At the center of the Islamic religion lies the Ka‘ba. Uniting the aspects of the divine beauty and the divine majesty, it is ‘a place of resort and safety for human beings’. It lies in a city protected by the prayer of Ibrahim al-Khalil, alayhi’l-salam: ‘My Lord, make this land a sanctuary.’

The Ka‘ba has many meanings. One of these pertains to the Black Stone, which is the point at which the pilgrims come closest to its mystery.

‘Ali ibn Abi Talib narrated that when God took the Covenant, He recorded it in writing and fed it to the Black Stone, and this is the meaning of the saying of those who touch the Black Stone during the circumambulation of the Ancient House: ‘O God! This is believing in You, fulfilling our pledge to You, and declaring the truth of Your record.’’

The Ka‘ba therefore, while it is nothing of itself – a cube of stones and mortar – represents and reminds its pilgrims of the primordial moment of our kind. Allah speaks of a time before the creation of the world:
‘when your Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their reins, their seed, and made them testify of themselves, He said: ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They said, ‘Yea! We testify!’ That was lest you should say on the Day of Arising: ‘Of this we were unaware.’’ (7:171)
When we visit the House, we are therefore invited to remember the Great Covenant: that forgotten moment when we committed ourselves to our Maker, acknowleding Him as the source of our being. The Black Stone itself is, according to a hadith which Imam Tirmidhi declares to be sound, ‘yaqutatun min yawaqit al-janna’ – a gemstone from Paradise itself.
The Ka‘ba functions, in the imagination of those who visit it on Hajj, or turn towards it in Salat, as the centre and point of origin of all diverse things on earth. It is oriented towards the four cardinal points of the compass. Its blackness recalls the blackness of the night sky, of the heavens, and hence the pure presence of the Creator. Allah tells us that there are signs for us in the heavens and the earth; and recent astronomy affirms that the spiral galaxies are revolving around black holes. A powerful symbol, written into the magnificence of space, of the spiritual vortex which beckons us to spiral into the unknown, where quantum mechanics fail, where time and space are no more.

The yearning for the Ka‘ba which sincere Muslims feel whenever they think of it is therefore not, in fact, a yearning for the building. In itself it is no less part of the created order than anything else in creation. The yearning is, instead, a fragment, a breath of the nostalgia for our point of origin, for that glorious time out of time when we were in our Maker’s presence.

That yearning is the central emotion of Islam. It is of the heart: the heart knows the Ka‘ba’s splendour; the mind cannot understand it: it is, after all, only a cube 12 metres high.

Hence Jalal al-Din Rumi says:

‘The intellect declares: The six directions are limits, and there is no way out.
Love says: There is a way, and I have travelled it many times.’
And later he says:
‘By the time the intellect has found a camel for the hajj, love has circled the Ka‘ba.’

This fundamental emotion of the Islamic religion, which is in fact part of the fitra – the primordial human nature, the state of grace into which we were born – is love, mahabba, a painful desire to return to the beloved.
Wa’lladhina amanu ashaddu hubban li’Llah. ‘Those who have faith’, as the Qur’an insists, ‘have the greatest love for God’. (2:165) To know one’s origin is to love it.
This nostalgic yearning to return, to circle back to the point of origin, for which the Ka‘ba is no more than the earthly symbol and reminder, is the most common theme in the splendid and subtle poetic tradition of Islam. Here, for instance, is a poem by the 13th century Turkish poet and lover of Allah, Yunus Emre:

‘We need to serve a King who never may be driven from His throne
To rest within a place which we may ever feel to be our own.
A bird we need to be, to fly, to reach the very rim of things,
To drink that cordial whose joy we never may disown.

We need to be a diving bird, to plunge into the waters’ flow;
We need a gemstone to recover such as jewellers cannot know.

To enter in a garden, there to dwell in contentment’s shade;
To pass the summer as a rose – a rose whose petals never fade.

Mankind must lover be, must ever search to find the true Beloved;
Must burn within the flame of Love – nor burn in any other flame.’

