The opportunity

If there was one word that I could use to describe my Hajj experience, it would be patience.

patience pat-ience noun

The capacity of enduring hardship or inconvenience without complaint.

In-fact, the Arabs even have a hand gesture to represent the word, which people in North America may confuse with the "how much you want" hand gesture.



The Hajj patience was a quality that I lacked. I would complain about many things. When the food is not on time, the bus arrives late, air conditioning is too high, or heating is not high enough. However, I quickly learned that if I wanted to complete Hajj that I would need to develop the Hajj patience. So, what is the Hajj patience? well, consider the following:

• In the apartments we stayed, the water would finish every two hours and the elevators did not work most of the time, so I always had to take the stairs to my 6th floor.
• The government buses that transported pilgrims from Jeddah to Mecca, and Mecca to Medina would take at least five times the time it normally takes.
• Our flight to and from Jeddah end-to-end took one day and a half.

I hope these incidents do not discourage one from going to Hajj because everyone will face trials. For each trail, you need the Hajj patience and understand the ultimate goal that you are there to do, which is completing the rituals of Hajj in a safe-manner.

There was one moment in my trip that stood out for me. I was sitting at the harem in Mecca waiting for the prayer to start. I greeted an elderly man sitting next to me and started a conversation (conversation actually occurred in Urdu).

Ozair: Is this your first Hajj?
Elderly man: Yes
Ozair: Did you come with your family?
Elderly man: Nope, my kids could only afford to send me. I have been awaiting my chance to go for Hajj
Ozair: Why?
Elderly man: In Pakistan, pilgrims wishing to perform Hajj are put into a lottery system, where names are drawn to select the people who will go.
Ozair: Oh wow, so Allah has invited you to his house this year.
Elderly man: Yes (man started to cry)

At that moment, I realized that Hajj is not only a trial, but an opportunity to have the chance to pray at the most sacred place for Muslims. This man waited patiently his whole life for this opportunity, I was fortunate enough to go the first year that I made the intention. I just hope that all Muslims, around the world have the opportunity that I did.

Are you Canadian?

As of January 23rd, 2007, Canadians are now required to have a passport to travel to the United States and vice versa. Canadians have been rushing to the passport office to get their passports, some even getting them for the first time. Unfortunately, those first-timers have learned that due to an obscure provision in the Citizenship act that states, if you lived outside Canada on your 24th birthday between 1947 and 1977 and did not fill the right form, you lost your citizenship.

For the complete article, click here.

I hope these "Canadians" do not feel any less Canadian, but what does it really mean to be Canadian? Canadians really do not have a "got to eat meal" like other places around the world, unless you count Tim Hortons. I wonder not having a "got to eat meal" is substituted by having a collection of "got to eat meals" from around the world, due to our multiculturalism, which I believe is what makes Canada stand out from the rest of the countries. Anyways, not sure if any of what I wrote made sense, but there is something Canadian I will be enjoying tonight, which is the NHL All-star game. It will feature the best player in the game (arguments will be accepted), Mr. Sidney Crosby, let's hope he puts on a show.

An experience of a lifetime

By the grace of God, I just had the fortunate opportunity to perform the holy pilgrimage, also know as Hajj. Hajj is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and is the requirement of every healthy Muslim who can afford it. Unlike, some of the other trips that I have taken this year, Hajj is no vacation. It consists of a series of trials; from rituals, overwhelming crowds, to government complexities. However, there are no words that can describe the feeling of being able to pray in the sacred places (haraam) of Makkah and Medina and performing the pilgrimage.

Makkah is a situated on a valley between mountains. In the center of Makkah is the Kaabah, God’s house, where all Muslims around the world face for prayers. It is estimated that close to 1 million people can pray in this mosque. One of the largest challenges of the pilgrimage is dealing with the crowds. Makkah is a city that never sleeps, people roaming the streets at any time during the day, you can think of it as daytime New York City without subway systems.

This pilgrimage saw the largest crowd ever; most people estimate the attendance between 3-4 million. The majority of pilgrims are from Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Turkey. There are usually 1.6 million visa’s issued to international visitors; however, many locals attend every year too. This year saw the most important day of Hajj – Arafat occurring on Friday (jumaah) – the holiest day of the week, and deemed even more sacred. It is also known as Hajj Akbar.

To give you an idea of how crowded it was during the pilgrimage, consider the following:

• I am doing tawaaf (circling of the kabaa) and it is time for prayer. However, it is physically impossible to pray because there are too many people that you cannot perform the actions of prayer.
• To get a spot to pray inside the haraam in Makkah, you need to arrive 1-2 hours in advance. For Jumaah, you need to arrive 3 hours early.

For each trial that you encounter during Hajj, there are those golden moments that you will never forget:

• A father and son are changing into their ihram (clothing to be wore during Hajj) and the son drops his ihram into a puddle of water. The father takes his son’s ihram and wears it, giving his dry ihram to his son.
• A blind man performing tawaaf
• A man walking to stone the pillars representing Satan with both his legs amputated.

Hajj is one of the mostrewarding and challenging experiences of my life. Now that I am home and have had a chance to reflect, I can fully appreciate the tasks that I completed and the gratefulness of being able to arrive back safely. It has been an uplifting spiritual experience and hope to continue this momentum for the rest of my life. I hope to give some further insight into my experience in upcoming posts.