It was May, 1986, I was going to Saudi Arabia first time to visit my husband, as my Iqama was not approved by that time & my husband decided to send me the visit visa. The hajj that year was on Aug 14th, I want to go for hajj but my doctor advised me not to go as it's a big excursion & I was 4 months pregnant & I had to be very careful as I had a miscarriage before but I said "jis nay ye bacha diya hay usi k kaam say jaa rahi hoon, agar is bachay ko dunya main aana hay to koee taqat nahi rok sakti aur agar nahi aana to koee is ko save nahi kar sakta". Second step was to take the permission & stamp from ministry of hajj in Riyadh as the local residents on visit visa were not allowed to go without permission, so my husband & 2 of his friends went to ministry & stand in the line to wait for their turns, that was the last day to get the permission stamp on the passports, while they were waiting an announcement was made that if the anyone going first time is under the age of 35 we will not issue the permission (I was 21) so no need to wait in the line, both of my husband's friends were out of the line as their wives are also of my age but my husband said "No I am going to try", when he gets in front of the guy who was stamping the passports, he asked for my age & my husband said "21" in English & he didn't understand it completely & stamp the passport, that's when I said "jub mera bulawa aaya hay to mujhay kon rok sakta hay" but by that time all the groups were filled & no one was taking any more hajis to go with them. I was still not disappointed & knew that I will get there. That night my husband went to get few things from a convenience store & find an ad in the shop that a family of 8 hiring a van to go for hajj & to Medina & they had room for 2 more people, they were putting their own tents, one for men & one for women & like that we got a ride & accommodation to go.
Finally the day came & we start off to Makka, it was a nice family 3 brothers, their wives & their mother & one uncle, it was an instant bonding with all the women & I was comfortable. Few hours of driving & we were at Meeqaat at Taif, this the time when we have to take a shower & put on the the ahram for the next 5 days, after putting our ahram we perform 2 rakats nafal & start our journey again…Labaik Allahuma Labaik, Laa Shareeka Laka Labaik, Innal Hamda Wan naymata Laka Wal mulk La shareeka Lak , the we all were reading these versus & heading towards Makka….
When we enter the Haram Shareef my eyes were filled with tears & my heart with fear, a person Gunahgaar like me was in front of Allah, bare foot & shaking. My husband told me a place to meet him after namaz so we can go & perform Tawaf & then we had to go & meet our group so we can go to Muna….I was performing the namaz with Kaaba in front of my eyes & I don't want to move my eyes from it, after namaz we went for Tawaf & those 7 rounds were like the most precious walk for me, every round I was trying to go & give bosa to Haja-re-aswad & finally in the 5th round I was able to do that.
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