Tag Archives: baqi

December 4, 2011 · 2:01 pm

Day 10 – Al-Baik, Take 2

“It was intense. There was pure, raw, unadulterated venom in her gaze.“

10/31/11

This morning at Fajr, I actually prayed next to the exact same guy I prayed ‘Isha next to last night. It was this large fella, wearing an “L.A.” shirt this time. I don’t know if he recognized me or not, I didn’t say anything. We just prayed, then I bounced. I have that habit, avoiding people. Don’t know why, it’s just something I do so I don’t end up having to talk, which I really don’t like doing. I’m so content just doing my own thing, living in obscurity, ignored & unnoticed by others. It’s only with certain people, close to me, that I want to interact with & feel noticed by. The rest of the world can remain a passive observer & I would be totally happy.

By the way, these thobes that I got are awesome! They keep me totally covered & breezy – so dope. I used to hate on thobes, but this is seriously the best way to be comfortable here. Highly recommended. Especially since I only got them for 10 riyals each, so cheap! Amazing :).

Also, really surprised I filled up this whole notebook pretty much & I’ve only been here a week, haven’t even done the actual Hajj yet. Good thing I have 2 more waiting to be filled – hopefully it’s all enough iA. We head back to Mecca tomorrow iA. I feel like I do more contemplative writing there. Hoping I can encounter more mind-opening thoughts & realizations that I’ll be able to transcribe and *maybe* share later iA :P.

This is so much better than tweeting, forreal. Tweeting has helped me be brief & terse in expressing myself. This gives me the opportunity to express so much more though. I actually really love journaling, I hope to keep it going after I go home. I haven’t gone back & read very much, I started to on the bus ride to Medina, got to like page 30, got bored, & fell asleep. It’s all too recent I think, just feels repetitive while it’s all so fresh. I need to go back and just review though, to fill in any gaps before I completely forget.

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Africans, specifically West Africans, have the dopest prayer beads. So Boss. I wish I could buy those from the bazaars here.

There’s been a janaza (funeral prayer) with every single prayer in the Haramain since I’ve been here. That’s so wild. That’s alot of people dying. I wonder how you get them to do your janaza here. 40 people praying your janaza is enough to have all of your sins forgiven, 200,000 – 400,000 people praying for you is straight Jannah (Paradise) iA. Apparently, if you pray janaza for someone, you get a reward the size of the mountain of Uhud. When I hear that now, it actually means something, with Uhud covering much of the horizon to the North of the city. Earlier, during the tour, someone mentioned that the Prophet said, “We love Uhud & Uhud loves us”. Oddly…I’m also developing feelings for this mountain. I never thought that would happen…

We’re going to Al-Baik now, iA. Just finished ‘Asr, 3:50pm. My parents and I set out on our own journey to find Al-Baik. Surprisingly, it’s been equally as arduous as the one I undertook in Mecca. We traveled the perimeter of the entire mosque, a huge distance, took at least an hour. My mom got to see Jannatul Baqi’ (The Holy Graveyard) finally, since the restaurant is at the end of the cemetery. Women aren’t allowed inside, but the walls have openings that allow you to see from the outside.

Mom & Baqi'

It took us an hour to get here, my parents both had to rest a few times, but we finally found it! You could literally smell the fried chicken from ¼ mile away. We walk in, take the long way to go through the family entrance, thinking we would have an easier time there. We show up to the entrance and there’s a guard posted at the door. He stops us outside and says, “it’s closed until after salah”, in Arabic. My mom cursed something in Punjabi. It’s only 5:15pm, Maghrib isn’t until 5:45pm. Allah SWT is seriously making it difficult for me to get this fried chicken, it’s just comical. Maybe, I’m meant to remember Him, even when I undertake these journeys. But, it’s just some fried chicken…

This better be worth it. Madd people hyped it up & we traveled alot to get here. It’s like its own hijr, for Al-Baik. smh. If they just put em closer to the hotels it wouldn’t have to be this way, I’m just sayin…

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That. Was. Insane…

7pm, we finally got our food. I just witnessed pure barbarity, over some fried chicken. It makes me ashamed. Even the taste of this pretty awesome food can’t make up for the total lawlessness and savagery that people displayed right in front of me. If I wasn’t so hungry, I would have lost my appetite entirely. I’m going to have that look of pure rage & seething hate in that niqabi’s eyes etched in my brain – forever associated with Al-Baik. Maybe this is why Allah SWT prevented me from visiting it for so long. Alhamdulillah wa Shukr (All Praise and Thanks belong to Allah). I don’t think I can really comprehend how this happens, may Allah forgive & guide us. Surely, we are a people in dire need of His Divine Intervention. And, I missed two prayers at the Haram, serves me right. Final verdict: not worth the trouble.

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Ok, so the chicken was good, not gonna lie. It messed up my throat though, cuz it was oily. I’m still shocked at how ridiculous people were behaving. My dad tried telling me this was nothing compared to how people normally are ‘back home’. That’s…comforting…so maybe it’s not a big deal, I guess? I just saw this perfectly decent group of young, Brit Desi’s nearly fight, like full-on throwdown, a group of Somali niqabi’s because they were pushing and *kicking* them to get to the register to order & pay for some chicken. When the guy pushed them back and tried reminding them that there was a “queue” (what a silly word), they started screaming & cursing at him and his family. Everyone got real pissed, real quick. I could literally see the Somali woman’s eyes bulging through her niqab’s peephole. It was intense. There was pure, raw, unadulterated venom in her gaze. The Brits pushed back, but really, they weren’t ready – not ready for what happened, nor ready to allow themselves to transgress the limits of sanity, just to stay in line for a few pieces of fried chicken. Luckily, they got their order quickly and peaced out. It shocks me how people can lose total sight of their humanity and feed the Nafs so heedlessly. It only becomes stronger and gains even more control. Please, don’t feed the animals.

