Umrah : 11 days of journey...

"Nak tak kalau umi ajak awak dengan Aini pergi umrah" -
that was the first sentence that came out from my mum.

"Why not?"

 I would say that at the very beginning there's a lot of things were circling in my mind especially on how to perform my umrah, communication barrier and etc. I'm an outdoor person who love to venture new things but... umrah is different because it involves the attachment of our soul to our creator, Allah SWT. Before this, I didn't know much about umrah. Reading and going through all the steps are different as it serves diverse feelings. You need to experience them in the first place...

Highlight points pertaining umrah: 

1. Miqat - Tempat memulakan niat umrah
( It is advisable for women to do niat umrah bersyarat **)

2. Tawaf - 7 times of tawaf
(walk circling Kaabah & recite any doa's and our wishes)

3. Saie - 7 times of Saie from Safa to Marwah
( there's a green light on our way to Marwah and it is a sunnah for men to run)

4. Tahalul - the act of cutting off our hair after done
 with our tawaf and saie

5. Tawaf wida'- Tawaf selamat tinggal


If you guys are highly interested in performing umrah, I'm very sure that you want to buy a lot of things especially after reading numerous entries from others. Me too! haha. Trust me, you don't need to do so. Buy things that are important and think carefully before buying them.. ok? Membazir tu kan amalan syaitonnn ... 

Things that you should buy/ prepare: 

1. Buy some necessities such as bottle, thick socks,

proper shoes & pouch bag 

2. Do my reading ; books, reliable websites

3. Go to money changer ( during my time MYR119 = SYR 100)

4. Check current information from my agent

5. Attire : Jubah, Telekung & pakaian y menutup aurat

* You can buy things from Mydin nearby because they got all you want especially that are related to Haji & Umrah*

Before getting into plane's tummy hehehe

Day 1  

I slept along the way from Klia to Jeddah Airport despite of limited space that I had. 8 hours of journey was nothing compared to 10 hours of waiting that we went through just to get a stamp from them (so that we can get into their country) - Oh yeah, before I proceed I would like to highlight that I went to Madinah first before continue my journey to Mecca. I swear it's really challenging to be at the airport because there's a lot of people from other countries as well. There's an incident when I put my scarf next to me and a woman just pat her hands on my scarf as if it was a towel. It's really rude! Grrr... I quickly took my scarf right after that. hahaha...

While queuing to get the stamp, I bumped into a couple that I thought from Pakistan. 

" Assalamualaikum, can you save this spot for me because I want to get my bag"

(with the hope they understood everything) 

"Yeah, Sure" 

"Where are you from?" 

"I'm from Malaysia. Are you from....."

"Pakistan? A lot of people thought that. We're actually from England" 

And... our conversation went on and on till we got the stamp. I think it was a good opportunity for me to be able to converse with the native speaker of English Language and.. they're from England. They understood me! weeeee. Poyo-lah Nisa. Hahaha. 

To be honest, I'm quite overwhelmed after knowing that I need to repeat my Aptis Test. Aptis Test and MUET is two different things because in Aptis Test we are required to speak based on the pictures that are provided within a few seconds and other skills that are tested are reading, listening and writing. We need to interact with the computer instead of a person itself. It's tough because, we need to speak clear enough so that they are able to understand and analyse our sentences. I scored other skills very well except the speaking part. Huuuuu. I'll payback, next year! Fighting! 

Day 3

It took another 6-7 hours from Jeddah Airport to Medina. Below is the picture of my hotel that I stayed. The named of the hotel is Taiba. It is located near Masjid Nabawi where we can walk from our hotel. Fyi, In Medina, we visited historical places, perform our prayer in Masjid Nabawi and grabbed our chance to be in Raudhah where it is one of the blessed places where our dua's are accepted. 

Day 3

We started our third day in Medina by visiting historical places like Mount Uhud, Masjid Quba', Date Farm, University of Madinah and other places. Personally, visiting Jabal Uhud reminds me of the struggle of Muslim to fight against Meccan forces (Musyrikin Mekah). During the battle, many Muslims were killed including Hamza Ibn 'Abd al-Mutallib, Muhammad. His grave is located near Jabal Uhud and many pigeons sat on the grave and flew around it....  :') 

Jabal Uhud... 

