The History of Haj

Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam. It is a ritual and an act of worship  that has to be performed at least once during one’s lifetime. An individual is exempted from performing Hajj due to sickness, physical difficulties or financial hardships. Hajj and its rites were first ordained by Allah in the time of the Prophet Abraham and he was the one who was entrusted by Allaah to build the Ka'bah in Makka.

Hajj allows us to become closer to our Creator, God Almighty and affords us with an opportunity for a spiritual rebirth. We are united through submission to the will and communal worship of our beloved Creator. Prophet Ibraheem (as) came to Makka to perform Hajj every year once the Ka'bah was built to completion. After his demise, his son Ismaeel (as) followed in his fathers footsteps and continued this practice. Hajj was made obligatory in the 9th year of Hijra. During that year, the Prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sent 300 Muslims under the leadership of Hazrat Abubakr Siddique ( The first khalifa of Islam) to Makkaa to perform the Hajj.

By the following year, 10th Hijra, the messenger of God Almighty announced that he would be performing Hajj in that year.This Hajj is known as Hajj al Widaa’ or Farewell Hajj because it was the last Hajj Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) performed.He led thousands of Muslims to Hajj and explained to them how to perform the rites.

Source:

http://www.go-makkah.com

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1864624,00.html

HAJJ 1953- PRAYING

Again, more images from the National Geographic magazine published in 1953. This time the photos show images of pilgrims praying in Makkah.

THE RED CROSS RACKET by Ken Adachi (editor and investigative journalist)

The American Red Cross or the International Red Cross, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank, is an Illuminati-controlled front organization whose true purpose is completely opposite from their stated purpose. The IMF tells the world that they are there to "help" counties recover from economic difficulties (which the IMF and World Bank helped to create in the first place), but in reality, the IMF breaks counties and ruins their economies. The same could be said of the Red Cross.

The moment a 'natural' disaster like Hurricane Katrina roars through the southeast, radio and TV spots flood the airwaves seeking monetary donations to be sent to the Red Cross. With heart string music playing in the background, the radio announcer tells us that the Red Cross is "always  there in time of need" and now that the "poor victims of Hurricane Katrina are suffering" with this terrible tragedy, "won't you open your heart" and make a" generous" donation?

Oh Brother, these guys have the science of bilking people down to a fine art! I can't take the time to get into a long essay about the Dark  Side of the Red Cross, but just try to recall what happened after 9-11:

The dust from the World Trade Center collapses hadn't even settled before the call went out immediately from the Red Cross to give blood  and money to help the victims and the families of the 'terrorist' attack. Thousands of people gave blood and even more gave millions upon millions of dollars to the Red Cross. The first question that occurred to me when the Red Cross started asking for blood was: "Blood for whom?". Everyone was dead! We knew everyone was dead from the very beginning, so why is the Red Cross asking for blood donations day and night for about a week or more?

The answer is reflective of the true purpose of the the Red Cross: the Red Cross is a disaster racket which is in the business of making money from disasters-especially from engineered disasters. They sell the blood, of course, but they apparently also use the blood for other things which the public is generally not privy to.

And what do they do with the money? For the most part, they keep it for themselves! Recall how the families of the victims of 911 had to badger, harass, and threaten the Red Cross in an attempt to get some 11 million dollars that they would not release to the families-even a year later?  And that's what we were told in the media, but how much money did the Red Cross really rake in from 9-11?

The CEO of the Red Cross and other corporate celebrities receive obscene salaries and other big buck perks, while other charities operate on much leaner budgets for use by the charity itself. As I type this short article, I now check my e-mail and find 4 or 5 articles devoted to precisely the same topic written by other well known journalists from around the world. I guess I'm not the only one who smells a rat!!!! 

SO YOU THINK AL JAZEERA IS PROPAGANDA FREE---THINK AGAIN!

