Hajj Reflection #15: The menses

Women's best friend, the menses. Apparently, this gift that Allah bestows onto women is often not appreciated when in the holy lands, none other than the reason that it limits our ibadah. It is, as a point of fact, Allah's test on our imaan; our acceptance of the condition (redha), our patience and our determination in pursuing ibadah in other forms.

During menses, I found a spot outside the mosque at the saie area, overlooking the ka'aba. If I cannot get 60 blessings upon circumambulation of the ka'aba, or 40 for solah in Masjidil Haram, then I should grab the chance to gain at least 20 by looking at the holy ka'aba, shouldn't I? Hence, there I recited the salawats, read the Ma'thurat, Asma'ul husna, istighfars, zikr and my personal du'as. There is certainly no barrier between the Creator and the servant at all!

Initially I had prayed for delayed menses but instead got an earlier and shorter one which enabled me to perform another tawaf sunat (and kiss the hajarul aswad, Alhamdulillah), tawaf wada' and also to enter Masjid An Nabawi which then led me to Raudah.

Grateful? Blessed? Beyond words. Indeed, which of the favours of your Lord will you deny?

Hajj Reflection #9: Sacrifice

Hajj is full of sacrifice. The whole Hajj ritual constitutes various significant events of the past: the repeated running from Safa to Marwah as done by Siti Hajar in search of water for her son Ismail, the stoning at the three jamrahs as conducted by Prophet Ibrahim who was persuaded and taunted by the satan, and the sacrificing of a livestock portraying the extent Prophet Ibrahim was willing to sacrifice on his only (long-awaited) son.

Such symbolic sacrifices have deeper values. Right from the very beginning - when one decides to take on the challenge of Hajj, he/she is already willing to sacrifice so many things. Time, money, family, work and various forms of commitments are the obvious ones. More importantly, the willingness to travel approximately 7,000km from Malaysia to Makkah, a land where 2-3 million other pilgrims will gather; and where toilets, rooms, tents, transportations and space has to be shared, IS a series of big sacrifices!

Sacrifice is important in Islam. It is Allah's way of testing our imaan; whether we are sincere (ikhlas) in our actions, in the name of Allah.

It is neither their meat nor their blood that reaches Allah, but it is piety (taqwa) from you that reaches Him.
(Al-Hajj: 37)