Aching heart

It's pilgrimage season again. Today is the 20th of Zul Qa'da. Next month is Zul Hijjah - the hajj month. My hearth has been aching for quite some time now. Longing for the holy places of Mecca and Medina. The memory of performing my hajj six years ago keep on coming back to me especially when I heard friends and relatives taking their flight there.

I envy the stone on the hill along the road to Mecca. They had seen Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, during his life time but I have not. I still hope to see him in my dream before I die. I envy the birds that hover over heads when we were performing our prayer in Kaabah. They live in the holy land of Mecca while I'm just a visitor.

The first time I performed my tawaf, surrounding the kaabah for seven times, my eyes were brimming with tears and I was speechless. No words can describe how I felt at that time. My heart was filled with many thanks to Allah for allowing me to be a guess. It was the closest I have been physically with Prophet Muhammad, performing a ritual that he has performed long before me at the very same spot. A ritual that signify the oneness of the muslim ummah regardless of country of origin, class or color. Circling around a building that does not have a single picture or idol/statue in it because muslims do not worship things but worship the one and only almighty god that does not have a shape or occupy a specific space. Allah is everywhere. Especially in the heart of the believers.

I have never fail to pray to Allah for a chance to go back there, at least for my umrah or small hajj. Please pray for me too.

May Allah bless us all.

aching - a continuous or prolonged dull pain in a part of one's body : the ache in her head worsened.

hover - remain in one place in the air : army helicopters hovered overhead.

ritual - religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actionsperformed according to a prescribed order