Sixth Day In Mecca

Here I am O Allah, (in response to Your call), here I am. Here I am, You have no partner, here I am. Verily all praise, grace and sovereignty belong to You. You have no partner.

Today is the sixth day of my 3omrah, and I have finally finished the actual part of the 3omrah, the i3timar. Yesterday at 11 at night we reached the holy city of Mecca, after a five hour drive in the bus – boring and uncomfortable as usual.

My first impression of the city was that it wasn’t as beautiful as the Medina, as the Medina is much bigger and its buildings are much more spacious. One thing that you notice is that all of Mecca’s buildings are cramped together, and the streets are mostly alleyways.

Putting that aside and looking towards the Ka3ba, I actually got to see and pray near it. Contrary to many people’s belief, the 7aram in Mecca is much smaller than the one in Medina. After the 6awaf, it was time for the sa3i, between the two ‘hills’, the safa and the marwa. This part is especially tiring and annoying, but you’ll be grateful when it’s done.

Now that we had completed all the tasks necessary for the 3omrah, it was time to go and shave my hair off. Now I look a lot like ecosaan (however you spell that green headed cartoon Chinese guy that comes on Spacetoon), so I guess I’ll need a cap to cover my bald head.

All in all I’ve finished everything necessary, and I’ll be back in Jordan after two days in this city. On Friday, I’ll be back to the uncomfortable bus for an unbearable twenty six hours. And the toilet on the bus has run out of water, so I guess it will be a very very painful.