Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Excessive heat + fasting = Frustration


'Patience is no small, feel-good personal quality. It is at the heart of diplomacy and civility, lawfulness and civil order. Without it, people can't work together and society can't function at all. With it, we create the possibility of peace between people and between nations.' This is something I realized during my quick four day trip to the city of Makka tul Mukarrama. I completed my shift around seven in the morning. Scampered off home to prepare meals for my family and then rushed off  to the airport. A big thumbs up to Saudi airlines for their quick and efficient service despite the airport being full and chaotic. Arriving in Jeddah, I received my luggage quite speedily and then made my way to Makka tul Mukarrama. I had to bargain with the taxi drivers as most of them were charging ridiculous fares from Jeddah to Makka. The usual price is around SR150, but during Ramadhaan they can charge from anything between SR250 and SR 350. Usually friends of mine in Jeddah would pick me up from the airport. However, they are spending half of their Ramadhaan in Cape Town, South Africa. Eventually. a young Saudi man came to me and insisted that he would take me to Makkah for around SR160. I agreed and jumped into his taxi. He was a pleasant young man. He repeatedly asked if I was comfortable and if I  required the air conditioner to be turned up higher.It took us one hour to get to Makkah and another one hour from the entrance of Makkah city to the hotel. There was a small fire in the one end of the city near Bibi Ayesha Masjid and that caused the one side of the underground tunnel road to be closed to traffic and that led to a pile up of cars stretching kilometers down the road.
My driver mentioned to me that he is originally from Medina tul Munawwara but lived most of his life in the city of  Makkatul Mukarrama. He was quite familiar with the place and so he chopped and changed lanes and took short cuts through the city's back roads and alleyways. Eventually we came to the entrance of the tunnel road. The main road that leads to the Clock tower building. Whilst cutting through all the traffic, my driver did not see a policeman standing in between the cars and so our car touched him slightly by his leg. The policeman went into a frenzy. He came to the front of the car, hit the bonnet of the car with his hands and then made his way to the drivers side of the car. He opened the door and pulled the driver out of the car. He then proceeded to search the man. Both men were screaming at each other. Quite an unnecessary situation in my opinion. The policeman hit the driver on his shoulder and the driver hit the policeman in retaliation.The driver was then threatened to be arrested and thrown into jail for six months and the driver retaliated by saying that if the policeman was not dressed in uniform he would have given him a few more shots for being disrespectful.I then opened the window and called a senior military officer who was sitting in his official vehicle. I then explained to him the situation and we then drove off. I was quite shocked at the behaviour of the junior policeman. He could have sorted out the situation in an amicable manner with courtesy and patience but instead he chose to create a scene and allow traffic to build up behind us...Having finally arrived at Movenpick  hotel, Makkah, I had to undergo a full security check. All my bags and belongings was thoroughly checked through a scanning machine before I was allowed into the hotel. It  was an awesome feeling to be eventually welcomed and embraced by family and friends who were eagerly awaiting my arrival. After meeting, greeting and exchanging gifts, dad and I made our way to the restaurant to collect our food. Whilst waiting for our order, we suddenly noticed  one teenager running past us and a group of other boys running after him. They had a small argument and hence they also landed up hitting each other. My dad decided to diffuse the fight along with other men who were waiting for their orders. The irony here, is that there was a group of policemen who were also waiting for their food order and they chose to observe the fight rather than diffuse it. They simply watched and stared at the situation without taking any action.Eventually, they stopped fighting and the crowd dispersed...Whilst returning to the hotel, I noticed a group of policemen who stood up from their chairs and handed it over to a group of old women who just could not walk any further due to the heat. That was a really kind and pleasant gesture I thought to myself, quite the opposite from the other two situations I had experienced earlier. Umra was quite a long, tedious and difficult task with thousands of people trying to fulfill their religious obligations. Now I know why the reward for an umra in ramadhaan is equivalent to one Hajj. The entire process took us almost three hours to complete.Walking between safa and Marwa was not as tiring as making tawaaf. It was crowded with thousands of people young and old pushing their way through the crowd. We witnessed a few people collapsing due to the heat. Sweat dripping down the foreheads of children who were quite visibly exhausted and dehydrated.We noticed an old man pushing his elderly wife on a wheelchair through tawaaf. It was just an overwhelming experience in totality.During my short four day stay I also accompanied my family on a tour to all the historical sites in Makka tul Mukarrama, including the Makkah Museum...I will give you full details regarding the tour in another post. I will do that soon Insha allah. Brother Abdulla (who resides in Makkah) and his cousin arranged our city tour and also drove me back to Jeddah airport from Makkah. As we made our way to the airport, once again we witnessed a small accident with both drivers hitting each other on the street. I guess with millions of people fasting under scorching hot weather conditions, trying to eat, sleep and  pray all at the same time, frustration is bound to set in.However, as the Prophet Muhammed (saw) stated,"Wisdom and power follows endurance and patience."