 So just how independent is Al Jazeera news when it comes to reporting the truth at ground level? I know many muslim viewers out there believe that everything spewed out by the news readers on Al Jazeera is the whole truth. So is it really the gospel truth or is Al Jazeera television simply another facade, another tool in the New World Order game. Recent news coming out of Qatar  suggests that the director of Al Jazeera Wadah Khanfar was pressurised many times by the USA as well as the Qatari government when it came to reporting issues regarding the USA. He was asked on one occasion to remove an inflammatory slide show on the Al Jazeera website that would portray the USA in a bad light. On one occasion he was asked to remove pictures on the website that portrayed kids that were in hospital covered in blood and receiving treatment after being bombed by the USA army.Many have suggested that Al Jazeera is simply a facade with the master minds behind the television station being none other than the ZIONIST JEWS....Makes you wonder that once upon a time the USA government hated the Al Jazeera televison station. Colin Powell, George Bush, Barack Obama and Hilary Clonton just a few years ago were up in arms about the television station calling it evil and biased against the American regime.Bush even jokingly suggested bombing the television station down. Now suddenly there is a change of heart and both Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama are encouraging the public to watch Al Jazeera TV. "The emir of Qatar came by the oval office today, and he owns Al Jazeera basically," Obama said in remarks recorded by CBS NEWS"S Mark Knoller. "Pretty influential guy. He is a big booster, big promoter of democracy all throughout the Middle East. Reform, Reform, Reform. You're seeing it on Al Jazeera.Today when he visits the White House, officials will tell him they watch Al Jazeera English to monitor the protests and at the State Department, when  you go down the hallway, you see it on virtually every TV and computer."

I guess the bottom line is, Nothing you see on television is the truth. The television itself is a weapon of mass destruction aimed at distorting the views and mindset of the masses. The people owning our global television stations are the very same people in power and hence they would naturally be showing the world images that would promote their cause and that would further strengthen their position of power. Nothing on television is the truth today. In fact many have suggested that more truth has actually come forth from ordinary people on the street taking video clips with their mobile phones. Many people prefer reading blogs rather than a mainstream newspaper as both television media as well as journalism through a newspaper has been dogged with false propagandist stories to promote a certain cause that is definitely not in the favour of the people or the masses but rather in the interest of a higher government authority.Come to think of it Steve Jobs didn't ban his kids from watching television for no reason. He was a wise man who simply didn't want his kids entrapped into the media lies that almost half the world has fallen victim to. Wake up people. The New world Order is here in front of our eyes and unless we start standing up to the atrocities that NATO and the super powers of the world continue to carry out against innocent civilians of poor and impoverished nations they will just continue in their quest for world domination. They have destroyed Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Bosnia and Afghanistan. Today Libya has crumbled. Tomorrow it could be your country too!!!!!

 Interesting links:

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Al-Jazeera-director-resigns-US/2011/09/21/id/411855

http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=97&contentid=3154&page=2

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2011/10/wikileaks-us-obsession-controlling-al-jazeera

British museum to stage Hajj exhibition

The world's largest exhibition on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, is to be staged at the British Museum early in 2012, it has announced.

Manuscripts, diaries, historic photographs and contemporary art will be displayed to mark the annual ritual, undertaken by Muslims across the world.The museum's director, Neil MacGregor, said the Hajj was a cultural phenomenon "that needs to be better understood".

Hajj: Journey To The Heart Of Islam will run from 26 January to 15 April.

Pilgrim's journey

Every adult Muslim is meant to undertake the Hajj at least once in their life if they can afford the journey to Saudi Arabia and are physically able.Many Muslims save for years in order to perform the pilgrimage. Circling the kaaba in the great mosque in Mecca is

part of the ritual.Once they arrive, they must brave vast crowds and the fierce heat of the desert as they perform the Hajj rituals.

The exhibition will examine the pilgrim's journey, the rituals and the destination to Mecca.

It will also feature the work of contemporary Saudi artists such as Ahmed Mater and Shadia Alem.

The idea is simple and, like its central element, forcefully attractive. Ahmed Mater gives a twist to a magnet and sets in motion tens of thousands of particles of iron, a multitude of tiny satellites that forms a single swirling nimbus. Even if we have not taken part in it, we have all seen images of the Hajj, the great annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca. Ahmed's black cuboid magnet is a small simulacrum of the black-draped Ka'bah, the 'Cube', that central element of the Meccan rites. His circumambulating whirl of metallic filings mirrors in miniature the concentric tawaf of the pilgrims, their sevenfold circling of the Ka'bah.

