BHA FAMILY TRIP 2009 _ Umrah Pilgrimmage _ Part 2

2009 June PILGRIM LOG


KL
13 out of the 48 pilgrims in the umrah package we were with were our office group.
We started our pilgrimmage from KL international airport to the Madinah via Bahrain and Jeddah on Thursday, June 04, 2009 on Gulf Air.
It was a pleasant flight and the service was relatively good especially because of its hardware - a new plane A330 [?], sorry if I got the model wrong, I am not an airplane follower - but not so much because of the software - they can do with a little bit more smile and courtesy to get an "A", I believe.
Anyway the whole air package was pleasant enough to warrant another trip on Gulf Air next time around. The kids loved the inflight facilities.


BAHRAIN
We stopped overnight in Manama, Bahrain and stayed in the All Season Hotel [Unfortunately not the Four Seasons Hotel] in Juffair, an area which we found to be quite a night spot for the expats.


The next day the 8 of us [my immediate family / household] hired a taxi van to take us around town. Developments there still seems to be going strong despite the world economic slow down. I wonder how Dubai is in comparison.
Buildings were nothing spectacular except for the World Trade Center Manama with the triple turbine / windmill by Atkins Architecture, I think. The old buildings have their charm though.

But I was quite taken by the scene of the Bahraini Dhows, the fishing boats, which co-exist within the newly developed commercial lagoon. I thought the dilapidated Dhows look much nicer than the sprawling clean lined somewhat hygienic apartments under construction! It seems that cities are losing their identities with all these global look.

Bahrain

In 10 years, I suppose you could be anywhere and everywhere in the world and the buildings in any city would not identify themselves to any vernacular or regional origins.
That would be when, I suppose, cities with identities would be flocked by tourists while those faceless [identity-less] cities would be given a miss by the majority of the tourists and the students of arts and architecture.

Bahrain

JEDDAH
We headed for Jeddah from Manama about midday Friday, June 05, 2009 on an uneventful flight. at Jeddah airport we cleared the customs + immigration relatively quick - we have been told to expect up to 6 hours of waiting but we were cleared in over an hour. that was a good.
we then boarded a bus to the holy city of Medina.


It was a long bus trip of about 6 hours from Jeddah to Medina passing through rocks and sandy landscape. It must have been a gruelling ride for the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his companion Abu Bakr, to make the trip on camel's back and on foot from Mecca to Medina for weeks 1430 years ago while being chased by the Quraish of Makkah on their first of many attempts to kill the Prophet.
And in contrast, we had only to endure a 6-hour ride in a semi air-conditioned bus - the air-conditioned could not cope with the heat outside we were told hence the semi-functioning air-conditioning.

Masjid Nabawi, Medina

MEDINA
We arrived late that Friday night, after the Isya prayers time, and checked into the AlHaram Hotel. we didn't head to the Holy Mosque of the Prophet, Masjid Nabawi, straight away but decided to do so for the pre-dawn or Fajr prayers.


We were in Medina for 2 days 2 nights. Saturday, June 06, 2009 was spent at the Masjid Nabawi praying, reading the Quran and also visiting the graves of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his companions, Abu Bakar and Umar.


The masjid was still on an extension exercise. The forecourt, i.e. the back of the Masjid Nabawi where most people enter the Masjid through Main doors, and the rightcourt, i.e. where there is an entrance called Bab al Salaam [roughly translated as Door of Peace?], have been installed with extra mechanically-operated canopies to shield the pilgrims from the harsh sun. The left side next to the Baqi cemetery is under a large extension exercise including the construction of a medical centre.


We did a half-day of the tourist bit or 'ziarah' to the Masjid Quba, the first masjid erected by Prophet Muhammad upon reaching Medina, a date orchard, Mount Uhud, the site of a famous battle between the people of Medina under Prophet Muhammad and the attacking people from Makkah and to the Masjid Qiblatain, where God directed the change of praying direction from the Masjid AlAqsa in the Palestine to the Masjidil Haram in Makkah.


Sunday, June 07, 2009 after the Zuhr noon prayer we boarded a bus to take us to Makkah for our Umrah. Its another 6 hours journey to Makkah with a stopover somewhere half way for a break and a combined Maghrib and Isha evening prayers.

Masjidil Haram, Makkah

MAKKAH
We arrived about 0900pm in Makkah and stayed at the Safwa Attamir Hotel. After a much needed rest, with 4 kids+teenagers on tow you would be forced to rest no worries, the Mutawwif, a very pleasant Ustaz Hasibullah of Indonesia took us to the Masjid alHaraam for our 1st Umrah of the trip. We completed our 1st Umrah [the minor Hajj] at the wee hours of 0130am Monday, June 08, 2009 after a 2 1/2 hours of circumambulation of the Holy Kaabah 7 times x 200 - 300m [depending where we were from the centre of the cubic Kaabah building] and the running to and fro of the Safa and Marwa hillocks 7 times x about 700m.

We went for a bus tour visiting a few places in Makkah that morning. We went through the areas where pilgrims perform the Haj rituals every year on 11th Muslim month of Zulhijjah. We started with the Arafah fields and climbed the Mount Arafat to see the scenery from atop the hill; pass through Mudzalifah fields and the Mina tents. The visit evoked fond memories of my Haj passage over a year earlier at the end of 2007/ early 2008 or the 1428 Hijri season.


We passed by Jabal Nur or the Mount of Light whereon Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, received his first verses of Quran from the angel Gibrael on 17th of the month of Ramadan about 13 years before the Hijri, or the migration to Medina. Then on we passed the Ma'la cemetery where Saidatina Khadijah a Kubra, the Prophet's first wife, was laid to rest. Saidatina Khadijah was the first person to attest to the Prophet's teaching after an affirmation by her Christian uncle, Warqa bin Naufal, that Muhammad, peace be upon him, had all the signs of a Prophet and had been visited by an angel who had earlier visited the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him.