 With Kak Maria in front of Saidina Ali Bin Abi Talib's door

 in Masjid Nabawi

Nisa. Ummi and Aini

In front of Women's prayer area in Masjid Nabawi. 

Besides performing their prayer, most of people here would do other things like eating, chatting and reciting Al-Quran. I think they would spend most of their times here. Oh yeah.. they also bring their kids ! hehe ( you can see a boy is running in the picture above hehe). There's an incident when I gave my chair to an old woman from Sri Lanka and immediately after that she kissed me and spoke some words that I could not understand. 

" Sorry I don't understand . I'm Malaysian "and smiled to her. 

She hugged me right after that and we shook our hands... such a wonderful experience. 

Another a picture of aini and me.

Psstt.. Because i'm quite lazy to write more, I will share some pictures around 

Madinah Al-Munawarrah (Kota Bercahaya)....

Towards the shop nearby - Date Farm

Managed to take a quick selfie... hehe 

In front of a small hut in Date Farm

Masjid Quba'

Jabal Uhud

Hey Mr Camel, why aren't you looking at me?! Grrrrr...

On our way to women's prayer area...

It helps us to shield us from the sun...

My mom and  other jemaah from our travel agency, Kembara Sufi

Day 4

It's cold in Medina and I went out early in the morning to do my last minute shopping. 

To be honest, it's easy to bargain with the sellers. 

me:  " Kam wahid? " ( berapa satu) 

 seller: "Hamsa" (lima) 

seller: "Ini bagus"

Kelakar pulak bila ingat balik. Hehehe! :D 

 " Ini bagus" " Mari kakak" " Masuk" are some examples of words that will be used by the seller.. 

Beli 4 Jubah lelaki about 65 rial each and of course...

2 Abaya's for myself. Turki scarf for my close friends...

My mother gave me 500 rial buat belanja and it covered 11 days of our journey. 

I ended left 15 rial in my pocket on the last day hehe. Beli jgn tak beliiiii 

Since it was my last day in Medina, I recited dua near  Kubah Hijau in Masjid Nabawi...

It was a very emotional moment because i didn't get a chance to pray in Raudhah... or even in Masjid Nabawi...Sedih kan... :')  So girls out there, please check your period cycle

 before choosing the dates for umrah. 

(Other options: see the doctor and take pills)

Heading to Raudah... 

Inside Masjid Nabawi... 

It took about 6-7 hours of journey to Mecca from Medina..... 

-----------------------------------------------------

Labbaik Allah humma labbaik

Labbaik la sharika laka labbaik

Innal hamda 

Wan-ni'mata

Laka walmulk

Laa sharika lah 

O My Lord, here I am at Your service, here I am.

There is no partner with You. 

Here I am.

Truly the praise 

and the provisions are Yours

and so is the domination and sovereignty. 

---------------------------------------------------------------

Day 5 & 6

Kak Maria and I went for a night walk. 

 Our mission : To see Kaabah. 

It was a wonderful moment. 

Serenity. 

We went to the main door of Masjidil Haram 

and we stood about 5-10 minutes to see Kaabah. 

Subhanallah.... 

Allahuakhbar....

The next morning, we went to visit a few historical places like Jabal Nur, Jabal Rahmah,

 Gua Hira' (saw it from far) and etc. 

Ayah. Nisa. Ummi and Aini. 

Jabal Rahmah

Day 7

For the first time, I stepped into Masjidil Haram. I was excited.

 It was the moment that I've been waiting for! 

I can pray! 

Terima kasih Allah.... 

My parents decided to perform umrah on that day... 

We departed from our Hotel to Masjid Tanai'em (A place for Miqat) at 9am. 

and finished at 1.30pm. 

Managed to perform tawaf near the Kaabah... 

My first saie...

Nisa and Raihan. 

If you followed my twitter account, I did mention that I met her by chance. Alhamdulillah.. It was very difficult to get the Internet connection in Mecca unless we were in the hotel lobby. That night, after i finished my dinner, I texted her saying that i'm at the lobby. 2 minutes later, she replied my whassap messages and said that she'll head to my hotel which was located 50m from hers.

