4th day, kami ke Thaif. I wasn't feeling well sepanjang this trip... rasa cam seram sejuk je. Batuk and selsema pulak masih tak elok. Visited the museum (used to be the palace of something). Then enjoyed the scenary kat atas bukit....

Posing depan our hotel.. AlHijaz Palace Hotel... before our trip to Thaif.
Pakai jubah itam baru you! Beli kat Madinah :)
This pic was taken right infront of our hotel. Can see Masjidil Haram in the pic... nak tunjuk the distance of our hotel to Masjidil Haram la ni... :)

Enjoying the beautiful scenary at Hada, Thaif...

Lunch at a local restaurant... nasi dalam dulang lagi! Sedappp!!! Yummy! Kali ni tak la sebanyak kat restaurant yg Pakcik Hj Yaacob bawak tu.... so tak de lah rasa membazir sangat :)

Delicious food... yummy!!! I loveeeeee.... ;)

Then kami ke fruit market.... hubby beli 2 kotak mangga yamen (melampau nih! camne nak bawa balik??) and some buah delima.

At fruit market... Hubby and Pakcik Hj Yaacob beriya2 nak beli mangga Yamen tu!!

On the way back, kami singgah ke masjid Qarnul Munazil. Those yg nak buat umrah tu boleh lah bermiqat kat sini. Asalnya ada a few gak yg berhajat... tapi after a whole day kepenatan jalan... masing2 penat and end up none of us in the group pun jadi pasang niat umrah kat sini. By that time... I can fell my whole body arching... rasa lain macam aje :( Sampai bilik kat Makkah... saya demam pulak :( Nasib baik ada Dr Arifah... dia la supply ubat batuk for me - dah lama sangat batuk tak makan ubat (tak bawa ubat batuk pun for this trip, boleh?) takut ada infection... so makan la ubat batuk ni. I felt pain kat pipi area bawah mata tu... and satu badan rasa sakit2... (boleh agak lah kena infection ni...). So malam tu tak ikut hubby pun ke masjidil haram.... solat kat bilik aje... frust betul!! :(

5th day - The next day, I met Dr Arifah again and told her about the pain kat pipi tu. Dia kata I probably kena sinus sebab dah lama sangat batuk and selsema. So dia bagi I antibiotic (cuma ada 4 biji aje katanya.. so tahan for 2 days aje.. sepatutnya I kena makan for 5 consecutive days). Takpe.... asalkan boleh survive dulu. So alhamdulillah... improved lah sket... boleh la ke masjid macam biasa..... syukur :) Today ada optional tour to Hubaidiah... memandangkan kami dah pernah pergi musim haji 2003 dulu.... we opt not to follow the trip. Hotel kami ni dah beransur ramai harini. Infact... nak makan pun queue dah panjang... maklumlah cuti sekolah dah start. Orang Malaysia ramai ambil peluang bawa nak buat umrah cuti sekolah ni. Masjid pun makin penuh! Kalau dulu dapat kedepan sket for prayers... nowadays kalau lambat... alamatnya solat kat area belakang tu aje lah. Which is okay actually.. masih selesa... alhamdulilah.. cuma tak dapat la nampak Kaabah yg cantik tu....

All these while tak de mood nak bergambar sbb tak sihat and sibuk with other activities.... so since today tak byk activity... kami pun posing sakan la today... hehe :)

6th day - Memandangkan kurang sihat... tak de lah buat umrah lagi... tak ikut pun hubby buat tawaf sunat as before... takut memudaratkan. Hubby aritu ada niat nak cuba puasa kat Mekah ni... so alhamdulillah, he chose to puasa hari ni.. (Hari Khamis, alhamdulillah). Hari ni jugak we all ziarah some interesting places in Mekah... like Jabal Nur, Jabal Rahmah, and some other places.... lastly to Jaranah (again for those nak buat umrah boleh miqat here). My wish to meet Nani again akhirnya termakbul bila nampak Nani Rahayu and her family posing kat Jabal Nur :) So apa lagi! Sempat la kami berposing sekali kat sana. Ye lah... kenangan tuu... :) Bukan senang kan dapat jumpa kawan... kat tanah suci lagi :) Malam tu temankan hubby buka posa kat bangunan Hilton tu (restaurant Hardy's). Since tak de selera sangat... dapat pekena fries pun dah syukur alhamdulillah :) After Isyak, ada tahlil at our hotel for our group... lead by Ustaz Redzuan. Saya pun mengsubmit kan lah nama arwah ayahandaku for this tahlil. Sayu rasa bila Ustaz Redzuan sebut nama arwah... :(

With my friend from tkc years.... Nani Rahayu at Jabal Tsur. Kecik dunia Allah ni ya... Subhanallah..At Jabal Rahmah..

