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Zomgosh, hyperventilating here!  This + Ramadan excitement is almost too much to bear!

Hajj Walking Program

• A unique program (never offered before) designed to follow the Sunnah of the prophet throughout the Hajj journey.
• A guided tour uniquely designed to follow on the foot step of our beloved the prophet (SAW) and his pious companions.
• This program is recommended for seasoned travelers, and Individuals who are willing to forsake the comfort of AC transportation, fancy hotel rooms and other services to gain the ultimate rewards.
• The distance between Makkah and Mina is approximately 8 kilometers (~5 miles) while the distance between Mina and Arafat is approximately 14.4 kilometers (~9 miles).

Since becoming muslim, I’ve always wanted to make hajj walking.  Being stuck on buses in traffic for hours on end just doesn’t scream *spiritual awakening* to me.  Of course, walking around all those buses probably doesn’t either, but maybe, just maybe, this program has found a way to make it happen.

Make dua that I can convince AbuS that this is the way to go.  And make dua that we will be able to go in the next few years, before the hajj creeps into the summer months.  There is so much to save up for – a house, a new car, the hajj – and I really thank Allah (swt) that we can even consider doing these things.  It is only through His Mercy and Grace that we have the provisions to seek these goals.

The walking hajj would also force us to get back into shape.  I was going to the gym pretty consistently last year, until I adopted the Squeakster.  Then, I didn’t want to go to the gym after work – I wanted to go home to love up my kitty.  Not that I don’t want to love up my kitty anymore, but I’m sure she’ll be fine for that extra hour it takes me to go to the gym.  Plus, she’d probably be happy if her mommy doesn’t die of a heart attack before the age of 30.

For now, gotta push myself to at least start, by doing some (secular) yoga and pilates DVDs at home, and then after Ramadan inshaAllah, get back to the gym.

Ten Good Manners for Hajj by Imam al Ghazali

Fifthly, one should perform as much of the Hajj as possible on foot. On his deathbed, Ibn Abbas told his sons: ‘My sons, you should make Hajj on foot, for the walking pilgrim receives seven hundred blessings from the Sacred Sanctuary with every step he takes.’ One should take particular care to walk during the important rituals, such as the movement from Makka to Arafat and to Mina. Some ulema, however, have held that riding is better, because this allows one better to assist others, is safer, and keeps one away from situations which may provoke anger and resentment in one’s heart. In reality, this view is not in conflict with the former opinion: one should simply use one’s discernment, so that one walks if one finds walking easy, but rides if one is weak or fears that walking will worsen one’s behaviour and damage the quality of one’s actions. When performing the rites of Umra, it is best to walk, and to spend the money thus saved in good works.

China (and France) to Build Mecca Rail System

On one hand, alhamdulilah!  I’ve always thought with all the modernization the Saudis were doing around hajj, the one thing they were missing was a rail system that could shuttle pilgrims between the sights more efficiently, possibly leaving the roads open for those who want to walk?  I know, I’m crazy, but the idea of being crammed in a bus for 12 hours on the way to arafat does not sound like a situation condusive to spiritual growth.  I’d rather walk.

And on the other hand, boooo!  Can’t muslims do anything for themselves?  If there really no muslim owned company capable of building a transportation system worthy of one of the pillars of our religion?  I don’t have anything against non muslim businesses (heck, I work for one), but something just seems…wrong…about non muslim company building something for the hajj.

…see, I told you I’m no good at sticking with things!  Too many things that I read/hear and I think, ah, gotta blog about that!

Congressman Ellison makes his pilgrimage to Mecca
Rep. Ellison completes “hajj” pilgrimage to Mecca

“It was transformative. It was a wonderful experience,” Ellison said in a telephone interview today. “I learned a lot about myself, about my faith.”

He said that word soon got around that he was a congressman — some people had recognized him from TV — and he wound up talking to groups of 60 or 70 people.

“I didn’t want to turn it into a politics thing,” he said. “I was trying to play it low. I really wasn’t trying to play the role of the public official.”