 And... she brought along her brothers to accompany her.

We talked about many things and ended our meeting by taking pictures as a proof of meeting! 

Hehehe... 

 I was soooo happy to see her! 

Amyway, in case you're wondering who she is...she's actually one my best friends merangkap 

roommate since 2013 smpai habis degree lakut. Heeee :D

Day 8

We visited 2 places. A museum and Hudaibiyah mosque. As soon as we arrived at the museum,
they distributed Al-Quran for free to each of us. Alhamdulillah...
In the museum, I could see and learn various things about Kaabah itself.
What's inside Kaabah, the previous telaga zam zam before they rebuilt it and many more.

The entrance... 

inside the museum.

Day 9

Performed my second umrah with Aini. We headed to Tana'em mosque as early as 7am to avoid congestion. Our mutawwif told us that there's gonna be a lot of people performing umrah
because it's a sunnah to do umrah on Friday. It's true, the number of jemaah had
increased more than I thought ! It think we made a wise decision to perform our
tawaf at the first floor as it's too crowded with people at the ground and we
might face a problem if we insist to go there.




before heading back to Masjidil Haram


I know, you could see clearly our naked face above. Not to forget, my eye-bags and
remaining scars of extraction treatment on my skin and... aini's favourite pimples! hehe!
We suffered dry skin problem since the first day in Medina. We put more mosturizer
and also sunblock to shield our skin. I hope it works..... hehe

after performing our sunat ihram prayers.... 

Nyuuummm! This was how we treated ourselves after done with

our umrah. Aini chose mango flavour while me on the other hand preferred

vanilla and chocolate. Hmm.. Tasty! 

A funny story behind this was our decision to have an ice-cream had caused

some of the kids keep staring at us and ended up... CRYING

Lol. We were very sorry. We didn't mean to tempt you guys 

with our ice-cream on our hands... xD

 Clock tower..

Could you see the green light? Right after we finished our isya' prayer, I saw
many people took out their smartphones and captured this. The first word
that came out from me was... "Whoaaaaa!" instead of Subhanallah. Lol
I should keep that in mind. That was our first time seeing it and I think
I was lucky to be able to capture the moment. I don't know what it is for but that night
was the first time it appeared.

See that struggling face? .... hehe... I know.... 

Day 10 

Since it was my last day in Mecca, I took more pictures than usual especially before
completing our tawaf wida'. 

While heading to Masjidil Haram.... 

Buildings near Masjidil Haram... 

Right after we finished our Subuh prayer, we went out for our quick shopping.

After buying some stuff for my friends and sister, we headed to a shop nearby 

to find juices. My favourite person told me that their juices taste great! 

"Kam?" 

" Two rial" 

" Two rial? Aini, get some more" hehehe

It was very cheap! We bought 3 : Mango, Mixed fruits and apple 

I tell you, it tasted really good! Fresh. Thick. Fruity. Delightful.

My last Zuhur prayer in Masjidil Haram... Sobs.... 

60 seconds before completing our tawaf wida'
(tawaf selamat tinggal)


We quickly headed back to our room to get our luggage as we need to be at the airport by 5pm.
Despite of running out of time, I'll make sure that
we didn't left anything behind... Especially our personal belongings.

At the airport with our small professor, Wafa. hehe! 

Don't trust her decent pose because she's very talkative and active. Hehe. She asked me 

a lot of questions and there's a time where i hardly could answer her question. LOL. :D

She made my brain worked harder than usual... Such a clever girl. 

Day 11 

We took off at 2am.. and I managed to finish my reading 

: The False Prince by Jennifer A. Neilson! 

My small spot: Before eating my breakfast at 4 early in the morning.... 

Semoga Allah jemput lagi.... InsyaAllah... 

Mutawif cakap.. ini antara doa yang paling sempurna

untuk kita semua amalkan.... 

" After asking Allah to guide you to the straight path, 

don't just stand there... start walking !  " 

Thank you, you know who..

 for your brilliant equipment... 

Goodnight xx