Islam is hence the religion of the Alastu bi-rabbikum: ‘Am I not your Lord?’. We follow the Great Covenant, unlike adherents of previous religions who follow lesser, local, ethnic covenants. The Ka‘ba represents our way of centring ourselves directly on the divine presence, the origin of all manifestation.
We need to ponder the divine wisdom in this. Islam appeared in a time and place where there was no civilisation. If a Quraishite Arab had travelled five hundred miles north, south, east or west, he would have found a developed culture. But Arabia was a pocket of primordial simplicity. And Allah subhanahu wa-ta‘ala chose this vacuum for His final message, the one that would end all previous covenants with Him, and gather the nations of the earth to the restored Great Covenant itself.

One deep wisdom to be gained from this is the fact of Islam’s simplicity. Our doctrine could not be more straightforward. The most pure, exalted, uncompromising monotheism: the clearest idea of God there has ever been. A system of worship that requires no paraphernalia: no crosses, confessionals, priests or pews. Just the human creature, and its Lord. The Hajj and Umra also take us back to an ancient time, as we wear the simplest of garments, and perform primordial rites that reconnect us with the symbolic centre, around the purest building there has ever been. The fast of Ramadan is also timeless: bringing us into contact and continuity with one of the oldest of all religious devotions. In fact, some ulema say that fasting is the oldest religious commandment of all: for in the Garden, the grandfather and grandmother of humanity were under only one instruction: to refrain from eating from a particular tree.

By stepping inside the protecting circle of Islam, the human creature is thus reconnected to the ancient simplicity and dignity of the human condition. Islam allows us to reclaim our status as khalifas: Allah’s deputies on earth.

Reader Submission.

It is a Muslim’s sacred duty to live for a few days as a pilgrim, a reasonable requirement for a lifetime. The Pilgrimage or the Hajj is a composite of rites that are essentially reenactments of events of the distant past and, at one point, a grand dress rehearsal for what is to come. Adam, Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael, and Muhammad are the human names most closely associated with this rite, and what’s asked of the pilgrim is simply to emulate them, for the reason that their deeds, however ordinary they may appear, were connected to a higher realm. The response to this call remains a marvel, especially in an era in which there is enormous pressure to be devotees of the material world and to succumb to the spiritual sloth this engenders. Despite this, each year millions of people drop everything in order to make the Pilgrimage, which has difficulty and expenses. All are partners in a ritual that remarkably still matters. One of life’s principal struggles is to pierce the outer form of things and to imbibe the interior meanings. But the struggle is magnified when living in a context in which unexamined information is constantly available and when personal quiet and retreat are becoming odd things to pursue. What follows are brief personal reflections and vignettes loosely connected by the Hajj thread, especially as they pertain to the interior.

VACATION
To call the Hajj experience a “vacation” would put off a lot Muslims, who would consider the label a slight. But what I wanted out of Hajj was precisely a vacation, but in the original sense of vacating my mind of the assumptions we absorb as passive consumers of modernity, and vacating the ephemeral identities we attach importance to. One of the graces of the Pilgrimage to Makkah and its surroundings pertains to a kind of anonymity that strips us down to our indelible identity as creatures of a great Creator. For a number of days, millions of people of all races and status converge for a single purpose. The Pilgrim, by choice, is one face among millions of faces of all hues and textures. In the crowd, I can bump into a CEO, a leader, an academic, or a beggar; there’s no way to really tell the difference. Rank and pomp are divorced of status. Ego is dispossessed of platform. In this condition, the Hajj does its work.