Ellison said he talked to the groups about “the importance of calling on your spiritual journey, and that whether you’re a postman or businessman or a congressman, we all need to do what we do better. With more purpose and more focus, and a greater sense of serving humanity and looking out for the poor and stuff like that.”

Ellison says he was struck by the diversity of the people who made the journey, seeing people from many different parts of the world.

“You had people of all backgrounds, all races, all descriptions,” he said. “You had people there who were clearly well-to-do, you had people who were desperately poor,” but everyone was “kind of the same.”

People were encouraged about the role the U.S. will play under President-elect Barack Obama, Ellison said. The fact that Obama’s middle name is Hussein and he had a Muslim father came up in conversation.

“People think that the (incoming) president might have a higher level of sensitivity,” Ellison said.

The comments on the articles are typical, expected and sadly amusing. 

This American Life – Act One. You Gotta Ask Yourself One Question: Do You Feel Clucky? Well…Do ya, Punk? 

Still available for a free download, so get it while it lasts!  I listened to this via podcast over Thanksgiving.  Amusing story about a taweez and a chicken in Afghanistan.

Egyptian Students Explore America In ‘Chicago’

Former Egyptian presidential candidate Alaa Al Aswany is a journalist and the Arab world’s best-selling fiction writer. He makes his living as a dentist in Cairo, which affords him an intimate look at the everyday lives of Egyptians — who often inspire his works.

His latest book, Chicago: A Novel, follows several recent Egyptian emigres as they study at the University of Illinois and their professors, who emigrated to the U.S. decades earlier.

Al Aswany says he drew from his own experiences as a student at the University of Illinois in the 1980s. And he tells Weekend Edition host Liane Hansen that the experience had a big impact.

“I learned something very important in my life in America … what I call the know-how of success. How do you become a successful person?” Al Aswany says he took this knowledge back to Egypt and applied it to his writing.

Holiday Cow shopping in Kabul

Finding A Connection To Judaism During the Eid

The Chabad center they led is about a mile from my grandmother’s apartment in Mumbai. That is where I learned what it means to be a Muslim.

I traveled to India 10 years ago with my friend Kevin, a Jew. My grandmother treated him like family from the moment he walked in the door. Every morning, she would call for Kevin to come into her room. She would hold his head in her lap and whisper Arabic prayers over him, asking God to keep him safe, to guide him on the straight path, to help him be a mercy upon the world.

When she saw Kevin’s books on Judaism, she could hardly contain her excitement. “He is ‘Ahl al kitab,’ ” she would say — meaning he was part of the Abrahamic tradition, a son of the patriarch. My grandmother knew there was a Jewish community in Mumbai and ordered my cousin to track it down so Kevin could have Shabbat dinner. That’s when I first learned there were Jews in India.

My grandmother told us a story about the Prophet Muhammad. A funeral caravan passed him one day, and he was told that it carried the body of a Jew. The prophet stood up to show his respect.

Mabrook to Br. Keith Ellison, who performed hajj this year!  Boo to certain segments of the right wing blogosphere who once again lump all muslims into the ZOMG they’re evil!!1!1!!!1!! camp.

In Abraham’s Footsteps

As Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of the US Congress who performed Haj this week, told CNN, you forget who you are –- black or white and American or African  —  and where you come from when you are before God circling the Kaaba in a two-piece unstitched garment.

From Farhman Memon

Between the prayers recited by world class imams and speeches, we find out that Congressman Keith Ellison is doing Hajj with us, He exhorts us to bring morality back to America by playing a leadership role in civil society

No sign of a CNN interview on their website unfortunately.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://uk.youtube.com/v/YZJT5hJsFUM" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Check it at 4 minutes, 30 seconds.

I’m making our kitty a dhikr kitty.  She sits on my lap and I whisper the dhikr in hear ears.

