Makkah, December 2012: Jabal Thor, Masjid al-Bay'ah, Masjid al-Haram

Just got home from a weekend in Makkah. Alhamdulillah! We got to perform umrah very easily. The crowd was still a bit thick but it was nothing compared to hajj and Ramadhan. Plus, the weather was nice and windy.

Aside from umrah, we also visited Jabal Thor (Mount Thor). On the tip of the mountain is the Ghar Thor (Cave of Thor) where the Prophet Muhammed SAW and Abu Bakr as-Siddiq hid from the Kuraish for 3 days.



Do you remember this story?

… Instead of taking the obvious route to Medina, they instead headed towards the opposite direction in order to throw off their pursuers. They then took refuge in the Cave of Thor, where they spent three nights. Upon entering, the Prophet SAW, deeply exhausted by the arduous journey, immediately laid his head in Abu Bakr’s lap and fell asleep. Suddenly, a scorpion (and some reports say poisonous insect) stung Abu Bakr’s foot. Instead of flinching or crying out in pain, Abu Bakr remained still and silently bore the immense pain, so as not to break the Prophet’s SAW sleep.  Can you imagine his devotion to the Messenger SAW? It was Abu Bakr’s tears falling on the Prophet’s SAW face that caused him to wake up.

Meanwhile, the Quraish were still in pursuit, and trekked up to the entrance of the cave. It was only a divine miracle that the two of them were concealed from their pursuers. Reported in Sahih Muslim Book 31 Hadith 5868: Anas b. Malik reported that Abu Bakr Siddiq reported him thus: I saw the feet of the polytheists very close to us as we were in the cave. I said: Allah’s Messenger, if one amongst them were to see at his feet he would have surely seen us. Thereupon he said: Abu Bakr, what can befall twain who have Allah as the third One with them. (Source: hadithoftheday.com)

The base of the mountain where we decided to take a halt.



We also bumped into this man selling guide magazines for the important places in Makkah and Madinah. They were filled with information about these historical sites that we sometimes tend to ignore.



At its very foot is a huge signboard informing pilgrims and visitors that climbing the mountain, praying there, tying knots on trees, touching stones, and taking anything from it was not permitted by the Prophet Muhammad SAW. This is a good way to avoid confusion and to keep our intentions clear when visiting these historical sites.



Pilgrims coming from way up! This part is still at the foot of the mountain. It takes around an hour to reach the top, where the cave can be found.

The Cave of Thor is considered to be a sign of faith and hope.

{ ”If you help him (Muhammad) not (it does not matter), for Allah did indeed help him when the disbelievers drove him out, the second of the two; when they (Muhammad and Abu Bakr) were in the cave, he (Muhammad) said to his companion (Abu Bakr), “Be not sad (or afraid), surely Allah is with us!” Then Allah sent down His Sakinah (calmness, tranquility, peace) upon him, and strengthened him with forces (Angels) which you saw not, and made the word of those who disbelieved the lowermost, while the word of Allah that became the uppermost, and Allah is the All Mighty, All Wise. } - Qur’an, 9:40 (Source: go-makkah.com)

After Mount Thawr, we headed to Mina.



One of the rites of hajj is to spend 2 nights in Mina. It is also where the stoning of jamarat is performed.



We were intending to visit and pray at Masjid al-Bay’ah. When it was first fully restored a couple of years ago, it was open for the public to enter and pray. Now, they have closed it.



You’ll pass by this masjid a lot of times when you’re performing hajj, though the large crowd doesn’t really give you much chance to appreciate it.

This masjid in Mina commemorates the spot where the Ansaar of Madinah pledged their allegiance to the Prophet SAW in the year 621 A.H. The group included leaders of the Aws and Khazraj tribes of Madinah and were 12 in number. The second such pledge called the Second Aqabah (Bay’ah Aqabah Thaaniyah), took place the following year after the Prophet SAW proclaimed his Prophethood. (Source: islamiclandmarks.com)

This sign probably explains why the masjid is closed. I can read it but can only understand maybe four words from it. -.-‘


The mosque was repainted but its original structure has been kept.





After our brief visit to Mina, we proceeded to Haram for Jum’ah. I haven’t offered Jum’ah prayer at Masjid al-Haram in a very long time so this is a huge blessing. Allah is Great indeed.



Hope you had/have a great weekend!