THE “ART OF WAITING”
The movements of the Hajj rites are not very time consuming. Surprisingly, what takes up most of the time are the long stretches within and between the rites that can be easily mistaken as times to “wait”. It’s possible to miss the point of the Pilgrimage if we are not adept in the “art of waiting,” as a sage once said. In fact, what a Pilgrim does during the “wait” will largely inform the success of the journey. Pilgrims do what this place silently expects of them: supplicate to the unseen God, remember Him in the holy precincts. And so they ask for a good life, another chance, forgiveness and mercy for themselves and those they left behind (for the living and the dead), knowledge, success, succor, or for unaffected glimpses of Reality—sifting out the real from the fake. The movements of the Pilgrims are not as choreographed as one would think, even though everyone pretty much goes to the same stations and performs similar acts. What goes on in the mind and in the heart, the inner motions, range. The dress, the motion, the crowds, the “meanwhile,” and the heightened sense of purpose and of the imminence of our ultimate return draw out from the Pilgrim levels of resolve. For a precious few days one almost becomes a Seer. Suddenly, no sham paradigm is safe. We wish it can last. The rites are capped off with farewell circuits around the Ka’ba back in Makkah, where it began days before. The Pilgrims then get around to board the buses, and slowly the former identities begin to emerge as we prepare our papers and “ID’s” to board a plane. It’s the daunting challenge of the Pilgrim to give honest reflection to the questions provoked by the ritual, especially when he or she is back home driving a car, mowing the lawn, waving at a neighbor, or simply reading a newspaper.

THE EFFECTS OF REENACTMENTS
We make seven circular walks around the tall cube-shaped Ka‘ba, the first man-made building put into the service of reminding people of their servitude to God. Later we walk seven times between two hillocks, the course that Abraham’s wife, Hagar, took in her desperate search for water, only to be guided to the very spot of the great well of Zamzam, which to this day offers drink to thirsty travelers from all corners of the earth. The walk between the two hillocks is called sa‘î, which means striving, and it is an essential rite of the Hajj. But as we walk Hagar’s path, we ourselves are not desperate, nor are we out of water. If we tire, we can stop for rest, sip some water, and then resume without the peril that Hagar faced. It’s not like revealed religion to waste people’s time. There must be important value in reenacting Hagar’s walk, however symbolic it may be. We may fairly conclude that the materials and strict rationality of the dunya (the world) are poor ushers in the sacred climb. Instead, we are advised that the invisible realm of sincerity, intention, and symbolism are required accoutrements for the piercing of the materialistic veil. So we make circuits around the Ancient House, walk a path between two hills, and, in Mina (a few kilometers away), toss seven pebbles at three pillars that mark the spots where Satan tried to tempt Abraham away from God’s obedience. These are rites of worship filled with symbolism meant to quicken our spiritual selves.

MT. MERCY
The heart of the Hajj, its proving ground and day, is at Mt. Arafat. On its plains, slopes, and peak, millions of people (can’t help but repeat that number) gather from dawn to sunset for supplication and remembrance. The scene is almost supernatural. The importance of the Hereafter is stressed nearly on every page of the Quran and countless statements of the Prophet. Firm belief in the Hereafter is expected of us in the here and now. Yet nothing in our normal everyday lives compares to the spectacle of all of humanity standing before God for ultimate judgment. The Arafat experience offers something for our imaginations, a glimpse of the inevitable. It helps us to map additional meaning to the words we read in the Quran—helps us to tease out greater sense from the descriptions the Book reveals. There is a glow and ease associated with Arafat, which abruptly alters at sunset when the throngs of humanity board buses, SUV’s, and sandals and head for Muzdalifa, an extensive plain that looks like a large parking lot of gravel and stones. There we wait until dawn before we head to Mina, Tent City, where the population (comparable to Chicago) will cram together in an area the size of a large mall. As citizens of Mina for a few days, we are shown the full range of human character and fallibilities. Each day of our stay at Mina we take small stones and toss them at large pillars that represent Satan’s guile—small stones doing mighty work.