Mr MacGregor described the Hajj as a "supreme spiritual moment for Muslims" which "shapes the notion of the Islamic community worldwide".He added: "Very beautiful things, supreme works of art, have been made to be sent to Mecca to accompany people.

"We'll be looking at some of those objects and they are supreme."

Source:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-14214855

NATO CONNED US YET AGAIN

Article written by Zahid Asmal

As images of the lifeless bloodied body of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi flashed across our television screens, I could not help but feel pity for the hundreds of those gun toting jubilant young men who were conned into killing the maverick.Qadaffi reminded me of former U.S.president George W Bush Jnr, they even looked alike. The only difference being the latter got away with murder.
Duped into believing that they were fighting to liberate their country from tyranny, these young men hadn't the slightest of idea that they had just signed off their Libya to the oil wolves until death do the world apart.
Zionist Jews, wanting to establish a solid footing in Qadaffi's Libya, donned NATO uniforms and staunchly argued for a boots on the ground intervention. The citizens of Benghazi was about to be wiped out they cried! We want to help the people of Libya!

The story was bought. Libyan's were hooked!
The real reason as we all know is the huge oil reserves Libya has and the strong desire of some 200 thousand Jews to return to the country. Remember that Qaddafi was also adamant in implementing the GOLD dinar system, a single African currency which would be made from gold- a true sharing of the wealth.He called on all African and Muslims countries to join hands in implementing this currency which would rival the Dollar and the Euro. They would sell oil and other resources around the world only for gold dinars. It was an idea that would shift the economic balance of the world as a countries wealth would be dependent on how much gold they have and not how many dollars they trade and Libya has 144 tons of gold.......

It had nothing to do with protecting civilians.
Wonder where they were when Muslims in the Balkans were crying out for help?
It took NATO almost a full decade to intervene with air power. In Libya, it took one month to mobilize a broad coalition, secure a U.N. mandate,and establish a no fly or drive zone. Libyan's - who had free education,health,and housing, will as from today have to re pay the United States, Britain, and
France, for "setting them free". A life long commitment! The U.S. has already made it clear that Libya's 36 billion dollars in frozen assets will be welcomed as part of the thank you deal.

The maverick is history, he's victims are history.
We will miss his colourful presence and illusional banter.

Hajj 1953 - Pilgrims

Here are some more photos from Hajj 1953, courtesy of the National Geographic Magazine. This time they focus on the pilgrims:

Their lives changed the day she was born..

Little Wadha is a cute, adorable five year old child. She is the apple of her father's eye being the first born and like all kids she loves going outside and playing with other children but due to her medical condition she is unable to enjoy her life to the fullest. She was born in the UK after her parents moved there to allow her dad to complete his masters degree in law. Wadha was born with a hole in the heart which is a very common congenital heart defect that can be fixed very easily through advanced technological advancements that we have nowadays. Almost 90% of kids with this type of medical condition lead very normal and productive lives as the hole simply closes on its own over time or by a simple medical procedure. Wadha's parents nightmare started when the child was moved to the ICU after delivery and contracted a nosocomial infection or a hospital acquired infection due to unsterilized medical equipment. The infection spread quickly and targeted Wadha's heart and so she required an urgent operation to remove the infection which was becoming more and more resistant to antibiotics.

