24th January 2020

Juma Mubarak!

I haven’t been posting daily as I had hoped, thanks to lack of time and internet. However, there are a few things you must bring if you’re planning for Umrah in January 2020 or next couple of months.

I will post separately about “things to pack” but please, oh, please, do bring a lot of cotton. A big pack will also do. It will be useful during flight to prevent against air pressure, for men to apply attar, as earbuds to protect against wind, for cleaning wound and finally to do marham-patti.

Bring a lot of your best, warmest and yet lightest winter wear. Madina is cold as crazy and any number of layering you wear does little to warm you, unless you’re sprinting, which results in some sweating and temporarily makes the cold weather tolerable.

The day began late. I couldn’t get myself to get out of the bed. Finally, after a lot of chaos when the roommates left for namaaz, I had the room to myself. And, my sister of course. I had decided to go a little late, because I couldn’t leave sainji alone for long and she had no strength to walk to Masjid e Nabwi. Also, if you go early, you get a nice place inside the masjid but often one gets stuck and it takes forever to come out. Again, the time constraint because of my sister.

I washed some clothes, bathed and got ready at a leisurely pace. I did patti to my bad finger, a ritual I have to repeat every few hours.

I will update this post later, insha’Allah.

Prayers for all ummah. As I see Muslims from all over the world, I realize just how important it is that Muslims get their acts together. We should be considerate and accomodating for all, and not cause any troubles to fellow human beings, irrespective of their religion and country and language. May Allah be with us. Amen!

Shabana Mukhtar