Travelog Umrah : The People

Being there, I appreciate the kind of person I am. The Asian (Malaysian, Singaporean, Brunei-an, and Indonesian) are the polite, well-mannered ones. Others are not so. However each race have their own pros and cons. I might gloat for Malay being well mannered and all, but as rude as the Arabs seems, I respect them.

Most all of the Arab men stick with their family. They take full responsibility of their family. You can see at almost every section, there will be a son pushing wheelchair and send his mom to a prayer spot, later picks her up again. A grandson diligently pushing his granddad or grandmother during tawaf. A brother constantly sending bottles of zam-zam water to his mom and sis while waiting for prayer. Where are the Malay guys? They either ditch their mom to some stranger like me or let their wife pray at the hotel room while they make their way to the mosque. Is that responsibility?

The Arabs also bring along their small kids to perform umrah. Its cute though seeing the 2-year-old running back and forth between Safa and Marwah in their ihram. I think they enjoyed saei the most.

During maghrib prayer one day, I shared my sejadah with an Iranian lady (apparent by how she dressed). While waiting for Isya’ I read Al-Quran, trying to catch up on my daily target. I was reciting very quietly, as I was embarrassed about my reading (tajwid,songs,pronounciation,etc,etc..).

She insisted that I read louder, while I was reading, she corrected a bit here and there. I finished the surah and she asked whether or not could I speak English. I was so glad that she does, as I have not found a single Arab soul yet that I can make a decent conversation with.

We got to know each other and chatted for a while, she did not have email but I gave her mine anyway. It’s good that I finally get to know someone. We promised to meet again tomorrow during Suboh at women prayer area that faces the door of Kaabah. But I failed to locate her; or rather she did not found me. It’s fated that we only met once there, which I’m still grateful for it.

One thing that I realize, the jemaah likes to give away alms. There are many people giving away foods, candies and dates to others inside the mosque. There was one time; I was reciting Al-Quran facing Kaabah, then suddenly comes the cleaning lady offering me a cup of hot tea. I showed that I already have my supply but she insisted that I take it. My throat was soothed with the hot drinks.

Seeing so many faces, I realised there is no way to tell whether or not you are a Muslim physically (I mean by the look). I bumped into this Arab couple and I thought I've seen the guy before, after few minutes I realised who he reminds me off, Justin Timberlake, seriously, I am not kidding...There are few types of Arabs and I can say that some of them did not look much different from some Caucasian, so the point is look doesn't matter. Its all about what your faith are that will unite you.