Hajj - My Husband Makes The Journey of His Lifetime

Alhamdulillah, my husband is making Hajj!

He went with the Al-Mu'adhdhan Hajj Group, Al-Furqan Bookstore, Philadelphia, PA. So far, so good. This group has done a great job, and everything leading up to the big departure day has gone smoothly, Masha Allah.

One of my sister friends was anxiously biting her nails waiting for notification of Visa approval. Alhamdulillah, the approval came and she leaves tomorrow.

My husband's group left Philadelphia on Tuesday, December 4th. They flew into New York City and from there took a flight to Cairo, Egypt. From Cairo, they departed to Jeddah and transferred to Al-Shohada Hotel in Mecca. Hubby tells me that this hotel is very nice, Masha Allah.

I was intially worred because we agreed to text message daily. You know, just "am OK" kind of thing. When I hadn't heard anything from him toward the end of the week, I phoned Verizon Wireless. I thought maybe I had to add something to our cellphone plan, but I was told that Verizon Wireless does not work in Saudi Arabia. Arggggg!. But at last hubby called me from a call center - at 4 a.m. my time! Saudi is 8 hours ahead of us.

He performed Umrah for the first time in his life, Alhamdulillah! He was so excited when he called me that he could barely put his experience into words.

One bad thing did happen, however. When he and his friend leaned into the Kabbah, someone stole the friend's fanny pack. Can you imagine? Stealing right at the Kabbah, Allah (swt) forgive us!

On the way back to the hotel, my husband's sandals slipped off. His friend picked them up, but the crowds were so intense, and hubby and his friend got separated. So hubby had to walk back to the hotel barefoot, lol.

Another thing that happened was my husband stopped to eat at a street vendor. He ordered a sandwich and the meat was on one of those large spools, the kind where the vendor slices it off for the sandwiches. My husband got violently ill after eating there. He ignored the advice of the Hajj group not to eat anywhere, if possible, outside of the hotel.

And today he has a bad cold. There are millions of people from all over the world there and not everyone has total immunity from all the different types of germs.

But all in all, he has not let this ruin his trip of a lifetime at all! He is so happy!

Tomorrow they check out of the hotel and head for Medinah. They will be staying at the Dallah Taibah Hotel. At some point, the group will be transferred to Mena where they will be staying in tents close to the Jamarat.

Alhamdulillah! I am so happy for my husband. I miss him and wish I could be with him to share the experience.

I'll let you know how the rest goes when he calls me.

Oh Allah, Blessed Allah, please keep my husband safe and accept his Hajj/Ameen.