The 2nd 10 days of Ramadhan (Night of 13th Ramadhan 1435 H): my diary

ka'bah 13th Ramadhan 1345 HAll Praise to Allah. We are very grateful to Allah who always gives so much immeasurable pleasure. HIS favors are poured out day and night to us. May Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala, make us one of His servants who are glad to be thankful to Him by increasing their piety (Taqwa) and getting closer (Taqarrub) to Him.

The 5 daily prayers, Friday after Friday, Ramadan after Ramadan, can take away the small sins and help to avoid the big sins. (Narrated by Muslim).

Umrah in Ramadan is more special than Umrah in other months because it is worth as much as Hajj with the Prophet, Shallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, in reward.

Rasulullah, Shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, said:

فإذا كان رمضان اعتمرى فيه فإن عمرة فى رمضان حجة

“When Ramadan arrives, the time for Umrah in Ramadan is equivalent to Hajj.” (Narrated by Bukhari no. 1782 and Muslim no. 1256).

فإن عمرة فى رمضان تقضى حجة معى

“Indeed Umrah in Ramadan like hajj with me.” (Narrated by Bukhari no. 1863).

We must understand that going for `umrah in Ramadan is Sunnah. It is not an obligation and should not be treated as one. The Qur’ân clearly mentions the obligation of the Hajj without once indicating anything similar for `umrah. Imam Nawawi, rahimahullah, said, “it means the reward of Umrah in Ramadhan is the same as the reward of hajj, but it does not mean the same for Hajj  as a whole. So if a person has an obligation to do Hajj and he did Umrah in Ramadan, he can not replace the Hajj with Umrah. “(Sharh Sahih Muslim, 9:2)

Alhamdulillah, Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala, provided us with good health and easiness to perform Umrah in Ramadhan.  We wanted to collect the reward in this Ramadan beside fasting and other acts of worship to Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala, and we did umrah on the night of 13th Ramadhan when the moon was nearly round in the beautiful night sky.

After a light iftar and maghrib prayer, we left home. The streets of Jeddah were not so crowded because most people were still breaking fast at their homes or in particular places like restaurants. Once entering the city of Mecca, the density became more crowded. It takes one hour to travel from Jeddah to Mekkah al-Mukarramah and took 40 minutes to reach the Masjidil Haram because the city was crowded.  We parked our car far from Masjidil Haram and when walking to the mosque the adzan for Isha was sounding, so we stopped and prayed inside the yard where many other people were praying too.

After praying Isha, we headed to the Masjidil Haram and from far away we could see many people in the yard of mosque. Subhanallah, even though the weather was hot, at around 41 ‘ Celsius, we didn’t feel it because we were so excited to get the reward and  the blessings from Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala.

Around the Ka’bah, the circle has already filled with thowwaffin (people who perform thowaf). Bismillahi Allahu Akbar, we started our first thowaf. We walked around the Ka’bah with the flow of umrah pilgrims. Sometimes we brought up to the middle, sometimes approaching the Ka’bah, and at last we went towards the outer circle.

The sound of Tasbih, Takbir, tahmid, Tahlil and Taraweeh prayers filled the atmosphere with feather-like gentleness as each one of pilgrims offered worship in humility. Sa’i courtyard was full too but there was a little more flexibility in walking and running the 7 times from Safa to Marwah. We were able to stop twice for rest and drank zamzam water.

We usually finished performing Umrah in 2 hours, but during Ramadhan it always takes more time. This time we finished in 4 hours from when we first entered the door of Masjidil Haram.  Subhanallah. Although we were tired, the feeling of happiness was more dominant, especially when imagining the great reward from Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta’ala.  

Alhamdulillah bini’matihi tatimmushshalihaat (“Praise be to Allah, with Him all the good favors are perfect.” )  Rasulullah, Shalalllahu ‘alaihi wasallam, said this when he earned a nice thing.

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