Unfortunately due to negligence on the part of the surgeon, the infection was scraped away but at the same time the doctor damaged her heart valve. A few days after the surgery the little girls medical condition worsened. Her dad then decided to lay a complaint against the surgeon and the hospital with the UK medical ethics committee. The hospital management and the surgeon were not willing to accept the negligence carried out on their part. Wadha's dad being a lawyer himself then decided to proceed with legal action with the assistance of the Saudi embassy in London. Mr.Al Dossari related his four year ordeal to me regarding the numerous court appearances in the UK and the hostility and resentment he faced by the medical team that treated his daughter. The hospital refused to accept responsibility for the little girl's deteriorating medical condition until realizing that Mr. Al Dossari had sufficient evidence against them. The hospital management then decided to meet with Mr. Al Dossari in private and hand him an apology letter along with a healthy sum of money. Wadha's dad refused the plea bargain and proceeded with legal action. After four years of court proceedings the judge ruled in favour of Mr. Al Dossari. He also ordered that the hospital be shut down due to a lack of hygiene and suspended the surgeon from practicing medicine for a period of six years internationally. The hospital management was naturally not impressed with the outcome and then through media channels implicated Mr. Al Dossari as being part of a terrorist organization having links with Al Qaeeda. They claimed that Mr. Dossari was in the UK not to study or further his degree but was in the country to plot a terror attack. Mr. Al Dossari related to me that his life over the past four years has been a nightmare and that if he wasn't a Muslim having full faith in ALLAH he would not have been able to go through this trial and tribulation that he and his wife have faced whilst in the UK. The hospital superintendent had connections with various media moghuls to turn the story upside down and implicate Mr. Al Dossari as having ties with terrorist organizations and hence did not deserve to receive medical treatment in the UK in the first place. The little girl though has British nationality as she was born in the UK.
The outcome though of their dilemma was that the lawyer representing the hospital realized that his clients were using the media to taint the image of Wadha's dad simply because he is a Muslim attired in an Islamic dress code and adopting a full Islamic way of life.On witnessing how Wadhas dad won the trial despite many hardships and obstacles, the man became a Muslim and opted to no longer represent the hospital in any further legal proceedings.

 Mr. Al Dossari mentioned that in Saudi there is a common misconception that anything from the west is the best. Many VIP members of society would opt to have doctors from Canada or the USA or the UK and look down upon Saudi doctors as though the quality of care provided by a Saudi doctor is inferior to the care given in the UK or the USA for that matter. He stated that this type of attitude needs to change. Wadha has thus far undergone five operations. She had three unsuccessful operations in the UK and has thus far had two successful operations in Saudi Arabia by a Saudi surgeon to repair the damaged heart valve as well as the hole in the heart. With God's grace she has one more operation left which will be carried out when she reaches the age of ten years. Wadhas dad said that he can never forget the kindness and generosity shown to him by all the Muslim communities in the UK who came out in their hundreds to the court house to witness the court proceedings. He mentioned that they had taken to the streets after the media implicated Mr. Al Dossari as being part of a terrorist organization. I guess this is the deceitful mannerism of the west. Whenever a western country faces any kind of loss they utilize the media to disseminate incorrect information to the masses to change the mindset of the people in their favour. After all, the television is the biggest weapon of mass destruction in my opinion and perhaps it is for that reason that the world famous Steve Jobs banned his own kids from watching any television.With God's help Mr. Al Dossari has passed his life's biggest test and trial according to him and I pray that little Wadha's frail body gets stronger each day so that she can enjoy a normal life like any other child.

Have you been a victim of gross medical negligence on the part of the physician, attending nurse or the hospital staff in general? Let us know what your experience has been like. Was there any legal action taken? If yes, what was the outcome of the legal proceedings?

Source:

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/women-saudi-arabia-photos/ - pictures

Hajj 1953 - transportation

Hajj 1953 - transportation

The following photos depicting the Hajj were published in the National Geographic magazine in 1953.

There's quite a few of them, so I've separated them into various different topics that I will post over the next few weeks or so. This post deals with transportation:

The airport experience in Saudi Arabia

So any one who has traveled for Umra or entered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia must have encountered the chaos at Jeddah International airport. On arrival in most other countries passengers are greeted with a smile and a warm welcome and if you expecting to find this type of treatment at Jeddah airport, well you in for a rude shock as this ain't happening. On arrival passengers usually encounter strict, unfriendly military style policemen and are then led towards customs and immigrations which is a chaotic scene with tired passengers made to wait in long queues.Again this is nationality dependent from my observation. I usually don't experience airport discomfort myself as I'm usually mistaken to be an Arab woman and so even if I'm waiting patiently in the queue I always get asked to move to the GCC queue which is fast and speedy for all Saudi and GCC nationals.However, I have witnessed many other distressed passengers at the airport. As usual if you are an American or western person you will generally pass through immigrations faster than the rest of the queue. The Bangladeshis, Filipinos, Sri Lankans, Indians and Pakistanis are usually made to wait the longest whilst the impolite, rude immigration staff sip their qahwa, enjoy a long mobile conversation with their friend or family and then simply close the counter and head off for salaah(prayers).

