Mecca Trip - Part I

Our family decided to start 2009 in Mecca to perform Omra (too bad not all of them were able to make it). Anyways... I started buying things for the trip a couple of days in advance (such as Abayas and Hijabs... and such) I was so excited.. my heart was racing most of the time, words cannot explain how I felt. The day came, it was Dec 31st... the last day of the year and one of my sister's birthday too. We headed to the airport and my dad was lecturing us on what to do, what to expect, what to avoid.... etc! I felt like a kid, so excited and so anxious (since the only time I have been there before was looong time ago when I was only 10) so this was practically my first time :-D I assumed Ihram in Kuwait and was set to go :-)

We reached the "Miqat" and started saying the prayers to God... that we are going to Omra! It was surreal... I tried to memorize things as much as I could. We reached Jedda and took the ride to our hotel...

Guess what? I switched my mobile on and received a welcoming message at "5:18" :-P Got to the hotel, and one of our rooms' number was 518!!!!!

We reached the Haram during Isha'a prayers and so we had to pray before starting Omra. As I was walking into the Haram... I said the prayers I memorized from my father and the booklets I got. I prayed for heaven's gate to open up for me. We had to seperate (my dad went in, while us the females prayed in a different section)... .right after prayers my dad came, and as I was approaching the Ka'aba my eyes were full of tears!

We did the Tawaf (seven rounds), prayed behind The Station Abraham (Maqam Ibrahim), drank zamzam water and headed to Alsafa & Almarwa and went back and forth seven times (a re-enactment of Hagar's frantic search for water).. after all that, we trimmed our hair... with all of this, I have completed my Omra and went out of Ihram state :-D