As I exited the cab, I felt the high temperate breeze that slapped me across the face. I was disappointed at the hotel that we received, due to the previous hotel I stayed in Medina in which I was comparing to, but at least it was a walking distance to where we needed to be. When we checked in, we did our Umr’ah (mini pilgrimage) right away. The long white cloth that covered me from head to toe rubbed against my skin while I walked. From a distance, I saw the Kabah (the house of god) while we walked, something inside of me began to cleanse the black layer that was on my heart. Closer and closer, as I proceeded my eyes began to blur and drip down the side of my cheeks. As I entered the marble building that surrounded the Kabah, the inside was like the inside of someone’s palace; the nice red carpets all over the floor, and the walls filled with pure gold Arabic writings and designs. My breath was taken by the un-definable presence. Proceeding on finishing what I came here for, I grabbed my sister hand and walked where the Kabah was. I saw a stamped of people walking around the Kabah, so I walked with my sister and chanted the powerful words (prayers) of god while circling around the Kabah. While going around the Kabah I tried to get closer and closer to touch the house of god, but I was unsuccessful due to the stamped of men, women and children. Although in return, I smelled the natural essence from the Kabah, which smelled like lilies and roses mixed Middle Eastern perfume. Even though there are no words to describe the smell of the essence of the Kabah, in which I smell it from time to time.
When I finished circling the Kabah seven times, next was to perform step 2, which was to pace walk between two mountains like the way the prophet Ibrahim’s (Please Be Upon Him) wife Hagar did looking for water for her infant son. While completing, my eyes was always in search of the Kabah. Those glances of the Kabah were like nourishment to the soul, filling me with truth, sincere, divine love, love that cannot be taken away from me. After completing, I met up with my sister and my parents from there we walked back to the hotel, which felt like miles and miles away. I turned around for one last look, knowing that I would not return until it is time for me to do so.
Inside the hotel, my mother had to cut a part of our hair, which is a part of the pilgrimage that completed our journey. The next day, we were to head back home. Completing Umr’ah changed the way I looked at the world as well it changed me as a person. Before I used to be very hotheaded and very ungrateful for what I had and now I thank god for whatever I have, knowing that some people around the world do not have the calm and peaceful way of living. I believe that whatever happens happens for a reason and this pilgrimage was meant to happen in order to bring a change in my life. I will never forget that day and I hope to go back in the city of god in order to bring peace into my soul.
