In any spiritual journey, the experiences, the trials and tribulations are all unique to you. I am thankful my journey to the holy lands had been free from any major difficulties. If you were to ask me what spiritual gains or lessons I garnered from my pilgrimage, I will relate to you three incidents which happened. It was very clear He wanted me to learn from these incidents and pass on the messages.

Lesson #1: The Poor Helping the Poorer

The unsung heroes of both Makkah and Madinah has to be the cleaners – hoards of them maintaining the cleanliness of the main places of worship and its premises – the Ka’abah, Masjidil Haram and Masjid al-Nabawi. Most of them come from South Asia and some from Southeast Asia. I read somewhere their salary is a paltry SR300-500 per month equivalent to about S$100-170. It’s not unusual sometimes they depend on handouts from generous pilgrims, forced to take on another job or may even resorted to begging for alms. I recalled that time at Masjidil Haram and I saw a pilgrim giving money to a cleaner. Not an unusual sight but what the cleaner did after that was humbling and inspiring. He was about to put the money into his pocket when he saw a man with no legs passed by and without hesitation, he gave the money to that man. I had just witnessed the spirit of itsar (the act of placing others before self). The 1 riyal the cleaner had given to the disabled man had put me to shame. It had made the riyals that I had given away seemed worthless.

Subhanallah

Lesson # 2: Health is Wealth

O Lord, forgive me, bless me, rectify me, raise my status, give me my sustenance, guide me, strengthen me and pardon me

We read this everyday in our solat and it was only recently I got to know the translation and its meaning. (I am embarrassed with this admission.) Strength or health is being mentioned in the above said verse and this is one of things we easily take for granted. Health is something we don’t see – unlike wealth – and we only know how important health is until we lost it due to a chronic illness or an accident. When we are blessed with strength and health, we can walk, we can run, there are no physical constraints. Mobility is needed in almost all the rituals of Hajj and Umrah like the tawaf and saie (literally saie means effort but saie is also one of the rituals of Umrah and Haj where a pilgrim needs to walk seven rounds between As-Safa and Al-Marwah (two small mountains located within the Masjid al-Haram). While doing the saie, at some point, I did complain to myself how strenuous it was and my back did give me problem. Then I saw a young man with cerebral palsy who was struggling, in his every step, trying to complete the ritual. There and then I said my istighfar – tears flowed uncontrollably. How easy it is for us to forget and trivialise His blessings.

Astaghfirullah

Lesson #3: The Good, the Good and the Good

Yes, Makkah and Madinah are congested. Yes, there will be groups of pilgrims who will push, shove and elbow their way to achieve their objectives. Yes, people will tug and tussle but amid the chaos, goodness prevailed. Kindness has many faces like a tall and burly man who helped shielded me and my youngest son as people pushed and shoved trying to get into Raudhah, or a pilgrim from Turkey who sacrificed his solat space so my son could have his, or another pilgrim who gave shelter to my youngest son, under his umbrella, from the scorching midday Sun. You could see random acts of kindness like strangers walking around and offering water to pilgrims under the sweltering heat.

The believer is gracious, for there is no goodness in one who is neither kind nor friendly.

Source: Musnad Ahmad 8945, Grade: Sahih.

Masya-Allah

Photo below: A female pilgrim in tow in the midst of a vast ocean of other pilgrims.

Share this Story