MARHABAN... AFTER A YEAR HIATUS...

Ahlan wa sahlan… it’s been a while since my last posting about more than a year ago. My long hiatus from blogging can be due to many reasons, none of which I plan to elaborate here.

I just came back from a 2-week umrah trip with my family about a few days ago and boy, I seem to never want to come back home after every trip to the holy cities of Madina and Makkah.

One can never manage to explain the feelings from simple rituals of umrah like :

· The wearing of Ihram before entering the Miqat boundary

· The performance of two rakaah of Sunnatul Ihram

· The recitation of niyyah and Talbiyah

· The advancement towards Makkah Al-Mukarramah while constantly reading the Talbiyah

· The performance of Tawaf with Idh’tibaa and Ramal

· The performance of two rakaah of Sunnatul Salaah after Tawaf behind Maqam Ibrahim

· Advancement to the Multazam to make Du’a and drink Zamzam water

· Performance of Sa’ee between Safa and Marwa

· Shaving or trimming the hair of the head as a symbol of Tahallul

A non-Muslim friend once asked me about umrah and why one would want to perform an umrah. Well, my answer is simple yet sweet :

“Umrah is a 'lesser Hajj'. Its benefits are that it is an act of obedience to Allah swt, and expression of one's slavehood to Allah swt through spending one's wealth and time, exerting oneself physically; and manifesting one's thankfulness and commitment to Allah swt through sacred rituals (as mentioned above).”

In fact, Allah swt says in the Holy Qur’an (2 : 196) the following :

"fulfill Hajj and Umrah to Allah".

In addition, Prophet Muhammad saw has described the great merits of performing Umrah by saying :

1- "The people who come to perform Hajj or Umrah are the guests of Allah swt because they visit His House on His Call; therefore, Allah swt grants them what they ask for"

2- "One Umrah becomes an atonement for the sins committed up to the next Umrah"

For those Muslims out there with sufficient funds in their bank accounts, do not wait until you are old and grey before deciding to perform Umrah. Go while you are still young and capable – you’ll be surprised by the wealth of experience and wonders. Do share with me and the rest of the world your umrah experiences...