THE ROAD TO MADINA
It is an integral part of prophecy to migrate. Abraham’s moves are legendary: from Ur (in present day Iraq) to Palestine, and from Palestine’s sown fields to the uncultivable hollow of Makkah. We recall Moses’s flight from Egypt to Madyan after striking dead one of Pharaoh’s henchman molesting a Israelite; and then from Madyan to the Valley of Tuwa where he received his calling, then back to Egypt and out again. For the Prophet of Islam, it would be from his beloved city of Makkah to Yathrib, later named Madina. Before entering Yathrib, however, the Prophet stayed for some days in Quba, not far away. He did not rush his entrance into Yathrib whose complications, alliances, and general élan were still not fully clear to him. The Prophet was assiduous in his affairs, and to rush into something was not of his character. But there was more. The Prophet of Mercy would never discount the realities of the people around him nor find them trivial. What was important to people was something to acknowledge and regard. To forge a firm bond of brotherhood, the ligature that was not to break, had its demands—had parts to be studied and understood, parts to be honored—parts of a new whole. The Prophet met with delegations and learned what he needed to learn before making the short trip between Quba and Yathrib. What a Messenger of God must do in his mission goes between what he receives from God, but also what must be learned through more conventional means. This man who was taken on a Night Journey from his thin straw mattress in Makkah to the Holy House in Jerusalem, then to the magnificent realms of Heaven, to the outermost region itself, had to travel on the back of a camel some 175 miles to Yathrib; this man who learned through Divine Revelation of tidings of the past and secrets of lands far away and of events of things to come, needed to learn the vagaries of new life contexts through more ordinary methods. We’ve come across this interesting mix between the miraculous and the ordinary. Mary mother of Jesus, for example, conceived of her son through extraordinary means of God’s single command, “Be” and “So it was.” The matter was done: a boy, a human being of flesh and intelligence, of insight and mission, would grow in her, though no man had ever touched her. Though the conception of her son was miraculous, the normal trials and pains of delivery would not bypass her. In time, the contractions bore down on the young woman, driving her to take shelter beneath a date-palm. Right there, beneath the withered tree, did she give birth to Jesus. Grief-stricken and depleted, Mary heard a voice calling out to her, telling her not to sorrow or desire annihilation. A streamlet appeared before her with fresh and pure water. She was then told to shake the trunk of the date-palm. She managed to shake the tree with her trembling arms; she worked with ordinary forces of nature to have dropped upon her a miraculous bunch of ripened dates as if the date-palm had been the most fertile plant on earth.

IN MADINA
People of all races, headdress, and determination converge in Madina to visit the Arabian Prophet, which is not a formal part of the Hajj. These folks are driven to Madina by their love of the Prophet, which they imbibed through the curious method of education. But you sense nothing rote in their visit nor in their emotions. And since when can an emotion be passed down and kept strong enough to drive people to make the journey to the Prophet’s tomb? Love cannot be taught, as they say. And this is true. But when one learns more of the life of the Messenger, love seems to be the crest of the education, where all facts and roads lead. This is the Prophet’s grace. Yes, Makkah is a majestic city. If you knew nothing and merely opened up your heart and stood on its hallowed ground, you’d sense that this is a sacred center, alive in more than one realm. It is kingly. You feel you’re in the presence of the August, the Wise. Madina, though, is a light. It is friendly. You come with your flaws and feel welcomed nonetheless. Your humanity is accepted. Just come with a willingness to climb. Greet the host of the house, convey your regards and prayers of peace, and he will respond. Walk up to him, and he will know. Sit anywhere and reflect or read or thumb your beads or raise your hand in sure supplication or simply relax — it’s all accepted. It’s all good. It’s a gracious place. The guests do not feel self-conscious. You are what you are.

