Travel diary - Umra part 2 - Visiting Al Balad..

7th December 2016

Picture courtesy Mustapha Najdi

Yesterday afternoon after the asr prayers 'my family' from Jeddah picked us up for a night of exploration. We spent most of the night at Al Balad- 'the city'. Balad is basically the old Jeddah and has now been declared a unesco heritage site. A trip inside Balad takes you back to another era where carved solid wooden doors adorn the entrance of shops coupled with intimately carved windows reflecting the affluent lifestyle of the Jeddawis at that time who were mostly traders and merchants.The windows are in actual fact balconies thereby extensions of the room. The balconies were usually adorned with cushions where guests could sit and enjoy the cool evening air. Al Balad was surrounded by a high wall to prevent invasion by the Portuguese who wanted control of the Red Sea. In 1947 the wall was destroyed with only a few remnants of the wall still remaining today. The house of Nasif located in the middle of the souq is undoubtedly the most well known historical site within Al Balad. The mansion was constructed in 1872 and once again highlights the opulence and grandiosity of Jeddawis at that time. When king Abdul Aziz entered Jeddah after the siege, he resided at Bayt Naseef. The narrow alleyways surrounding the house are graced with all kinds of small shops selling anything and everything. The air is plagued with different odours....sweet smelling itr, 3oud and a variety of perfumes. If you looking for souvenirs then al Balad is the place to visit..Jeddawis are in general very friendly people and whilst walking through the souq you will encounter many curious people enquiring about your nationality and country of origin. In fact we encountered such friendly people who gifted us with expensive perfume. After 3 hours of walking through Al Balad we headed to the famous Tahlia street in Jeddah where you will find expensive branded shops along with beautiful homes and apartments for the rich and famous. My Saudi family resides on this street as well and hence we made our way to their home around 10pm for dinner. We were welcomed in grand style. The majlis area of the home was layed out with all kinds of sweet delicacies that we thoroughly enjoyed with the qahwa (Arabic coffee). After all the formalities we were ushered into the dining room where we enjoyed a spread of Arabic cuisine. Dinner was followed by freshly baked cheese kanafa and caramel creme brulee..... After a night of socializing, we returned to Makkah in the early hours of the morning in time for the morning prayers.....

Travel diary- Umra 2016

December 6, 2016

Alhamdulilla it is only through the grace and the mercy of the Almighty that we completed our umra with ease. Taqabbal Allah minna wa minkum sali7al 3amaal. May Allah accept all our efforts. We received excellent service from Saudi airlines at O R Tambo international airport. On boarding the flight we were allocated with seats that had more leg space than expected. The seats were also located adjacent to the lavatories for convenience. I must admit though that as a Muslim woman I am quite disgusted and embarrassed at how fellow Muslims utilize the toilets without giving a damn about the next person. The poor stewards and air hostesses spent half their time trying to fix up blocked toilets and clean up wet floors. What the hell does a person do in a plane toilet for more than twenty minutes. We need to address these kind of issues within our communities. We need to educate people about basic hygiene and cleanliness when travelling.I sat next to an elderly lady from Bangladesh. She was returning to her country of birth after spending three months with her son and nephew. Her son is an engineer working for a well known corporate company and her nephew is a specialist doctor residing in Pretoria.In general our South African Muslims are very judgemental. Anyone who does not conform to a particular standard dress code is automatically looked down upon and ignored. Hundreds of people walked right pass this elderly lady but no one bothered to make salaam or greet her. She was dressed in a sari with the one end of the elegant attire adorning her head. Her English was not fluent and hence we conversed in Hindi for the duration of the trip. She told me colourful stories of her childhood that lit up her face. Her bright smile quickly turned into tears as she spoke about her husbands death more than 20 years ago. She became emotional as she spoke about how she always wanted to visit the holy cities of Makkah and Medina. She stated how unfortunate she was for being in transit in Jeddah but not being able to perform umra. She is so close yet so far. She made lots of dua for my family and I and with sincerity and humility she asked us to make a special prayer for her asking God Almighty to invite her to His home before her soul leaves this world. With regards to South Africa she mentioned that whilst the infrastructure is beautiful the country in general is not safe at all. She found people to be class and status oriented. This irritated her immensely. She stated that in her country people are poor. They have very little yet they are ready to give you all they have. On arriving at King Abdulaziz international airport we bid each other farewell after exchanging contact details. 

Well done to the management at King Abdulaziz International airport. There has been so many positive changes at the airport that left me speechless. We were received at the entrance with smiles and ushered to the customs and immigration counters with much haste. The staff were friendly and the entire process took half an hour including baggage collection. Of course there were more surprises to follow. As we exited the airport our Saudi friends from Jeddah and Medina were both eagerly awaiting our arrival. In fact they were arguing as to who will play dinner host and treat us to a sumptuous meal before driving to the holy city of Makkah. Naturally we chose the restaurant and our wish was their command. Saudi hospitality is the best in the world. We were totally overwhelmed by all the love and care we received. Apart from dinner we were handed over 2 big goody bags containing imported sweets,snacks and chocolates for us to munch on at the hotel room. We headed for Makkah just before midnight and checked into the palatial Hyatt regency hotel. The hotel is one of the finest in Makkah and boasts a number of amenities apart from being a stones throw away from the haram. The culinary experience at this hotel truly surpasses most other five star hotels. After settling down we then freshened up and proceeded to perform umra. We completed the entire process before the morning prayers. Gazing at the ka3ba after 3 years was an absolutely surreal experience, an experience I simply cannot explain.......