Being chosen as the guest of honour of Allah is blissful. My humble gratefulness to the Almighty for enabling me to step foot on Masjidilharam in the holy city of Makkah. The journey from Madinah started after we had done our zohor prayer and taken our lunch. The bus took around 8 hours to reach Makkah. We stopped by at Bir Ali Mosque in Zulhulaifa to set our intention for Umrah and prayed solat sunat ihram. We reached Makkah at about 9pm. We had our dinner and checked into our rooms. By 11pm we gathered at the hotel lobby to perform our umrah together. We completed the umrah around 3a.m. We took quite a long time since we had to wait for others who were first timers. Besides, the crowd was huge at these hours since the weather was cooler during subuh. We walked back to the hotel and returned to Masjidilharam around 4a.m. for subuh prayer. We did another umrah in the evening on the same day.
We went to Tanaim around 6pm. and started to tawaf before maghrib. This time around we completed our umrah at about 10.30pm.
We thought of having a day off on the following day but after learning that we were going to have our miqat from Jaaranah enticed us to perform another umrah. Alhamdulillah, we started our umrah after zohor. The tawaf and saie were easy since there were not so many people when the weather was hot.
The following morning I told my sisters that I was going to perform tawaf sunat and solat sunat at hijr Ismail. If possible I would try to kiss the hajar aswad. Around 7.30a.m. we headed to masjidilharam. Alhamdulillah everything went smoothly. My sisters and I were able to kiss the black stone. First I let my sister made her attempt. Once she was done I helped to pull her hand so that she was able to free herself from the crowd.
Then, I told my sister to go straight to hijr Ismail while I made my attempt to kiss the stone. Unfortunately I found myself being pushed farther away. So I decided to do my prayer in Hijr Ismail first before I proceed with my second attempt. Alhamdulillah I succeeded.
If you wish to kiss the stone, make sure you are free from ihram first. It is best if you could do it after you have performed tawaf sunnah. When you have completed your last lap of tawaf, you have to get yourself closer to Multazam (between hajar aswad and the door of kaabah). While standing, say your prayers. Then, get yourself closest possible to the door of kaabah and move yourself to the left with the crowd of the ladies. Make sure you are able to penetrate the crowd until you stand right infront next to kaabah. Hold tight to the stone where the guard is standing observing the pilgrims. Chant "Rabbi yassir wa laa tu 'assir Rabbi tanmim bil khair" many times as you move closer to hajar aswad. Keep holding tight to the stone even though you feel that you have been nudged, pushed, pulled or brushed. You will finally find yourself closest to hajar aswad and able to kiss the stone.
Once your mission is accomplished, move away from the crowd by turning right. Do not go back to the same way you walked in. Raise one hand high up and yell "khuruj". You will find some ladies will pull your hand and help you to get out of the crowd. So remember to move in from the door of kaabah to the left and move out from the centre of the crowd in between the ladies and the men. If you feel that you are not confident during your first attempt and you kept on being pushed away farther from the stone, retreat and pray that Allah will guide you through.
Then, repeat the same strategy and move in again from the door of kaabah. Insyaallah your prayers will be answered. Once you are able to kiss hajar aswad, you will feel that you just won a battle and the victory is yours.
You will find there will be around 3-4 indonesian ladies offering to help you kiss the stone. If you accept their offer, don't be surprised that they will demand some sort of a payment. To me, it is about you... about me as an individual to struggle for myself and to be able to fight for my right and grab the opportunity laid right in front of me without being dependent on others.
Nevertheless you have to bear in mind that the act of kissing hajar aswad is only sunnah. If the condition around you does not allow you to do it (the crowd was too violent for you to handle) or you yourself are not strong enough physically, then abort the mission. You will endanger yourself.
I can't and will not stop saying Alhamdulillah ... Alhamdulillah... Alhamdulillah. Allah is Great!
