OnIslam.net

After taking Shahadah, many months went by for Steve, and the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of Islam started to make a lot more sense to him, especially the details of prayers and fasting, and the six articles of faith.

After two years of being Muslim, Steve had managed to fast two months in Ramadan, and was now praying five times a day on a regular basis.

Having attended the Friday prayer nearly each week at his local mosque in Fresno, CA, and thanks to a gifted Imam, Sheikh Ahmad, he now had a much better understanding of the main foundations of the religion, and most of the questions he had in year one were clear and well-answered.

Zakah, the third pillar of Islam, for him was not a problem, as it was an easy calculation to pay 2.5% of his yearly savings to the poor and needy.

Umrah or Hajj?

But one important pillar of Islam remained a mystery for him, which is Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam. Sheikh Ahmad last year had explained the basics of Hajj in one of his Friday sermons, but for Steve at the time it was not high on his list of priorities, as then he could simply not afford to make the trip. As the Imam had said that Hajj is not an obligation except for those who could afford it and were able to make the trip to Makkah, Steve had postponed his study of Hajj for a while.

A few months ago he changed jobs, and started working for a multinational accountancy firm, who offered him a good salary raise, and he felt it was now time to discover the fifth pillar of Islam, or at least to get an introduction of Hajj by going on Umrah.

Salim, his best friend at the mosque, has just returned from Umrah a few days ago, and Steve noticed how serene he had become.

"It was an amazing trip, Steve. You must try to make it one day", Salim said last Friday.

"The peace I found at the Prophet's mosque in Madinah, and while doing tawaf in Makkah, are simply out of this world. I felt like I was flying when I first entered the mosque in Madinah. I could feel my faith get stronger each day."

"Sounds very nice", said Steve.

He returned home that day thinking about Umrah. Should he go now, or wait till he had saved enough money to go for Hajj?

Good Company

The following day, he passed by the mosque to get Sheikh Ahmad's advice on the matter. And the answer was:

"Yes, by all means now, why not?"

"If you can afford to go to Umrah, it will be a great spiritual trip for you that would give you a faith booster, and a good introduction for when you are ready to perform Hajj in due course. Go for it, but don't go on your own. Good company is very important. I know a group of five brothers from the masjid are planning to go together on Umrah next month. If you'd like to go with them let me know, and they can include you in their group and travel arrangements."

"Sounds great", said Steve.

"I will let you know tomorrow, In-Shaa-Allah, after doing istikharah".

The following morning Steve woke up early for fajr. At night he had thought about Sheikh Ahmad's idea, and had woken up feeling inclined to make that trip. He needed a bit more advice, so around noon he phoned Salim to ask about the trip itself, visas, hotels, … etc, and Salim reassured him that the local travel agency takes care of all that, and that they make perfect arrangements.

It was Sunday, so he went past the mosque for Asr, and after the prayer he met Sheikh Ahmad.

"I did istikharah, and I'm ready to go."

"That's great news, Steve. Come let me introduce you to one of the five brothers I mentioned yesterday."

At the bookshop they met Khalid, and the three of them went for a coffee at the mosque's cafeteria.

"How much does the whole trip cost?", asked Steve after the formal introductions

"Around two thousand four hundred dollars, five days in Madinah and four in Makkah...", Khalid answered.

"The hotels are four stars, very close to the mosques, and it's half board accommodation. Right now we were planning to book two rooms, one double and one triple, but if you will be with us we could either have two triple rooms, or three double rooms. Which would you prefer?"

"Both options sound fine to me, up to you guys", said Stave

"In that case, maybe two triple rooms would be best", Khalid answered, "and a bit less expensive. I'll give you the contacts of the travel agency, and you could go past them this week. They will need your passport, photos, and a deposit to make the bookings. Once they get the visas, they will ask us to pay the balance. And off we go In-Shaa-Allah."

"What dates are you booked for?" asked Steve

"We leave on March 1st" answered Khalid

"Right, let me first check tomorrow if I can get my leave request approved, and if so, I'll go past the travel agency on my way back from work, and let you know by phone."

"Great. Hope all goes well, and hear from you tomorrow."

Travel Arrangements

Back home that evening, Steve started looking up on the Internet how to perform Umrah. He found out that it was much easier than Hajj, as the actual Umrah itself needs no more than two hours. The rituals were straight forward, and consisted of four main steps: putting on Ihram, making tawaf of the ka'bah, doing sa'y between Mounts Safa and Marwa, and ending ihram with a haircut or by shaving the head.

"So what do we do the remaining 8 days", Steve wondered?

On Monday, his boss approved his annual leave request, so he went past the travel agency on his way home, gave them his passport, photos and the deposit for the bookings.

"Great Steve, I'll phone you next Monday once I get the visa back from the Consulate", said the receptionist at the agency.

The following Friday, Steve met the other four brothers at the masjid after prayer, and found them to be good company, as Sheikh Ahmad said.

They all now waited with high expectations for Monday's phone call …

To be continued in Part 2…