Umrah: Perjalanan bermula....

Mengapa mesti bepergian, melancong, makan angin? Why do we travel and go places?? 

- keluar dari kebiasaan
- tengok tempat orang

- belajar perkara baru

- nak cuba their variety of food and cultures

And then there is this one type of travel. The pilgrimage. The soul searching, spiritual journey. Depends on what they believe, what religion they follow, people will take a great effort to go to the associated places. Muslims will go to Mecca for Umrah & Hajj, Hindus has their Kumbh Mela, bathing in the sacred river of Ganges, Jews will visit the Wailing Wall and so on....

As for me, I was blessed to be "invited" by Allah SWT to visit the Holly Land of Madinah & Mecca. Agak sukar untuk memahami konsep 'tetamu Allah' ni pada mulanya. Kenapa mesti orang kata urusan pegi umrah haji bukan kehendak kita, Allah yang tentukan, Dia yang jemput. To me, if you want to go, you'll work for it. Xde duit cari and simpan duit, xde masa usaha dapatkan masa tapi bila pikir2 semula...kita berusaha, Allah yang tentukan. Itulah yang dikatakan jemputan Allah. Allah Maha Pengasih, kalau hambaNya dah kuat azam nak pergi ditambah dengan kuat usaha tentulah dia akan jemput. I read this article from mohamadzakihalim.com and it helped clear things out. Amat2 bersyukur dijemput menjadi tetamu Allah.....dan semoga kami tergolong dalam kategori tetamu yang dijemput dengan rahmat dan keredhaanNya.

As for why? I wish my journey to the Holly Land will give me a turning point from what I was to a new better me. Hamba berdoa agar Allah ampunkan dosa2 yang lalu dan jangan biarkan hamba buat lagi segala kesalahan2 tu. I wish my journey will give me new knowledge and change the way I look at life and people around me.  I want to come home refreshed and started a relatively "new" life. 

So off we go. Me, hubby and my parents. Initially, I planed the journey for just 3 of us tetapi Allah jemput my mom sekali. Pelan asal nak pergi on June but Allah planed it better so we went on the 10th of March. Alhamdulillah. Base on recommendation, we chose Wira Saujana Travel & Tours and again we thanked Allah kerana menetapkan hati kami. Kalau ikutkan nak jugak pergi cari ejen lain yang lebih murah. 

We travel by Saudi Arabian Airline to Madinah, singgah kejap di Riyadh dalam sejam. So 2 kali take off dan landing (tak suka part ni) but much better dari kena transit or travel by bus from Jeddah to Madinah. 

Sepanjang flight I can't really sleep and asyik nak pergi toilet. Lucky it was quite comfortable dan makanan pun best. Sepanjang perjalanan sempat watched 2 movies, played Bejewelled & Sudoku, listened to few surahs recitation & ulang2 panduan umrah. After about 10 hours kami pun sampai.....cramp pinggang!! Imagine orang dulu2 naik kapal laut. Imagine zaman Rasulullah they all travel by camels and by feet. Astaghfirullahalazim......sesungguhnya hamba kurang bersyukur. 

Urusan keluar dari airport Madinah berjalan lancar and our bus was outside waiting for us. Less than an hour journey dah sampai ke hotel. It is a 5 Stars Hotel (level Madinah) and sangat2 dekat dengan Masjid Nabawi. Udaranya nyaman sejuk at around this time. After short briefing kami naik ke bilik dan bersiap sedia terus untuk menjejak kaki ke Masjid Nabawi. I can't describe my feeling. Masa jejak airport air mata dah mengalir, bila jejak masjid tak payah nak cakaplah. And now I understand, for this reason people travel for pilgrimage. For the peace and tranquility it brings. Perasaannya tidak tergambar. You have to be there to feel it (or should I say, be there for the right reason).