To Cut A Long Story Short

Okay, so I had the whole rest of the 'chronicles' all written down and pre-saved, but after posting the first two, I thought, "Who the hell is really interested in this rambling?" The thought which immediately followed was, "Nobody." Yes. So I shall spare you all and just skip to the bare essentials.

Went to Medina. Just as beautiful as I remembered. Felt like I had come 'home'.

Left Medina, went to Mekah. 5-hour bus ride again. Stopped in pretty courtyard-like mosque in Mina. Arrived in Mekah close to 10pm. Performed umrah, stayed back at mosque while everyone went back for sleep for a bit more ibadat-ing, ended up staying till Subuh coz too tired to walk back to hotel.

Day after, went to Padang Arafat. Rode camel with sister. Better than 6 Flags. Took lots of pics, got chased and cursed at by crazy swindlers with Polaroid cameras. Psychos. Went to Jamratul Aqabah and made jokes about the three 'setan's. On bus ride back, worried about later kena sambar petir. Fortunately, did not happen. Made more jokes. No, will never learn.

Stayed 6 days. One-and-a-half hour bus ride to Jeddah with bus-driver-from-hell. Amazed by the fact that although there seemed to be very little regard for traffic rules in Saudi, did not see even the teeeeeeeeniest accident. Mujarab Tanah Suci, kot. Six-hour wait in Jeddah airport, two-and-a-half hours flight to Dubai, one hour transit in Dubai, five-hour flight to KL: arrival 5pm, local time. We were finally home. Exhausted, but so glad to be home.

Highlights: Though I absolutely love the city of Medina and the city of Mekah not at all, being in the Masjid Al-Haram in Mekah was like a homecoming, of sorts. Although I said that being in Medina was like coming 'home', it's more like Al-Haram is 'home', and Al-Nabawi is my 'room'. This isn't mini-blasphemy, is it? It's just more personal in Medina. Nevertheless, the minute I laid eyes on the Ka'abah, I felt like I was someone who had travelled the world, and finally returned.

To say I merely dislike the city of Mekah would be severely understating it. I almost despise it. The people are so rude, the climate so unforgiving, the city itself almost totally bereft of any beauty. It is truly a harsh land with harsh people. In my opinion anyways.

Medina is its total opposite. Yes, I know that geographically they are practically the same, yet, the climate in Medina is by far more comfortable. Yes, it still is a desert, just like Mekah is, but while the desert of Mekah seems almost cruel, the deserts of Medina have an inexplicable beauty in their barrenness. The people are by far more refined, polite, more genteel. There is no competition. Medina will always come out tops with me.

I have been told that not everyone feels this way, not everyone finds Mekah so unfavourable. Apparently there is a reason I love Medina more: evidently, I am a person who berjiwa lembut. *Snort* But, seriously, it is apparently for the very same reasons the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. chose to make Medina his home. Or so I have been told.

Despite despising Mekah, however, there is a peace to be found in the Masjid Al-Haram which I don't believe can be matched anywhere else in the world. It's like being in a loving embrace. All your troubles simply fade away. I should know. I have them in more than plenty. It's not saying my troubles simply vanished. No, the issues are still there, only sans the anxiety. The problems don't go away, they simply become unimportant for a while. A sort of meditation, only you don't have to go into a trance, or chant, or zikir, or pray to achieve it. It simply .. happens.

It was like coming home. It was laying your head on your mother's lap, weeping as your heart bleeds while she strokes your hair. It was, in a rare moment, being completely honest with yourself. It was a moment where you no longer had to pretend you are trying to be strong. It was a moment where you laid open your soul, leaving yourself completely vulnerable, and finding strength within that. It is the one place you have left to turn to, to be completely honest and receive no censure.

It was a moment where you recognized the divine, and acknowledge its undeniable presence. It was a moment where you realised what 'divine' truly means, that it is no single entity, and that not 'one' person, or 'one' religion, or 'one' civilisation can lay any claim to it. It is free for whoever who chooses to believe it, and whomever who does choose to believe it, it opens the mind to a whole new realm of endless possibilities.

It was a moment where all my faiths were reaffirmed. There is a God, and that God is good and kind. We make our own suffering and we create suffering for others, no help necessary from Lucifer & Co.

This is turning 'preacher'-ish. Must apologize. I am not trying to pass any of this off as truths, they're just some truths for me. It's the sentimental part of me showing through.

Towards the end of the trip, I was almost pining to come home to KL. As they say, your visiting Mekah is an 'invitation' from God to visit His home, and I guess our invitation was up. On the last day, I could barely stand spending another day in Mekah. Being in Jeddah, despite the six-hour wait was a relief. It was like that the first time I went too. Despite that though, as we made our farewells to the Ka'abah, I wept bitter tears at the possibility I would not have the opportunity to come again. I can't wait for the next time I'll be able to go.