Mom will never ever forget her experience at Jeddah International airport. Whilst returning to South Africa from Riyadh via Jeddah, the immigration officer at Jeddah airport realized that the Arabic date didn't coincide with the English date on the visa and so technically mom had overstayed in the country for ten days more which is a criminal offence and requires a fine of SR10000 to be paid in order for a new visa to be issued and the passenger sent home. So at immigrations they told mom that she can not board the plane but instead of helping her they made her run from one office to the other with no one at the airport being able to get to the bottom of the situation or find a solution to the problem. I was in Riyadh and so I got a call at four in the morning from mom who sounded very upset and distraught over the phone. I in turn called the South African embassy in Jeddah and I must say hats off to Mr. Frank from the embassy who responded to my call at around four fifteen in the morning. He then woke up and went to the airport to assess the situation and find a solution to the problem. Being an embassy official he was also treated very badly by airport officials who were screaming and shouting at him without displaying any public relationship skills at all.The only solution I came up with was to ask mom to return to Riyadh so that the internal hospital passport office could sort out this mess which was not mom's fault in the first place but rather the fault of the Saudi embassy in South Africa who fed us with incorrect information regarding the visitors visa. Mr. Frank arranged a ticket for mom and she arrived in Riyadh very angry and disappointed that she missed the flight. It took ten days before the issue was resolved and naturally I didn't pay any fine.The irony though was that on the day mom had left to South Africa after all the drama she encountered, I met another South African family who were embroiled in the same issue at Jeddah airport. All family members were allowed to board the flight with the exception of this families eldest daughter as there was a date discrepancy on the visa.The poor girl was in tears as she had to be in South Africa to write an important university entrance exam which she obviously missed.

Usually in any organized country you would find that they have a help desk at the airport that assists passengers with visa or ticketing issues. The officials at the airport try and make the passengers trip as pleasant as possible.I recall an incident we had in Thailand at the Bangkok airport where a friend of ours was prevented from boarding the flight as his passport was due to expire within five months.The airport officials were however, extremely friendly and polite. The young man was chauffeur driven to the South African embassy and once all the formalities were completed he was driven back to the airport and was allowed to board the next available flight to Malaysia.This kind of service is nowhere to be found at any of the Saudi airports.

As I mentioned to you earlier, I haven't experienced waiting in long queues at the airport but I did encounter a few other problems. Whilst speeding down the Makkah- Jeddah highway in our hired black dodge vehicle trying to beat the horrendous traffic,mom and I arrived at the Jeddah airport only to find that the idiotic man at the counter had given our tickets away to someone else that he knows. This is how Saudi Arabia functions.If you need anything to be done speedily you just need a "wasta" ----a favour from a connection that you know----and your work gets done. So naturally the man at the counter was surprised to see us and then directed us to another counter where the gentleman stated that the flight is full and he will place us on the next flight to Riyadh. Now being a person who can not tolerate incompetence I simply lashed out at the man and threatened to call some well known people in Riyadh. After making quite a scene I was finally granted two business class boarding passes.

Last year my brother and his family also encountered a horrible experience at Jeddah airport . Having confirmed their flight a few days prior to departure with the Saudi Airlines office in Makkah, they arrived at Jeddah airport only to be told that their names do not appear on the system. My brother speaks fluent Arabic and so after having an altercation with the man at the counter, the man simply took the tickets from my brothers hand and tore it up saying that you are no longer on the flight. What usually happens is that if you are a VIP person and you need to get onto a flight, with one phone call at the airport your name will be entered in the system and another passengers name will be deleted. Also travel agents that have contacts with the personnel at the airport will block book seats for their passengers days before departure and so if extra seats are required the airport officials will simply delete another passengers name from the system who is not a part of that agents group. This is what happened with my brother and his family. So now they needed to book another day at a hotel plus book another flight via Qatar in order to return home. Why do passengers need to go through all this aggravation after paying for their tickets and booking their tickets well in advance?