Bandar Mina.
Wow.. tenguk tempat melontar tu... jauh berubah dengan zaman haji kami back in 2003!

7th day - Getting ready to go back to tanahair tercinta. Buat tawaf wida with husband... tak dapat ku tahan airmataku bila baca doa wida tu... Ya Allah... sihatkanlah tubuh badanku, murahkan rezeki ku... dan permudahkan lah aku untuk datang menziarahi Baitulallah ini lagi dan lagi.... Aamin. We left Makkah Al Mukarramah for Jeddah around 10am. Solat Jumaat di Masjid Terapung, Jeddah. Lunch at Asia Restaurant... lauk tomyam you!! Sedap!! :) Then ronda2 Jeddah sket before ke airport.

At masjid terapung, Jeddah

Saturday (8th day) - Kids... we are home!! Missed you soooooooooooooo much!!

MasyaAllah... anak Arab mana ini?? Hehe... Izzaty and Izzat wearing baju yg we all beli dari sana :)

Madinah Al Munawarah

The funny thing about our trip from Turkey to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was we were supposed to go to Madinah Al Munawarah. But our flight was booked from Istanbul to Jeddah. And flight made a stop at Madinah first (but of course we all tak leh turun situ!!). Frust betul... sebab dah sampai dah.. tapi tak leh turun.. and yet kena sambung another 45 mins journey to Jeddah... and later.. kena naik bas 5 JAM to Madinah. But the best thing was... we could see Masjid Nabawi from up above when our flight left Madinah for Jeddah.... Subhanallah, it was very, very beautiful!! Once we reached Jeddah... bila beratur kat imegresen Arab tu... kena queue sekali ngan orang2 Indon yg nak kerja kat sana. Orang lain semua senang je lepas.... tapi hubby and I (who queued belakang Indon2 tu)... kena check cop jari lah (5 jari okay!) kena ambik gambar lah... bla, bla. We were the last person yg lepas la kira..... hmm... sampai2 je dah diduga eh? Tu baru Jeddah you... belum sampai tanah haram lagi tuh! :)Anyway, di Jeddah airport, kami disambut oleh Ustaz Mahmud, wakil Andalusia dari Mekah. Ustaz Mahmud ni boleh tahan kelakar... alhamdulillah, we really, really enjoyed his company. We stopped by for dinner on the way to Madinah at a local restaurant. Makan nasi dalam kotak.... tapi memandangkan dah lama tak dapat makan nasi ala2 masakan Malaysia kan... so... perghh!! Sedap aje laaa... !! :D Take note that... throughout the journey.. my batuk dari Malaysia itu hari belum elok lagi nih! So asyik batuk je lah sepanjang jalan!Madinah is as beautiful as ever!! I always love this city.... (I can understand why Rasullah saw fell in love with this beautiful city!). It's very beautiful... very civilised.. it's very peaceful to be there. Our hotel, Al Fayroz is very, very near the Masjid Nabawi, alhamdulillah.... Senang nak visit Rasullah saw and syukur alhamdulillah, I managed to go to Raudhah a few times.... They have a new system nowadays to enter Raudhah.... it's probably better kot.. I mean the new system. Diorang segregate the muslimah into their nationalities... so Malaysian and Indonesian dapat masuk Raudhah sekali lah... should be easier this way... insyaAllah.

Our hotel... Al Fayroz... very near to Masjid Nabawi... alhamdulillah :)

Our room.... very, very cozy.... alhamdulillah :)

On the first day.. walau pun kepenatan... kami sempat dibawa visiting a few places in Madinah like Tanah Ubat, Medan Magnet, Bukit Sejadah and Bukit Uhud.