CONCLUDING REMARKS
We each have a body, a fact we’re constantly reminded of, and a body does have needs, organic and sensual, which we cater to day and night. But to submit to the curriculum of fundamentalist secularists that “body” defines humanity is a dereliction that revealed religion has always warned of. We are created from the clay of the earth but are also infused with a soul that has no material correlate in this world. Religion has recognized this duality, not as a glitch in our creation, but as a trial. Somewhere in the teachings of all the great ones (including Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad), there’s an un-asterisked point: in negotiating the material and spiritual selves, one brushes up against salvation. The choice, they have stressed, comes down to the question: what aspect of our humanity do we devote ourselves to? For the Muslim, the nurturing of the soul is paramount and is guided by what we offhandedly call in pamphlets the “five pillars of Islam,” essential rites of worship that have been passed down through the sound line of prophecy. These pillars start to lose their meaning when we forget a baseline understanding of religion: Islam insists that each of us is born into this world with a pure condition, a state of grace, in fact. While humans may be feeble, sometimes foolish, belligerent, and forgetful, our center was made uncorrupt. This is equally true for men and women. The rites of worship and the way of life they engender are meant to bring us closer to our original state because it is not confused about God nor indifferent to our role in His world.

###

Older stuff, some of it repeated above:
We make seven circular walks around the tall cube-shaped Ka‘ba, the first man-made building put into the service of reminding people of their servitude to God. Later we walk seven times between two hillocks, the course that Abraham’s wife, Hagar, took in her desperate search for water, only to be guided to the very spot of the great well of Zamzam, which to this day offers drink to thirsty travelers from all corners of the earth. The walk between the two hillocks is called sa‘î, which means striving, and it is an essential rite of the Hajj. But as we walk Hagar’s path, we ourselves are not desperate, nor are we out of water. If we tire, we can stop for rest, sip some water, and then resume without the peril that Hagar faced. It’s not like revealed religion to waste people’s time. There must be important value in reenacting Hagar’s walk, however symbolic it may be. We may fairly conclude that the materials and strict rationality of the dunya (the world) are poor ushers in the sacred climb. Instead, we are advised that the invisible realm of sincerity, intention, and symbolism are required accoutrements for the piercing of the materialistic veil. So we make circuits around the Ancient House, walk a path between two hills, and, in Mina (a few kilometers away), toss seven pebbles at three pillars that mark the spots where Satan tried to tempt Abraham away from God’s obedience. These are rites of worship filled with symbolism meant to quicken our spiritual selves.

Walking the Walk
PILGRIM’S PROGRESS
(as published in Seasons)

By Ibrahim N. Abusharif

MAKKAH: The first phase of the Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro (Makkah Metro) project is expected to be completed before this year’s Haj, the Saudi Railway Organization (SRO) said on Thursday.

SRO President Abdul Aziz Al-Hoqail said this will enable Haj pilgrims to use 35 percent of train service. The first phase will connect the holy sites of Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina. This will reduce the traffic congestion, specially on the day of Arafat, to a large extent.

“While the entire project will be completed before the Haj season next year, the finishing of the first phase would mean that 35 percent of our services will be offered to the pilgrims this year itself,” Hoqail said.

This would mean that more than 50,000 cars and buses that carry pilgrims between Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina would no longer be required.

Work on the project began two years ago in the southern parts of the holy sites where majority of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia as well as Gulf countries are traditionally accommodated.

Hoqail said that with the metro system in place, pilgrims will have to walk no more than 300 meters to reach any one of the three boarding stations in Arafat. Muzdalifah will also have three stations. The first station in Mina is close to Muzdalifah, the second in the center and the third close to the fourth floor of the Jamrat Bridge.

The rail is constructed parallel to the pedestrian road so that pilgrim tents in Mina are not disturbed.

Also called the Makkah Metro, the project was originally planned to be a monorail, but was changed to a conventional steel-wheel, steel-rail design running on a viaduct. The entire train system, including stations, will be elevated and pilgrims will have access to escalators and staircases to reach it.

A Chinese company has undertaken the construction of the railway lines and stations employing 5,000 workers who work round clock.

The rail network will initially link the holy sites to the Haramain Railway and other railway networks, and eventually to the Gulf Railway.

Each of the five lines of the project will have an hourly capacity to carry 60,000 to 80,000 passengers between Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah, and later between Mina and Makkah. All trains will have 12 large compartments, each of which will be 23 meters long and three meters wide.

