Performing Tawaf – Umrah part 2

… It was not far anymore. I thought about all the impressions I had from TV. Would it be like on TV, or not? On our bare feet and with tired heads, that would go bald later that day, we continued our way to the Mataaf. As the name suggests, this is the area where the tawaf takes place. One more turn and we would get a view of the Kaaba. I was pretty excited. And then we saw the Kaaba from a distance, we were there! People were praying everywhere. We had to take the stairs down, because the Kaaba is located in a valley. We had a few moments to enjoy the view. It looked much bigger than I thought. The decorations on the canvas were beautiful. You saw how the pilgrims were performing the tawaf in big numbers. We entered the mosque while it was still dark and arrived at the Kaaba at dawn. It was already a new day. And the Kaaba stood beautifully with many birds that glorified the view, not to mention their singing. That’s how I stood there, ready for the tornado…

During your first time performing tawaf, you are of course still a bit uncomfortable. We started walking seven circles around the Kaaba, starting from the black stone. You greet the black stone from a distance. I would not recommend getting close to it either. We continued our tour as we pronounce dua for our families, friends and ourselves and of course to all Muslims. As soon as we reach the last corner, which is called the Yemeni corner, we start with a special dua. “Our Lord; give us what is good in the world and what is good in the hereafter and protect us from the punishment of Hell” We would say this until we were again at the corner of the black stone. You had to be careful where you walked because pilgrims cross your feet everywhere, you also have to keep walking to avoid accidents. At the black stone, which by the way was once sent as a beautiful white stone to the prophet Ibrahim from heaven to serve as a corner stone, we completed round one. The counting had begun…

And there we were revolving around the Kaaba. Two. Three. Four. “Yes? Four? Don’t lose the count.” Five. It felt like very long laps, but it went faster than expected. Every now and then you got into conversation with one of the travel companions. Everyone is quite impressed with this experience. From time to time, you got a little pain in your feet from the flat surface, but we had to do our best. We had to keep walking. After all, we were repeatedly saying: “Here I am, Allah. Here I am, Allah.” While walking, you would occasionally look at the view of the Kaaba. A massive house that gave you a very special feeling. Don’t look too much! Because otherwise you would get in the way of someone. I had great respect for the old pilgrims who found their way through the crowds. There were large groups of Indonesians who really moved as groups. Anything and everything were used to keep from losing each other. As a young group we were not too concerned about that. If the crowd broke us up, we would find each other again. We began to get used to that. We were now almost done with tawaf, a great worship. For the last time we salute the black stone, and we leave the whirlpool as if you were exiting on the highway. The first step was done…

To be continued…

Author: Youssef