Near the Medan Magnet. Kawasan Medan Magnet ni is believed to ada kuasa magnet. Kat area ni.. our van (yg dlm gambar ni) dimatikan enjinnya (tapi handbrake dilepaskan of course)... the van boleh bergerak sendiri up to 140km/hr.... amazing kan? Subhanallah...

Naik ke Bukit Sejadah... tak tinggi pun...

Believed to be bekas tapak Nabi Muhammad SAW
(kawasan yg licin sebelah kaki my hubby tu).. Wallahualam.

On the 2nd day, we had to leave Madinah for Al Ula and Madain Salleh. I was quite excited to visit Madain Salleh - tempat tinggal kaum Tsamud (kaum Nabi Salleh). When Izzaty was in standard 3, in her Sirah subject (KAFA), she learned about Kaum Tsamud yg engkar pada perintah Allah dan seruan Nabi Salleh. Kaum Tsamud ni ada kelebihan utk mengukir bukit/batu menjadi rumah/tempat tinggal. So what we saw in Madain Salleh was kesan2 tinggal.. bukit yg dah diukir oleh kaum Tsamud.... beautiful! Tido one night at Al Ula...

The next day, we visited the Al Ula Old City, the Old Railway Station, ect. After Friday prayer, balik to Madinah....

Al Ula Old City....

The Old Railway Station, Al Ula..
Been there... done that! :)

Back in Madinah, on the 4th day, we visited Masjid Quba, Masjid Qiblatain, Kilang Al Quran, Bukit Uhud (yeap... we went there 2 times!), Ladang kurma and Pasar Kurma :)

Our first destination... masjid Quba... kalau kita ambil wuduk from home (in our case, our hotel la kira ya!), and solat 2 rakaat at this mosque... pahalanya umpana membuat satu umrah! Subhanallah....

Tasting the kurma(s), and delicious coklat kurma at ladang kurma ;) Bab2 free tasting... tak leh tolak.. hahaha! :D

Free tea at ladang kurma... :) Free lagi... ahak!Kilang Al Quran at Madinah. Ladies tak rasa la masuk kilang ni... kena dok kat setakat library aje. Gambar ni hubby tolong ambilkan since I tak leh masuk! :PThe guys dapat free tafsir Al Quran sorang satu.... TAK ACIIIIII!!!!!! :P Yg jelesnya... si kecik Farhan tu pun dapat... uwaaaa!!!Bukit Uhud (2nd visit)... kali ni sempat la sopping sket2.. haha! Ada jual macam2 herbs @ ubat-ubatan kat sini. I bought ubat zuriat (teringat kat a friend - Siti Addyanirayati yg dah lama mencuba... tapi belum ada rezeki.. hope this herbs helps!), ubat asma (for MIL) and ubat athiritis (for my mom)... 3 ni for SR10 :)
Last destination... masjid Qiblatain. Masjid ni ada 2 kiblat (2 mihrab). Rasulallah SAW tengah solat di masjid ini bila diturunkan wahyu utk tukar kiblat dari Al Aqsa (Baitul Muqadis) to Kaabah (Masjidil Haram).

After Dzuhur, sempat la posing for the last time kat Masjid Nabawi.... (I'm gonna miss this place! *sob*!).

Posing before leaving Masjid Nabawi.... after doing ziarah wida...

We were supposed to get ready after that sebab nak ke Mekah dah after lunch. Tapi sampai je kat hotel I accidently met an old friend from my tkc days - Nani Rahayu. Subhanallah... banyak2 tempat, kami jumpa di tanah suci Madinah ini. Punya lah seronok dapat jumpa!! It's Nani's first umrah experience and she looked so excited. She came with his son, sister and parents. Good for her! :) Excited sangat borak... lupa lak nak bergambar... ceh! Ni kenangan ni... patut capture in a pic... betul tak?!

We later left Madinah after lunch.... singgah sat kat Masjid Bir Ali (miqat for umrah) and Mecca... here we come!Hubby and Ustaz Mahmud... all ready in ihram clothes :)

Labbaikallah hu malabai....
Labbaikala shari kala kalabaik...
Innal hamda...
Wannikmata...
Lakawal mul...
Lasharikalak..