As the culminating trip for the first class at Annoor Academy has ended, let’s experience the memories together.
A view of Masjid An-Nabawi’s green and silver domes, directly across from the Rawdah. (Tasneem Abdillaahi/The Ambassador)
Being in the Haramain is a hard thing to let go of and an even harder thing to forget.
This Thanksgiving break, Annoor Academy sent its first students on the culminating senior trip, which I was able to be a part of Alhamdulilah. It was 8 days of travel and worship, spent with the larger Tayseer Seminary group.
Let me be honest, before I entered Medina, I was stressed out for finals and was worried about the homework that I was about to miss. Last minute packing left me with about 2-4 hours of sleep before our extended layover. I felt really bad about the lack of preparation I had done before this amazing opportunity. Thankfully, this lack of preparation didn’t stop me from having an amazing experience.
Our daily schedule consisted of a 3 am wakeup for qiyam (night prayer). Afterward we would breakfast and nap. From then on, the time was your own until sunset. You had the choice shop, sleep, and make subsquent prayers. We congregated again from Maghrib to Isha and ate dinner. Depending on the day and energy levels we would do our shopping.
We started our journey at Medina Al-Munawara (the Enlightened City) for 4 days. I was determined to finish a khatam within our complete trip. So between every prayer, I read as many pages as I could. Personally, I’m not as adept at reading the Quran really fast, so when after 3 days I had gotten 120 pages in, I became discouraged.
At that moment, I had realized I’d forgotten something very important. Worship wasn’t really about the physical things, like using dhikr beads, the creating perfect dua list, or completing a Khatm (a complete read-through of the quran), it is about being a sincere god-conscious and submissive servant.
On our 3rd day in Medina we visited the Rawdah. Rawdah of the Prophet (SAW) was one of the most peaceful moments of our trip and this is despite having experienced the amount of people at once in the space. Despite all of that, I found it easy to focus and make my dua. The Rawdah is especially special because of two things. It is where the Prophet (SAW) and his companions Umar (R) and Abu Bakr (R) where buried. It is also a piece of Jannah itself.
On day four, we traveled to Makkah Al-Mukarrama (the Honored City) to perform our Umrah! We recited the Talbiya which acted as a way for us center ourselves before performing the minor pilgrimage.
We followed in the footsteps of Ibrahim (AS) and Ismail (AS) who performed tawaf after they completed building the Kaaba.
Packed crowds were a lesson in patience. While performing umrah, your thoughts and actions become very important to control. You must preserve your state of Ihram (state of purification made for pilgrimage). We did our tawaf first, which constitutes of seven circles around the Kaaba.
Talbiya
لَبَّيْكَ اَللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ – لَبَّيْكَ لَا شَرِيكَ لَكَ لَبَّيْكَ – إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ وَالنِّعْمَةَ لَكَ وَالْمُلْكَ – لَا شَرِيكَ لَكَ
At Your service, Allah, at Your service. At Your service, You have no partner, at Your service. Truly all praise, favor and sovereignty is Yours. You have no partner.
The second part of umrah was to perform the Sa’i. We traced the steps of the mother of Ismail (AS), Hajar, where she rushed to find water for her then baby.
The day we picked for Umrah had a record breaking amount of people worshiping in Masjid Haram. But no matter the pushes or distractions we may have experienced, we kept our focus on making dua and dhikr. We humbled ourselves before Allah (SWT).
We spent our last days in Makkah in various acts of worship. Some being voluntary tawaf, qiyam, or dhikr. I focused on reading the clear Quran. With the lack of distractions I able to understand the Quran in a way I had never before. I was reading the Quran, not for homework, not for validation, but for my own benefit.