From Adnaan:

From Timelight

From Maya_Darryl

Waleed Khamis

Somalis’ Holy Trip Ends at Airport

Sheikh Abdirahman Ahmed of Abubakar As-Saddique, a large mosque in the Cedar-Riverside area of Minneapolis, and the mosque’s youth coordinator, who did not want to give his name, were not allowed to board a flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, but were not told why. The youth coordinator said others in a group that planned to make the trip — a hajj, or spiritual pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina– also were not allowed to board, but he did not know how many people were involved.

Mahir Sherif, a California attorney who represents Abubakar as well as other Somali mosques across the country, said there are many possible reasons why the men are on the federal Transportation Security Administration’s “no fly” list, which as of mid-August contained about 50,000 names. But he suspects that the reasons are linked to stories circulating in the Somali community that the mosque has been used to indoctrinate and train young men to return to Somalia — stories that Sherif strongly denied Sunday.

I haven’t been to this masjid and only heard rumors in passing about a Minnesota Somali returning to Somalia to become a suicide bomber.  

Earlier this year, my sister ate at a restuarant that was attacked in Mumbai last week.  In 2005, a hotel my husband was considering working for in Sharm el Sheikh was bombed.  It’s frightening when these international events hit close to home, and unfortunately, this is another such incident.

Of hajj related interest:

To watch

• Channel 4’s Hajj Program
• National Geographic’s Inside Mecca Documentary
• Discovery Channel’s Revealed: the Hajj
• CNN’s 2006 coverage
• Al Jazeera English Youtube videos – search “hajj”

To read

• One Thousand Roads to Mecca: Ten Centuries of Traveler’s Writings on the Muslim Pilgrimage
• Mecca, the Blessed – Medina, the Radiant
• IslamOnline’s Hajj Page
• Oneness of God and Humanity by Ibrahim N. Abusharif

To Listen:

• Sh. Nuh on the Hajj
• Imam Zaid on Hajj
• NPR – Learning to Endure Hajj – stories of american pilgrims

 May Allah (swt) give us the life and the means to make hajj soon, amin.

In addition to Islamic lectures and Qur’an, NPR podcasts always have a place on my ipod.  Every once in awhile, a good islam related story will come up and I’ll say, ooo, I gotta blog this.  Alas, in one ear, out the other, and it’s soon forgotten.

 Well, not today.  Here’s a list of all the NPR pieces that I’ve been meaning to put up, but haven’t, and some that I came across while looking through the NPR website.  One of the reasons I *heart* NPR is that it provides a wider range of stories and news coverage than the television media does, and the pieces they do are well researched and in depth.   I’m only putting up the more “story” like pieces, as opposed to ones covering breaking news.

Recommended:

• Muslim Holiday Eid Keeps Texas Butcher Busy - about a non muslim butcher who provides halal meat.
• Learning to Endure the Hajj - american muslims practice before making the hajj
• The Partisans of Ali - history of the shia in politics and faith
• Iraqi Radical Cleric Al-Sadr Studies for Ayatollah - looks like he’s following my study plan – books and cds. 
• Comedy Troupe Mines the Humor in Islam - the Allah Made me Funny brothers
• Plan Would Replace Cairo’s Calls to Prayer
• Zarqa Nawaz on ‘Little Mosque’
• Ellison to Take Oath on Thomas Jefferson’s Quran

To listen to:

• Did ‘Siege of Mecca’ Give Birth to Al-Qaida?
• Yaroslav Trofimov on the Siege of Mecca
• Clerics’ Letter: Signatories Show Global ‘Handshake’
• Imam’s ‘American Crescent’ Sheds Light on Muslim Culture
• A Biographical View of the Koran
• American Muslim Family Chooses Polygamy
• Two Mosques, Two Different Reactions in Germany
• Young Imam Serves as Islam’s Face to Community
• Sept. 11 Message Challenges Young Imam
• A Day in the Life of a Tireless Imam
• Muslim Leader Tells Personal Story of Religious Conversion
• Evangelicals, Muslims Have Milestone Meeting
• Walking the Faith Line with Eboo Patel
• Mosques Reflect on Padilla’s Islamic Education
• Asra Nomani, ‘Standing Alone’ with Muslim Women
• Prospect of Devout Muslim President Divides Turkey
• Documentary Examines Muslim Brotherhood

From Minnesota Public Radio (one of the awesomest local public radio stations in the country, and one of the few things that makes Minnesota livable)

• Muslim women confront clash of cultures 
• Breaking the Ice: Muslims and the Media 
• Islam and the West
• Celebrating Ramadan in Minnesota
  

Pilgrims celebrated Eid al-Adha on Wednesday, the feast of the sacrifice. Mecca combines tradition with modernity. Here pilgrims are having dinner at a fast food restaurant in Mecca.

