I went for my hajj on the last flight to Mekah in 2004.....basically one week before wukuf. I did Tamatuk, but the rest of my roommates did Ifrad. That is your personal choice.
Pros & cons from Munawwarah's 20 years of research....
a) Going early ie to Madinah first
Pro - you get to get in the mood...concentrate on ibadah earlier on before you go to Mekah & do your hajj.....you get to forget about work and all that....
Con - you overdo the ibadah routines..ada orang yang dah boring....you get tired & sick due to exposure to cold weather & exhaustion and you start missing your kids......when i got to Mekah, a lot of people dah kena flue & cough from Madinah.Nak shopping awal-awal pun serba salah ie - nak shopping buah tangan, haji belum buat lagi.
Leaving Malaysia early does not mean you go to Mekah early...if your trip to Mekah schedules you for later, you still arrive in Mekah about 10 days before wukuf. And if you are very early, you will leave Mekah quite early as well.....so tak sempat do anything much in Mekah.....
b) Going To Mekah first.
Pro - you are fresh & enthusiastic to do your hajj. Usually you are healthy and full of energy. You focus to your hajj & can withhold buying buah tangan till after the hajj...less guilt.
Con - You may not get to have a break to get in focus..ie you work till the last day.
It may be too crowded, but you will have to pandai-pandai to find a good time to do your umrah or your first tawaf. You may not be able to shake off your jet lag - so you better get used to only 3 hours sleep and get short naps n between solat times.
Some takut tak sempat buat umrah before wukuf due to the crowd, but i think you can do it if you yakin & know what to do.
Don't rely 100% on a mutawiff.....ilmu & keyakinan is very important. Bring a long a comprehensive guide book....
Some of my customers who go later, and stay for 40 days tell me of days when the haram and nabawi is empty....
saying all that, i think it does not really matter whether you go early or late - but the best is you have to take precautions to avoid health problems & to find a way through the crowd. Dapat hotel dekat alhamdullillah, tapi kalau hotel jauh, adjust your ibadah accordingly to your health & kebolehan. We usually advise not to overdo the ibadahs before wukuf....especially if your hotel is jauh, avoid peak times at the mosque - if you go to the mosque, make sure it is well off the peak times to go & balik.....and if tak larat, don't go for solat jumaat right before the hajj.....i
Insya Allah if nothing goes wrong, Mummy & me will be on IKIM again this Friday to talk about the Hajj and umrah.....the programme is at 5.15pm.
ina ali
1 comment:
Kak Ina, can you tell me whats the name of the hajj and umra' guide book that you've mention in one of the uks emails. i sort of terdelete the email and not sure the title of the book.
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