An informed source said the railroad cars and trains’ engines would shortly be shipped from China to the Jeddah Islamic Port

By  GALAL FAKKAR | ARAB NEWS |

Published: Jun 4, 2010 03:08 Updated: Jun 4, 2010 23:47

From Albalagh

Hajj is obligatory once in a lifetime on those who can afford it, but it benefits the entire Ummah. Islam’s acts of worship have multiple dimensions and they are organized at multiple layers. Daily Salat, for example, provides occasion for gathering in the neighborhood Masjid five times a day. The Friday Salat provides a larger weekly gathering and also includes a Khutbah to give this gathering a direction and purpose. The twice-a-year Eid Salats provide a gathering for the entire city. Hajj is the last in this sequence; an annual world wide gathering of the entire Ummah at the most sacred of all places.

Its role is that of the heart and liver in the human body. The heart sucks in the tired blood, which is then filtered and rejuvenated by the liver, and sent again to all parts of the body by the heart. Similarly, Hajj brings in members of this Ummah, rejuvenates their faith, spiritual energy, and commitment, and sends them back to their communities to spread the blessings far and wide.

Its most powerful message is about Tauheed (monotheism) and Akhirat (the hereafter), two of the pillars of faith. If Hajj is a form of Jihad, as some ahadith mention, its battle cry is “Labbaik Allahumma Labaik” “I am here Oh Allah, I am here. There is no partner unto You. All praise and blessings and sovereignty belong to you. There is no partner unto You.” From the moment the pilgrim dons his Ihram, he profusely makes this pronouncement during all waking hours until he has stoned the Shaytan on the 10th of Zul-Hijjah.

As for the Hereafter, Hajj is itself a replay of our death and resurrection. The Ihram, the two unstitched pieces of white cloth that replace dress for men, reminds us of the burial shroud. The gathering on the plain of Arafat reminds us of the time when everyone will be resurrected in the Hereafter to stand before Allah and give account of their deeds.

Built on these twin foundations of faith is the example of Sayyidna Ibrahim, alayhis-salam, that is reflected in many of the rites of Hajj. That example can be summarized in two words: love and obedience. Unwavering love for Allah; unfailing obedience to Him. This also is the message of Hajj.

Hajj is at once an intensely personal and a superbly collective act of worship. Today its role in our collective life has been severely watered down by the rulers over the land of Hajj and by an Ummah that has lost touch with its mission. Today, upon arrival the pilgrims are sorted out on the basis of their passports and are reminded at every turn that they are members of a nation-state and not the one Ummah. Today, every expression that aims at mobilizing this Ummah to stand up collectively to the challenges it faces is brutally suppressed during Hajj. Today the landscape of Makkah and Madinah has also been changed beyond recognition, through obscene attempts at emulating Europe, thereby producing a historic disconnect for the holy land. Today pilgrims have been separated from each other as well as from their glorious history.

So it may be helpful to remind ourselves that Hajj is associated with major turning points and milestones in Islamic History. In fact the history of the Islamic state begins with Hajj. It was here in the 11th year of Prophethood (July 620 C.E) that the first pledge of Aqaba took place, followed two years later by the second pledge that was the basis for Hijrah and the establishment of the Islamic state in Madinah. Just a decade later, it was here that the mission of the Prophet reached its peak when 124,000 companions performed Hajj with the Prophet in 10 AH.

The Khutbah of the Prophet delivered during the Last Hajj is the most important historical document for the entire humanity. It proclaimed: “There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for the white over the black nor for the black over the white except through Taqwa (Allah Consciousness).”

It declared the sanctity of life, honor, and property: “Oh people! Verily your blood, your property and your honor are sacred and inviolable until you appear before your Lord, just as the sacred inviolability of this day of yours, this month of yours and this town of yours.”

It set down a fundamental principle of justice: “Beware! No one is responsible for a crime but the person who committed it. Neither the child is responsible for the crime of the father, nor is the father responsible for the crime of his child.”