Jeddah airport is more like a fish market than an airport. Passengers are always screaming and shouting out of dissatisfaction. When you simply enter the airport to check in, you will more than likely be welcomed with bags all over the place from the entrance of the airport building. There would be some passengers sitting on the floor due to a lack of adequate chairs.In short the airport is old and outdated. The plans for the construction of the new Jeddah International airport has been approved and so the thumbs up has been given to begin development as soon as possible. I do hope that with the new airport there would be a new fresh image and attitude portrayed by the staff at the airport as well. Personally if I was in charge of the airports I would fire all the staff working there. They should all first go on training on how to deal with other people and learn simple basic techniques of politeness and friendliness.The airport is the gateway to the country and so if the officials at the airport are rude and impolite with absolutely no manners it gives you an impression as to how the people of the country are as a whole. Airport officials will never assist a female in picking up her bags to place on the check in conveyor belt. The man will sit at his counter and stare at a woman having difficulty in lifting a heavy 25kg bag from the trolley but he wouldn't offer to help at all. Never mind helping a female I've witnessed old elderly people not being assisted properly at the airport.With thousands of pilgrims frequenting the Kingdom for Haj and Umra throughout the year its is about time that the Saudi government improves the service delivery at the airport. There are also numerous incidents of missing luggage as well as luggage landing up in other cities or countries.

King Khaled International airport in Riyadh is a little more organized than Jeddah.Take note just a wee bit more organized. However, the staff rudeness, impoliteness and unfriendliness is just the same. You will be shocked at the level of rudeness when I relate the next incident to you. So whilst waiting in the queue to clear customs and immigrations in Riyadh, Mr. A.A bin Ali hears a Saudi official screaming for the next Filipino gentleman to make his way to the counter. In any other country the immigration official would probably say politely "next please" but this airport official said "come here you piece of shit". Obviously this was said in Arabic and the poor Filipino gentleman without understanding anything simply made his way to the counter.Despite the wonderful structure and interior design of King Khaled International airport , it is probably the most boring airport in the world to get stuck in. There is nothing at the airport.No internet cafes or restaurants to pass your time during transit.

The story that takes the cake though goes to the next incident that my colleague Dr. Bajini experienced. Many a times at the airports announcements are not made in English and often there are sudden flight changes or the gate number for boarding the flight changes and passengers are not aware of this. Then there are times that an airport official will run from one waiting area to the next screaming, JEDDAH, JEDDAH, JEDDAH, JiZAN JIZAN.......ABHA ABHA ABHA....and then direct passengers in this primitive way to the boarding gate. During one of these fiascoes Dr. Bajini was directed to the wrong boarding gate and so instead of seeing the high rise buildings of Dubai from the plane window he realized during descent that the plane had flown over the Great Pyramids of Giza and so he and his family landed in Cairo. According to Dr. Bajini the check in staff were disorganized with some staff members engrossed in conversation amongst themselves whilst the man he handed his boarding pass to was too involved in a mobile conversation.
Now this story sounds really hilarious and we all couldn't stop laughing and yes this has happened in reality but of course for any passenger with many connecting flights to catch this situation is a nightmare. Their holiday was completely ruined as they then could not acquire connecting flights that suited them.After a few days Dr. Bajini and his family simply returned to Riyadh after spending a few days in Cairo.

These are just some of the incidents that I have experienced or heard of from friends and colleagues. If you are an expat or a Saudi national catching a flight from any of the airports within Saudi Arabia, let me know about your airport experience. Was it smooth sailing or a total disaster?

Saudi Hospitality

Whenever I go to South Africa on vacation I always get asked about Arabic culture, Middle Eastern cuisine and of course Arabian hospitality and lifestyle. One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, what's it like visiting an Arab home. Well I would say that Arab hospitality is very similar to the hospitality shown to guests visiting a South African Muslim home. I will relate my wonderful  lunch experience with the Najdi family who resides in the port city of Jeddah.

