Diary of a Haji: Day 20 | SoundVision.com

Diary of a Haji: Day 20

TAWAF UL WUDA: A DREAM ENDS

May 26, 1994 (Thursday)

We went to the Kaba in the morning around 9:30 to do Tawaf ul Wuda. The crowd was bearable.

I prayed two Rakas, drank Zamzam [water], [made] Dua and then went around the entire Masjid to find a container to carry Zamzam [water] home.

Farewell Kaba, the House of God, where Abraham, Ismael, Hajirah, and Muhammad prayed. May peace and blessings be on all of them.

Millions of Muslims come here to pay tribute to these noble persons and glorify God. They come inspired and apprehensive, but leave (insha' Allah) with all sins washed away, happy and joyous, and spiritually elevated.

People have been visiting the Kaba for over 3,000 years. There were moments in the history of the Kaba when glorification of God became mixed with the glorification of idols and stones.

During the pre-Islamic era, the so-called Period of Ignorance, Arabs also started circuiting the Kaba nude. They put so many idols inside the walls of the Kaba.

Now that the region around it is filled with Muslims, the House gets its true respect from such a gigantic yearly gathering and then from others year around.

I was, however, in a state of shock when I came to know that there are still a few in the ocean of millions of worshipers, who come here to pickpocket and steal!

A man in our group had about $1,000 inside his waist belt. While he was doing his Tawaf, he felt some pressure from behind on his belt. After a moment he saw a man going away from his back. They glanced at each other for a moment. The other man's face turned color and then the man vanished in the dense crowd.

He later discovered that his rubber belt had been cut with a razor and all his cash except the American Express travelers checks were gone. The thief was smart!

I recalled a similitude of angels coming down to earth asking people to obey God, but the ones who refuse to obey would still not obey regardless of what signs were shown to them.

Another similitude is of rain that falls on barren land and stones. While the barren land suddenly becomes fertile with the rain, the stones do not produce any vegetation. These thieves are worse than the stones, since there are stones from which water comes out, as if from the fear of God. These thieves do not move even in the midst of thousands and thousands of worshipers chanting to glorify God.

Farewell Kaba! Glory be to Allah, the Almighty, the Creator and the Lord of the universes.

Let me take you back to my remaining activities of the day.

I came back to our residence around 12:00, ate lunch, took another shower, applied Vaseline Intensive Care for dry skin.

[At] around 4:30 after Asr, we were all set to go to Jeddah. Farewell Makkah! We reached

Jeddah around 7:00. The flight back to the U.S. was actually the next day at 5:00 am.

We spent the night at the airport.

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