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December 1, 2011 · 2:42 pm

Day 9 – Ziyara! Ziyara! Ziyara!

“…These men and women, so distinguished and dignified, stand in total obscurity now…They are the forefathers of our faith.”

10/30/11

Been takin it easy. For some reason, I slept forever yesterday. I missed ‘Asr & Maghrib cuz I knocked out. Wait…I prayed ‘Asr! Just missed Maghrib. I made up an ‘Asr this morning, oh well. I basically passed out around 5pm and didn’t wake up til 3:15am. No clue why I slept so much.

Yesterday, I got to hang with my parents for a while and go shopping. We hit some wholesale date market one of the guys in the group knew about. There, we got the Desi hookup & my parents copped an unearthly amount of dates – something like 40 kilos. That’ll be fun to carry around…

In The Market For Some Dates?

We got 3 different kinds – Ajwa, Medjdool and Kalmi I think. We also got a bunch of boxes of almond-stuffed dates. Afterwards, we grabbed a cab to the hotel, to take back all of the dates. Our driver was texting and maneuvering through traffic. My dad was squirming in the backseat, it was hilarious. My mom was like, “See! That’s how you drive! Now you know how we feel.” Never misses an opportunity :P

Textin' & Drivin'

We hit up ‘Asr at the masjid and then went around to grab lunch. Ended up doing a little shopping along the way at some street kiosks, lined up outside the masjid. We went to a shawarma spot and had some dinky, mediocre sandwiches, which we ate on the stoop of a nearby hotel. That’s about as comfortable as it gets. After that is when I came back & just knocked out.

I woke up this morning like “WTF?! What happened…why did I sleep so much?” I took a shower, got dressed and went to the masjid around 3:30am. It was so calm and peaceful. There were still so many people there, thousands for sure, but it was quiet.

I tried getting into the area where the Prophet’s grave is, but they still weren’t letting people in. I went in the masjid, behind the original section of the building and sat down as close as I could. I did some tahajjud and chilled, waited for Fajr.

6am, after Fajr, I walked with the mass of people to visit Jannatul Baqi (The Holy Graveyard), the graveyard where many Companions are buried. It was massive, far larger than I expected. There’s an estimated 10,000 graves there, all unmarked and unidentified. There are only headstones, indicating where graves are, no names. The cemetery is adjacent to the Eastern wall of the masjid. It was so interesting to see those graves with the grandiose minarets of the masjid as the backdrop

Jannatul Baqi' (The Holy Graveyard)

It’s powerful how these men and women, so distinguished and dignified, stand in total obscurity now. They are, however, further honored by their collective identity, as Companions of The Beloved Prophet. They each accomplished much, surely, but that’s been surrendered so they could be a part of something bigger. They are the forefathers of our faith. They are so blessed & honored. May Allah shower them with His Everlasting Mercy & bless us with an end that is equally dignified & peaceful.

I just hung around and took pictures afterwards. The light is so perfect just after sunrise – that “Golden Hour” photographers talk about. It’s beautiful, such a perfect time to be out in Medina, my favorite actually.

Masjid Nabawi After Sunrise

I was on my way back to the hotel when I saw a little scuffle in the street. There were lines of cars, trying to take people on tours. Drivers walk along the sidewalks yelling, “Ziyara! Ziyara! Ziyara!”. I figure ‘ziyara’ means ‘tour’. I have no idea what actually happened, but some drivers were fighting with some Hajji’s over something and a big crowd had gathered.

They grabbed one Hajji & forced him into a little toll booth looking structure on the corner & locked the door. One of the drivers (in the brown thobe, standing against the booth in the picture below) was yelling and pushing people. He went up to some old guy and shoved him hard and the guy went flying! He couldn’t catch himself and fell off the sidewalk, into the street. Luckily, there were no cars coming, he was completely sprawled out. His glasses and wallet go flying, his ID’s scattering out onto the road. The driver was cursing at him and kicked him again as he was trying to get back up. Poor guy. He got up, grabbed his stuff and just hustled off. I still have no idea what it was all about, but it provided some quality morning entertainment.

Hoopla in Medina

I’m back in the hotel now, just had breakfast. We’re gonna rest until Dhuhr, it’s 9am now. After Dhuhr, we’re planning to take a tour of the city.

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Um…ok…change of plans. Apparently, We’re going to some Jinn valley….now!
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That was a waste of time. There is a valley, 30 minutes from the city, that Desi’s have dubbed Wadi-e-Jinn (Valley of Jinn). They claim there’s a supernatural phenomena of Jinn controlling your cars & pushing them while in neutral. They also say, if you pour water on the ground, it runs uphill, metal bottles also roll on the ground when placed still.We went and tried everything. Yeah, these things appeared to happen. I think it’s a load of crock doo-doo. There’s probably a magnetic field that pulls everything. Watta stooopid….

At least we saw Uhud on the way there. It’s to the North of Medina. We also saw the mount where the archers stood during the battle. Uhud itself is massive! It borders the city and gives it that natural defense.

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I miss Mecca. I remember reading about the Companions missing their city when they came to Medina & the Prophet had to remind them of this being their home now & that he was with them. I completely understand what they felt and how they must have missed that beautiful place :/

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Just getting on the van for the tour, it’s 3:20pm. Things be like that with this group, everything at its own time. Funny thing, the driver we have is the same exact guy I saw this morning kicking the old guy in the street. SubhanAllah, small world :). No one else knows about this guy, even called him ‘Sheikh’ a few times throughout the tour, and I watched him mercilessly beat an elderly Hajji not more than an hour after sunrise this morning.

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