Mom and I happened to meet Mr. Najdi and his wife whilst on a flight from South Africa to the Kingdom. Mr. Najdi was under the impression that we were Arab Saudi women as we were both adorned in our abayas and headscarf. I am in the process of learning Arabic and so I answered all his questions in Arabic and only after some time elapsed did he realize that I'm originally South African. Mr. Najdi and his family travel to South Africa every three months for vacation and so he had met my dads cousin a few times before on the same Johannesburg-Jeddah flight. Mr. and Mrs. Najdi were excellent company throughout the long flight.They enlightened me on various aspects of Saudi life and also gave me an insight into their roots and family history. Mr. Najdis family are originally from the Hijaz region of Saudi Arabia which encompasses Makkah and Medina.In medina at the Prophets masjid there are six Muazzins (The crier who calls the faithful to prayer five times a day.)These Muazzins hail from families who have been solely responsible for carrying out this duty dating back to the Ottoman empire. There is documented evidence to support this claim which is available in the Medina museum. Mr. Najdi also hails from one such family. The responsibility to call out the azaan at Masjid un Nabawi is passed down from generation to generation and at present his dad's eldest brother is the Muazzin. This duty will soon be handed over to his son in time to come.

Mr. Najdi extended a lunch invitation to us whilst mom and I were enroute to Makkah to perform Umra. He arrived at the airport in a beautiful black German made car with tinted windows of course. He then showed us around Jeddah almost like a little city tour before making our way to his elegant home. All Saudi homes have high walls to maintain privacy. On entering the premises we were greeted by Mrs. Najdi who immediately took us to the pool area where a tray was beautifully laid out with qahwa (arabic coffee), tamer(dates) and an assortment of expensive imported chocolates and truffles. Mr. Najdi has four daughters and one son. The eldest daughter is married and now resides in Canada due to her studies. The second daughter is also married but still resides in Jeddah. She also joined us for lunch and it was really delightful meeting her husband. He was a really polite, friendly man who made us laugh as he tried singing the South African national anthem to us. The bit that surprised us most was that he didn't look like a Saudi man at all. He looked very much Indian. He told us that whenever he visits South Africa everyone thinks he is a local South African Indian man. So after meeting the family we were then ushered to the dining room area inside the house where a sumptuous lunch was served. The home was beautiful with two lounge areas elegantly furnished and decorated with ornaments and art pieces from all over the world, an ensuite guest room, a study, two bathrooms and the dining room on the first floor. The second floor had five ensuite bedrooms and surprisingly the kitchen. The third floor was an open Arabic style majlis area decorated with expensive carpets and cushions. Majlis in arabic means a place of sitting or gathering and in many Saudi homes you would find a traditional lounge or sitting area decorated with expensive rugs and cushions as guests are made to sit on the floor. Usually Saudi men would meet and enjoy each others company in a majlis type setting where they would drink qahwa and smoke sheesha together.The majlis area of the home is also used by females for hosting women only parties and dinners.The huge open space makes for a suitable dance floor as many of the female parties here are graced with female singers or DJ's.

Getting back to the lunch, Mrs. Najdi prepared a puri type savoury stuffed with cheese and mince for starters.A puri is an Indian fried bread that rises like a balloon and is hollow in the center after frying.Visit the kitchen section of the blog for more details. The starter was then followed by a mouth watering traditional hijaazi Bukhaari plaau which is basically a rice dish with lamb topped with raisins and carrot. The meat was tender and even though Arab meals are bland with minimum spices, the meal in its entirety was seasoned well with a variety of Arabic and Indian spices. What really amazed me was the knowledge our hosts had with regards to Indian culture, Indian cooking and tradition and knowing that Indian people love their spices. Mrs. Najdi prepared a jalapeno pickle for us which complimented the lightly spiced rice dish.

In Arabic culture hospitality is one of the most highly held virtues. Families pride themselves on being able to generously bestow favours on their guests. Company, whether it be friends, family or strangers, are always expected to be welcome into the home, especially to the dinner table. Guests are offered, and, even more so, encouraged to try everything.  Most Arab hosts would feel disappointed if their guests had not at least sampled everything on the dinner table and even more disappointed if their guests have not eaten until they are more than stuffed....I reckon until BURPING point has been reached lol

After lunch we had green tea and traditional Arabic pastries before heading off to Makka tul Mukarrama. Mr. Najdi drove us to Makkah and was so kind to not only drop us off at the hotel but also to check us into the hotel and accompany us to the room to make sure that everything was perfect for his guests.
I must admit that that manner in which Mr. Najdi and his family received mom and I surpassed our expectations as guests and having traveled to numerous countries across the globe, I have come to the conclusion that Arabian hospitality is undoubtedly the epitome of hospitality world wide!!!