The Hajj and Saddam..

Belated Eid Mubarak (again) bloggers…and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007…Being an astrological freak my best friend offered me the latest Maggy Farrah* zodiac signs book for 2007….In short it will be an excellent year for: Capricorns…Cancers (lucky me!)…Libra..and Aries…If you are not one those signs then TOO BAD!!!!!! Lol…All jokes aside I hope it will be a wonderful year for everyone…

*A Lebanese psychic that is very popular in the Arab world…

I just came back from my first experience of Hajj…But like I said to some people I am NOT to be called a hajjiyah**!!!!!....so don't even think about it!!!!…

** a" Hajji" for a man and a" Hajjiyah" for a woman..is the term used when a calling a person who has performed Hajj or an elderly…(since most of the people choose to perform it at a later stage in their lives)…

I also will NOT go through the details of how to perform it…because it is 1) too long…it did take me 4 whole days to finish everything…2) any good Islamic book could tell you that… but what I will do is tell you ( in short) my feelings about my first time….and how I went through this unique experience of being reborn…clean…detoxed…splashed with Detol / Clorox…Thus coming out as a new Mashael…

This year the timing of the Hajj was on a Friday…better known as the Hajj AlKobra (meaning the Big Hajj)…it is counted as 7 Hajjs in Islamic beliefs…soooooooo when people knew that… 1million and a half more Saudis decided to perform it…added to the 3 million that came from abroad… nearly (all and all) 5 million people went to Hajj this year…The arrangements were much more organized than the previous years…Traffic was stopped and forced to take a longer route.. so the whole region was pedestrian specific…. Cooking…Barbecues….fires are strictly prohibited due to previous "accidents"…and the whole region in Mina (a region close to Mecca) was sectioned into tents and compartments and these were put into compounds according to countries…I did widened my geographical knowledge when I was there… in fear of sounding like a total Bimbo…Half of the flags I have never seen in my life…and I tried to look them up when I got back…(I know I know I am a total freak!!!! But hey you learn something everyday!!!!)... Of course I (and my whole family) were in one of those tents that was under the Saudi national flag…It felt like going to a boy scout trip…cause although every 2/3 person had there own room…you could hear everything…I mean EVERYTHING …around you…and my neighbors were not the quiet type either: an old couple that had to talk about their day EVERY night in details…two young girls that received phone calls every 5 minutes from friends that asked them to pray for them (I don't know how they had a network cause my phone was networkless)…a couple of guys that laughed at the top of their lungs about their shaved heads and haircuts***…a mother scolding her child for splashing water everywhere after she took a shower in the tuna can we call bathroom…

***It is favorable for men to shave their heads or cut it short after performing the Hajj…The women just cut a lock of hair

And although most people had a shelter…a lot more were in the streets…on roads…and under those small camping tents that you take for a w/e under the stars…and since they outnumbered the expected visitors…duvets (since it is a bit chilly this time of year), food, water were distributed among them…

Truthfully I pity the security and national guards…the things they have to go through and the patience and stamina they have to have to bare the ignorance of some people and to keep everything under control…I am just amazed how after ALL this time… they are still on their feet and didn't go mad by pounding on people's heads…

Anyway (for me) The Descend of Arafat**** was the most impressive…As we walked down the sacred mountain….At sunset…peacefully…for hours…all in white*****…men and women chanting " Labayk Allahouma Labayk" (meaning We are here my Lord…we are here…) I couldn't help but have a chill running down my spine…and I was tearing continuously…I couldn't help it…It was too strong…too powerful…It was like a glimpse…a preview… of the Hereafter…the judgment day…and we are only a few million people…The sky was crystal clear and only a stroke of color showed that the darkness that will overcome the land soon…

**** Arafat is the place were we pray and ask our deepest desires from noon to sunset…non stop…It is believed that God in that particular day and that particular time comes down to the earthly sky…It is the most important step in Hajj and the moment where your soul is cleansed and you feel like a new person….

***** White…is believed to be the colour of purity…angels…the Light of God…and most importantly…it is what Muslims are covered with in their tombs…

Mozdallifah was our next stop…to pick up the stones for the Jamarat ******…Mozdallifah was a place where pre-Islamic tribes used to meet up and compete with their status…their names…and the purity of their race…That is why it is a favorable place to recall God…and praise him with his names…To remind us he is the all mighty and in his eyes whatever status we are…we are only judged by our actions…

******The Jamarat…is the place of the Devils…and is believed that they are tied up in this particular time…that is why we throw stones at them…three days in a row…to make us stronger and not give in into temptations…This ritual was performed since Adam…

Anyway the most surprising and shocking part of the Hajj…was the Eid…We were at Mecca…People traded the traditional white Hajj clothes for their own cultural "party" clothes…There something about God and Fashion that meshes so well…the streets were covered of the sparkle wears of Africa…the colourful veils of Asia…the traditional clothes of china…the western clothes of Russia…the classy engraved hats of Indonesia….The Jalabiat of Morocco… and also the green and golden scarves that an American group wore around their neck for some reason…I couldn't help but overhear their conversation as we went around the Kaaba…Since they talked really loudly and had a very strong Californian accent…."Oh my God…It is sooooooooo crowded…told ya…we should've waited till 3"… Suddenly out of nowhere….a big group was screaming at the top of their lungs…raising an Iraqi flag.. "Long live Iraq and May god bless Saddam!!!! May god destroy the Americans!!!"…A lot of us turned around….we didn't know what was going on…(quick reminder: we were disconnected from the world for 3 days…so a lot of us didn't know about the death penalty at that time….)…Especially it was too incredible and unbelievable that this act was performed in the day of love…harmony…rest and family…a day where all the people that performed Hajj were at peace with themselves…in connection with their souls…What kind of deadly and bloody gift is that????...It's as if we punished Bush for what he did in Afghanistan and Iraq…by hanging him on Christmas day!!!!!! Talk about a Santa gift :p...It reminded me of the killing of a Russian journalist a couple of months ago by the Mafia as a birthday gift to the president Poutin...

Of course the word spread around….and one by one people from different backgrounds…..different race…different language….followed the group…people who hated Saddam…started to love him for his courage….people who loved him…made him a saint when he formulated the monotheist sentence.."There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger"… without covering his face with the black Bag…people who were not political…became political…people who didn't know anything of Saddam…Came to know of him… people who didn't take sides…took sides…He became a Hero…a man who was refused to be shot and was hanged instead…a man who's name would be known in history…a president who was sentenced to death after a public humiliation in court…At the end of the day what did they really benefit from the death of Saddam?????? Seriously??????....But only hatred and a vicious cycle of injustice…