Other celebrated declarations like the Magna-Carta and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights pale in comparison to this proclamation made fourteen centuries ago. For a world submerged in total darkness, this new proclamation would have to be spread through the Ummah that was produced out of the Jahilya society through twenty three years of hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance by the Prophet, Salla-Allahu alayhi wa sallam. To them it reminded: “Every Muslim is the brother of another Muslim and all the Muslims form one brotherhood… Take heed not to go astray after me and strike one another’s necks.” And for the generations to come it also pointed out the way to safeguard this greatest of all revolutions: “I am leaving two things with you such that if you hold on fast to them you will not go astray: the Book of Allah and my Sunnah.”

Those standing that day at the plain of Arafat were the best of humanity. They took the torch and spread the light in four corners of the world, ushering in a new era of peace and justice. They liberated mankind from servitude to false gods and turned it to only the service to the Creator.

With the passage of time, their followers gradually became weak in their faith and corrupt in their practices. Darkness returned to the world. Today the world is such a dark place where Zionism and racism flourish and the strong devour the weak because “Might is right”.

The road from Makkah is full of returning pilgrims who bring back Zamzam, dates, and many souvenirs. These are all great. But what we need the most is the message that was proclaimed there by the Prophet Muhammad 1414 years ago.

Alhamdulillah this is taking a good direction.
Before SAHUC or any one else things I’m anti-sahuc (see here) - Neither has Khitmatul A Awaam approached me to advertise this.  I simply thing everyone should have an opportunity to perform Hajj at an affordable price and with honest & efficient operators.

Should any travel agents wish to promote their hajj packages on MyUmmah.co.za -  I will offer you to write up your package at no cost whatsoever.  You could do me a solid by taking out an advert spot if you wish.

KHIDMATUL A”AWAAM PILGRIM SERVICES
(Affililiated to the South African Travel & Hajj Operators Association. Accredited by SAHUC)

HAJJ 2008 / 1429 AH
6 Week Package  ONLY R19500.00 PER PERSON
Includes:
ACCOMMODATION:
-Madina Munawwarah -Muwaddah Madinah (9 nights) 2 sharing in room
-Makkah – Nawazi (up hill, just behind Lemeridian/ 2 Sharing in Room(Includes breakfast)
Until 25TH ZIL QAIDA
Thereafter
-Azizia Shisha Al Balach  4/6 Persons sharing FROM 25TH ZIL QAIDA  TILL RETURN
Near King Fahd Tunnel – 2km from Jamaraat
- Tanazul
- Dumm
- Ziyarahs
- Sahuc fees
- Food for 5 days of Hajj provided by Muaasasa at non special services camp
- Muaasasa transport during 5 days of Hajj
- Meet & assist including personal assistance
- Ulema guidance
- Visa courier cost

EXCLUDES:
- Airfares & taxes
- Transport & shuttles
- Meals
- Prices subject to exchange rate fluctuations
- Limited availability
- Only accredited for 100 Pilgrims
- First come, first serve
Terms & Conditions apply

Contact
Sabera Suleman  saberas@sedibeng.gov.za
016-450 3230          073 212 0786

Suraya Baradien soraya.baradien@gmail.com
021-703 5071          083 278 3655

Imraan Moosa
011-852 7415           082 805 1368

Molana Yahya Bham
011-854 3524           082 816 7286

Azaan – The sound that echoes around the globe

[wp_youtube]wz_EGqmxmuU[/wp_youtube]

Azaan: An incredible medium for the proclamation of Tawhid of Almighty Allah and Risaalat of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam, the sound of which constantly echoes around the globe. Amazing though it sounds, but fortunately for the Muslims of the world, it is an established fact.

Have a look at a map of the world and you will find Indonesia (an Islamic country) right on the eastern side of the earth’s central land mass. Indonesia consists of numerous small islands, the principle ones amongst
them being Java, Sumatra, Borneo and Saibil, all of which are well known. It is the largest country in the world, with 180 million inhabitants. The number of non-Muslims here is tiny.

