Labbaikallah humma labbaik..... Mekah Part 3

A few incidents worth considering and contemplating. Once after tawaf sunat, I went up to the first floor to wait for Zohor. Since it was still early, there were very few people on that floor. Most of them would gather on the ground floor near Kaabah. I chose the area facing Kaabah. I took the Quran and started to read and was immersed in my reading that I didn't realise somebody sat beside me. I turned to look at her. She was a pilgrim from China by the look of her clothes. She smiled at me and took the Quran from me and turned it to Surah Al-Furqan. She pointed to her mouth and I assumed she wanted me to read it out loud. She waited and heard me patiently until I completed the whole page. I turned to look at her and queried if she wanted to take it from there. She just patted me on the shoulder and smiled. She gave me her hand and I took it in a handshake. She got up and left. The floor was quite empty. I turned back to look where she had gone and there was no one behind me. The mosque was very empty. I shrugged and dismissed it as either it was an angel or satan in disguise. Yet, it was a good feeling like I did alright, my reading was right and I made her happy. She looked just like Mak. I smiled to myself and was very contented with the thought that maybe it was her.

The second incident also took place on the first floor. I was sitting among the Malaysians jemaah. The pilgrims were starting to fill in Mekah. The mosque was quite full and my saf was quite full. We were all waiting for Zohor. I was as usual deep into my reading of the Quran when I suddenly realised that somebody tengah sujud sebelah I. I saw the fingers letak atas sejadah. Dalam hati tergerak berkata panjangnya jari-jari dia. It was very long unlike our fingers. I assumed this jemaah must be very tall.I didn't look up and continued with my reading. When the azan was on, I kept my Quran and finally looked to who was on my right side since the rack for the Quran was on my left. I smiled at her and noticed that she was a Malay. We were all Malaysians. I asked her where was the jemaah before her since I didn't notice she had left. She said she was the one sitting next to me all this while. She saw that I was so absorbed with my reading that she didn't say anything. I told her the one next to me was quite a dark lady and with very long fingers. She couldn't be a Malaysian. The lady next to me said there was nobody but her sitting next to me. I just kept quiet and assumed it was an angel praying next to me.

Masjidil Haram is a magical place. Anything can happen just by thinking about it. It's so amazing that in a place where millions converge at the same time there's a space for me to sit and pray. However crowded it was, somebody always made space for me to fit into the saf. Since I'm on my own all the time, I always went to the ladies section. I'd sat with the Egyptians, Indians, Pakistanis, Indonesians and other unknown nationals. I started to go to the rooftop for Maghrib and Isyak prayers. I loved it up there. It was like being so close to the sky. When the azan was on, I looked up towards the sky and it's like the skies opened up and blessed all of us. It was an exhilirating feeling. A rush to your adrenaline that I was always among the last to leave when we dispersed for the night. I met an American lady and had a nice talk with her. I also got to know an African lady and her mother. At least with English speaking pilgrims, we could start a conversation and not resort to hand gestures and smiles.

Imagine being among the millions doing the tawaf....