We met my sister and her family after the Zuhr noon prayers. She had arrived about a week earlier for her first Umrah trip. Our two families had dinner together that night in our room after the Isha evening prayers with food from the Pakistani restaurant nearby. My sister and her family would be heading to Medina the next day.


The next few days were spent in the Masjid alHaram praying, reading the Quran and performing a few more Umrah. The peaceful feeling that I obtain by being in the Masjid alHaram is indescribeable and can be only explained by urge to return as often as possible.


To perform the Umrah is hard work - to walk for over 2 hours to complete the Umrah passages, even with breaks, is challenging - and to spend hours in the Masjid - praying, reading the Quran and circumambulating the Kaabah - are not easy tasks but normally the satisfaction that one receive by doing so is, I would say, addictive. Just sitting in the Masjid looking at the Kaabah brings that peaceful feeling.


Hence, though this is my 3rd trip here, most likely, if God permits, there will be many more. The serene and reflective feelings were shared by all who were with me there.

BHA Entourage

BHA Entourage

On Saturday, June 13, 2009 we were taken to a camel farm near Hudaibiah and we prepared ourselves for another Umrah passage. I did my 4th Umrah with my 3 boys and I think my daughter did hers with my 2 maids. That night after Isha prayers I accompanied my wife for her 2nd Umrah.


We did a bit of final [& extensive] shopping for gifts on Sunday, June 14, 2009 as we were leaving the next day.


Monday, June 15, 2009 after we performed the Tawaf Wida [the 7 goodbye circumambulation in honour of the Kaabah], we boarded a bus to Jeddah for our trip back to KL via Bahrain. We had a few hours to kill before the flight so we were taken to visit the seaside Mosque in Jeddah and to have some light snacks at a gazebo on the esplanade nearby.


Flight GF172 Jed - Bahrain left Jeddah about 400pm. We arrived in Manama about 2 hours later but were not allowed to alight for about 40 minutes. Apparently there were a number of passengers at the back of the plane who had signs of the flu and with the H1N1 outbreak the Manama Airport authorities were not taking chances. At one time I thought we would have to be quarantined in Bahrain somewhere because the flight captain and the crew were not informative at all of the situation.


After the delay in getting off the Jeddah flight, we were relieved to be ushered to the transfer counter for next flight to KL. It was a hurried transit and after a quick combined Maghrib and Isha evening prayers, we boarded Flight GF280 left Manama for KL about 900pm.

 BHA Family @ Jabal Nur, Makkah

Syaza Travel Entourage @
Jabal Nur, Makkah

KL
We reached KL on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 @ 900am. It took a couple of hours to collect our numerous bags [8pax x 2 luggages + 1 bottle of ZamZam water] and to help the travel agent rep to consolidate a few things. At 1100am, we said our goodbyes to all the pilgrims in the Umrah package who had became friends.


Overall, a memorable trip. I hope and pray that I am able to bring a few more of my team members for an eye opener of an Umrah trip in about 2 years.
And I hope for those that had gone for the Umrah this time the seeds of interest have been sowed and they will nurture and grow them to obtain the fruits of a Haj trip next time around.


God willing, InshaAllah.


Badrul Hisham Architect / June 2009

BHA FAMILY TRIP 2009 _ Umrah Pilgrimmage _ Part 1

It has been a long while since I made my first entry into the webblog world.
so it is about time for a second one.


We, the office, arranged for a special trip to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah in Saudi Arabia between June 4th and 16th, 2009 for selected staff and their spouses to perform the Umrah. It was a wish that we had since 2002 for the senior staff that they would be offered to perform their Umrah [small Hajj] as a token of appreciation from us for their dedication and sacrifices, especially so when the firm hit a dip in business in 2004 - 2005, and they stayed and fought with us to regain our foothold.
It was a long dream which finally became reality 7 years on. We hope to make it a regular bi-yearly event, God willing.

BHA Entourage @ KLIA

The trip was also an opportunity to see what was happening with the city of Makkah since the power that be over there bought over many of the real estates and in 2008 [1428Hijrah] started the major demolition of almost half of the buildings surrounding the Haram Mosque in Makkah, where the "much-faced" Kaabah building is located, to make way for, by the look of pictures circulating in the internet, flashier accommodations and amenities for the pilgrims.


Lets hope so. It is about time and the right move to give a once over to the holy place. The city badly needs a major make over to accommodate the continuous influx of pilgrims from around the world.
Millions congregate there yearly, if not monthly [and up to the unofficial figure of 6million pilgrims [?] visited the holy city during the Hajj period, i.e. double the quota, for at least a week in a year if not for a month].


In Makkah, the older accommodations there were basic apartments and some even look and feel dangerous. The old accommodations, mainly apartments, each housed hundreds of pilgrims in multi-storeyed buildings, and I believe were built before the building codes came into existence, which had a single narrow staircases and often doubled up as stores. The unitary lift in each building may not be as old as the building itself, and also looked like being shorn in as an afterthought, looked well worn and often aged ungracefully.


The holy city of Madinah, in contrast, has been transformed quite dramatically since the early 2000 and have the modern hotels and infrastructures. I noticed the difference with the city between my first visit there in 2002 and my second in 2008. In 2008, work were still going around the Haram or better known as the Masjid Nabawi, the Prophet Muhammad's Mosque. It would have been interesting if we could go around the city to see development progress there as well during this pilgrimmage but time was not on our side.


Badrul Hisham Architect / June 2009