As soon as dawn breaks on the eastern side of Saibil, at approximately 5:30 am local time, Fajr Azaan begins. Thousands of Muezzins in eastern Indonesia commence proclaiming the Tawhid (oneness) of the Almighty, Omnipotent and Omniscient Allah and Risaalat (Universal Apostleship) of the Prophet
Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam. The process then continues and advances towards the Western Islands of Indonesia. The time difference between the eastern and western islands of Indonesia is one and a half hours. Hence, one and a half hours after the Azaan has been completed in Saibil, it echoes in Jakarta on Java island.

Sumatra then follows suit and before this auspicious process of calling Azaan ends in Indonesia, it has already begun in Malaysia. Burma is next in line, and within an hour of its commencement in Jakarta, it reaches Dacca, the capital city of Bangladesh. No sooner the calling of Azaan ends in
Bangladesh, it has already prevailed in western India, from Calcutta to Srinagar. It then advances towards Bombay and the environment of entire India resounds with this august proclamation. Srinagar and Sialkot (a city in north Pakistan ) have the same timing for Azaan.

The time difference between Sialkot, Kota, Karachi and Gowadar (a city in Baluchistan, a province of Pakistan) is forty minutes, and within this time, Fajr Azaan is heard throughout Pakistan. Before it ends there, however, it has already begun in Afghanistan and Muscat. The time difference between Muscat and Baghdad is one hour. Azaan resounds during this one hour in the environments of Hijaaz-e-Muqaddas (Holy cities of Makkah and Madeenah), Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq.

The time difference between Baghdad and Alexandria in Egypt is again one hour. Azaan continues to resound in Syria, Egypt, Somalia and Sudan during this hour. Alexandria and Istanbul are situated on the same geographical longitude. The time difference between eastern and western Turkey is one and a half hours, and during this time it is echoed with the call to prayer.Alexandria and Tripoli (capital of Libya) are located at a hour difference from one another. The process of calling Azaan thus continues throughout the
whole of Africa.

Therefore, the proclamation of the Oneness of Allah and the Prophethood of Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam that had begun in the eastern islands of Indonesia reaches the Eastern Shore of the Atlantic Ocean after nine and a half hours.

Prior to the Azaan reaching the shores of the Atlantic, the process of Zohar Azaan has already commenced in eastern Indonesia, and before it reaches Dacca, ASR Azaan has started. This has hardly reached Jakarta one and half hours later, then the time of Maghrib becomes due, and no sooner has Maghrib time reached Sumatra, then the time for calling Esha Azaan has commenced in Saibil!

When the Muezzins of Indonesia are calling out Fajr Azaan, the Muezzins in Africa are calling out the Azaan for Esha. If we were to ponder over this phenomenon seriously and studiously, we would conclude the amazing fact that there is not a single moment when few thousands if not hundreds of thousands of Muezzins around the world are not proclaiming the Oneness of Almighty Allah and the Apostleship of the noble Prophet Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam on the surface of this earth!

Insha Allah! This universal and continuous calling of the Azaan shall not cease until the Day of the Judgement, we should all make necessary effort & Dua for the same.

Formation of a Community Based Hajj Organisation

A mass public meeting has been scheduled, details below:
Venue:  Omar Farouk Masjid Hall
Lenasia, Extension 8
Time:    Wednesday 20th February 2005 @ 7:30pm

This organisation shall seek to provide a non-profit Hajj for 2008 within the realm of an Affordable Hajj Package for the individual.
A volunteer team will be elected and your support & presence is required.

Special arrangements for Ladies will be provided.
YOUR ATTENDANCE IS VITAL.

For more information, contact The Interim Formation Committee – 082 558 3515

Some stunning and moving pictures of Hajj 2007. While I’d like to take credit for these photographs, alas I did not photograph them. Simply got it via Email.

[Show as slideshow]