TWO YEARS AND NOT KNOWING

Today is the 25th of December! That means I’ve been working at the same company for exactly two years and twenty-five days. Hurrah!

I feel pretty proud of that. I never thought I’d be able to stay here long enough for my co-workers to even remember my name. I’m not the most patient person. In fact, I’m not patient— at all. But I feel like for the first time, I can include that on the “special skills” part of my resume.

I’m trying to remember the person I was two years ago. That may not be a very long time. But I remember that kid, having been jobless and cocooned in the bedroom all day long for almost a year, looking at her self-esteem plummeting. I remember her being clueless of what she wants to do with her life and how that uncertainty was so frightening for her.

Now if I could only tell her, It’s okay not to know.

(Cross-posted from Tumblr.)

YOU HAVE NO NEEDS BEYOND YOURSELF

"Your remedy is within you, but you do not sense it.
Your sickness is from you, but you do not perceive it.
You presume you are a small entity,
But within you is enfolded the entire universe.
You are indeed the evident book, by whose alphabet the hidden becomes the manifest.
Therefore, you have no needs beyond yourself.
What you seek is within you, if only you reflect.”

- Imam Ali (as) 1400 Years Ago

20s

I complain about being in my 20s all the time (well, truthfully, I complain about a lot of things), but yeah, being in your 20s does have its perks. They're not always happening and you get frustrated a lot of times, but there are perks. Apparently.

"This is what your twenties are for — to feel and see as much as you can, to take advantage of not being tied down to anything and anyone and to go balls to the wall with everything that you do. You’re a raw nerve. You hate getting upset over little things, about being constantly unraveled by ignored text messages, parents, grades, and friends, but you have to remember something: you don’t know yourself entirely yet. Before the age of 20, you were mostly under your parents care, a reflection of what was going on around you. You didn’t have the option to make your own choices. You were merely living the life someone set out for you. Being in your twenties allows you to start carving out the life you want for yourself. Everything is on your terms now which seems daunting but is actually liberating. For the first time in your life you’re the boss.

... We’re not stuck. Even if it feels like we are, it’s not true. We’re the opposite of stuck. As twentysomethings, we’re constantly moving — apartments, relationship, cities, jobs. Anything is possible. People are ready for you. They want to hear what you have to say. They look at you and are curious about what words are going to come out of your mouth. You’re the new generation. What do you have to say? Don’t bite your tongue. One day you’ll be pushed aside for a younger “fresher” perspective so you better get it out now. Make a mark. Make a stain. Make something."

-- Why Being in Your 20s is Awesome, Ryan O'Connell, Thought Catalog

Doing something

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re Doing Something.

So that’s my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before. Don’t freeze, don’t stop, don’t worry that it isn’t good enough, or it isn’t perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you’re scared of doing, Do it."

-- Neil Gaiman

THAT WORD

Okay, two three things:

1. You need to watch this video.
2. For some reason, I always find this video in blogs at a time when I feel like I need to hear again what she says.
3. Unfazed. I like that word.

FIRST

(1) Someone once told me that it's all about knocking the first chip. That once you knock the first one, no matter how small and insignificant that is, all the rest follows suit. She told me that that's literally how life works. The first, and perhaps the only, condition is for you to start somewhere. Just start at something. No one else is capable of filling in for the first step, it needs to start from and with you. Or else, nothing will happen.

(2) Reminder: Smile.

(3) I saw that white streak some weeks ago. It's always an interesting sight. It gives me the feeling that a couple more people will probably notice it too and that's always interesting, how all of us are connected somehow.

P.S. Shout out to my sister who's celebrating her birthday today! Sigh. Yay. We're all getting older.

LO AND BEHOLD

Take. I may be bad at taking criticisms but I'm even worse with compliments. It's like I have this need to constantly oppose what people think of me, positive or negative. This trait has been more apparent ever since I got into this job, where both criticisms and compliments run back and forth like bullet trains. The former arrives on a more regular basis.

Focus. When I was in Grade 5, my adviser would always write the word "Inattentive" on my quarterly report card. I guess my problem with focusing goes way back into history. I wonder now what seemed to be more fascinating to me than the Math problem written on the board.

Understand. When I was a kid, I thought I was really smart. When I grew up a little bit, I realized I had to be hard-working in order to be smart. When I grew up a little bit more, I thought that if I was innately smart, I shouldn't have to be hard-working. I ended up neither. True story.