The Mecca

Belated Eid Mubarak to all "Ba3d al za7ma" (meaning after the crowd)….lol.....I hope you got a lot of goodies and a lot of pocket money from parents and spouses…I know I did….being the only girl in a family of boys and spoiled to death….lol

I am sorry for not keeping you updated but obviously I was away for a couple of days and I think you guessed where to….(duh ! since I put it in BIG fluorescent GREEN letters at the very top!!!!)…..Mecca…
I was so touched by this year's experience (and still am) that I HAD to share it with you guys…

Since I was a little girl the last ten days of Ramadan has been spent in one of the holiest places: Mecca…But UNLIKE when I was little girl I can't run to the black stone * anymore kissing it as if it was my favorite (one eye left) doll …Nor can I zigzag through the red brick Ottoman arches and then climb onto the golden gates** ……Nor can I run around and around and around chasing pigeons till my head spins while my mother prays or performs the Umra***….Nowadays, I am lucky if I do see the Kaa'ba (the house of god on earth for Muslims which was at ancient times also a place of worship and used as a temple) even less the black stone….

* A stone that is stuck to a corner of the Kaa'ba.. Historically, it is the first stone that Ibrahim& his son Ismael used to build the Kaa'ba…Scientifically, it contains unique materials or minerals that doesn't exist till this day…Spiritually, It is said to be a meteorite from the heavens above, it is also believed that it has the power to cleanse worshippers of their sins by absorbing them into itself. They say that the Black Stone was once a pure and dazzling white and it has turned black because of the sins it has absorbed over the years….Now I guess it is just super duper pitch black….

**These are the doors that marks the entry to the Kaa'ba but they are permanently closed ONLY if you are lucky to be there when they clean it once a year…

*** The mini pilgrimage which includes 7 rounds around the Kaa'ba anti clockwise and the "to" and "from" of the two mountains Safaa and Marwa..

This year including me (bloggers who watched the Saudi TV through the whole month… I was the gorgeous one wearing black with blue stripes :p) anyway including me there was at least 3 million people… yes you read that right…3 MILLION people mashalla!!!! (meaning God does as he pleases)…

A quick reminder: praying the 10 last days of Ramadan seeking "Laylat Al Qadr"**** is NOT a must or a pillar of Islam like Hajj (the main pilgrimage) that CNN people love to show again and again sometimes… It is only a Sunna meaning something the prophet used to do but you don't have to do it…soooooo this year there were 3 MILLION people doing something they do not have to do…

**** Meaning the "Night of power": It is one of the 10 last nights of Ramadan...But we are not too sure which one….Some people think it's the 21st or 23rd or 25th or 27th or 29th of Ramadan… whoever attains the blessings of this holy night should attain perfect power in his spiritual life, its value is more than one thousand months of worshipping and all your prayers are granted…

Do you actually picture 3 million EXCLUDING the habitants of Mecca which are approx. 1.4 million in a small city…It is needless to say that cars where parked at the city's gate and people were actually praying in the streets…There was no more room in the extended 3 floors marbled mosque surrounding the Kaa'ba…nor around it….nor between the buildings and small streets…nor after the buildings and small streets….So it had to be the main streets till the city's gate….As I looked down to all these people that came from across the nations… while they moved harmonically… prostrating together in a moment of silence….Foreheads on the carpeted floor… delivering themselves from the burden on their shoulders till the first signs of light appear in the velvety sky…speaking different languages…some of them not even understanding what the imam chants…But crying at his tone of voice and his prayers…I couldn't help but wonder…No wonder they envy us and are trying to kill us, humiliate us, imprison us every where in the world…Even "I " envy us….If I were them I wouldn't care how much petrol a country has…nor gold…nor precious stones…nor gas…nor history or culture…But how much faith…How much unshakeable faith it has…and maybe that is their main incomprehension...

A total incomprehension of why is this holy place forbidden to non Muslims? Why the few "spies" through history that came in as fake Muslims went back as real ones? Why do millions come every year hoping to die while performing pilgrimage and if not come back the next year? What is so special about Islam that it has the biggest numbers of believers in the world? Why a poor man who has nothing to eat shares his piece of bread and dates with a complete stranger? Why some powerful people in this country have their homes open 24/7 for people to come in…eat, drink, pray and rest? Why do people spend millions everyday on other people behind no motif such as being known publicly as a good man or escaping taxes? Why don't we have taxes? Why don't we have a "Madonna" to advertise our beliefs or a "Hilary Clinton" that encourages us to cry on our walls? Why is the president of a country praying next to the popper in the street? Why don't we even notice or care that presidents, kings, queens bend their heads with us? Why are we increasing even with the lack of brain wash from media and movies? Why don't we fight for land, power or money like the rest of the world? Why are we willing to fight and die for faith whether it is right or wrong? Why aren't we afraid of death? …

This incomprehension leads to wars… freezing bank accounts in the name of terrorism…stopping charity cases under the same name…imprisoning whoever is a bit religious or looks like one…killing innocents… exterminating new generations…Having an uncontrollable feeling of destroying the unreasonable, the illogical , the unknown…

But for every action there is a reaction…and this year our reaction was this…with every injustice in the world there will be a million more new Muslims….coming to pray…to forget…to surrender…to cry…to feel strong…to feel as one…

" اللهم احفظ هذا البلد آمناً مطمئناً ....و سائر بلاد المسلمين......آمين"