Not that I’m in any position to turn my nose up in disgust.  While in Cairo, I’ve sampled the delicacies at the local McDonalds, KFC, Hardees, Pizza Hut, TGIFs and Hard Rock Cafe.  I tell myself that next time I’m there, I’m sticking to tamiyya, shawerma and koshari, but I know in the back of my mind the craving for home food will be impossible to ignore.

Muslim pilgrims climb Mount Arafat, southeast of the Saudi holy city of Mecca. More than two million Muslims from across the globe have gathered around Mount Arafat near the Mecca birthplace of Islam for the zenith of their annual pilgrimage.(AFP/Roslan Rahmann)

Muslim pilgrims recite the surah on Mount Arafat, southeast of the Saudi holy city of Mecca. More than two million Muslims from across the globe have gathered around Mount Arafat near the Mecca birthplace of Islam for the zenith of their annual pilgrimage.(AFP/Roslan Rahmann)

Surrounded by Iranian officials and security guards, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, makes his way, as he attends the hajj pilgrimage in the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Dec. 17, 2007. King Abdullah has invited 1,000 guests to this year’s hajj, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.(AP Photo/Iranian Presidency/ho)

Muslim pilgrims pose for a snapshot in Arafat near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Dec. 17, 2007. This year’s hajj, which officially began Sunday, takes place amid increasing worries across the Islamic world, over the bloodshed in Iraq and Afghanistan and recent terror attacks by al-Qaida-linked groups including last week’s twin suicide bombings in Algeria that killed at least 37 people.(AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

The Prophet (saws) said: The best invocation is that of the Day of Arafat, and the best that anyone can say is what I and the Prophets before me have said:

237. Laa ‘ilaaha ‘illallaahu wahdahu laa shareeka lahu, lahul-mulku wa lahul-hamdu wa Huwa ‘alaa kulli shay’in Qadeer.

None has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone, Who has no partner. His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He is Able to do all things.

Reference: At-Tirmithi. Al-Albani graded it good in Sahih At-Tirmithi 3/184, and also Silsilatul-’Ahadith As-Sahihah 4/6.

…to go hajj-ing, fa la la la la, la la la la!

•  As always, Sister almiskeenah provides a fascinating glimpse into life in Mecca and Medina.  Her posts on hajj are accompanied (like all her posts) by unique photographs and insider insights.
• Br. Khalil has begun a monthly series translating the words of Habib Umar bin Muhammad bin Salim bin Hafiz, Director of Dar al-Mustafa for the Islamic Sciences.  This month’s selection is entitled Hajj and the Imperative of Unity.
• If you haven’t read it yet, do your best to get your hands on One Thousand Roads to Mecca: Ten Centuries of Writings about the Muslim Pilgrimage.   As one of my favorite books, I revist it often, especially around hajj season.  I *heart* history, and this book is chock full of first hand accounts of hajj throughout the ages.
• I’ve been paroosing flickr, looking for photos of Mecca and Hajj.   Check this flickr set of Hajj 1426, especially these funky pink ladies. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7695971@N06/449269344/

May Allah (swt) grant us the honor and the privilege of making hajj in our lifetimes, ameen.

For some unknown reason, while at the library yesterday I picked up Asra Nomani’s “Standing Alone in Mecca.”  While I am enjoying parts of it, especially her connection to the ummah, there are definately parts that grate me the wrong way.  But rather than allow myself to be bothered by it, instead it’s gotten me on a hajj high.

 Hajj is something the husband and I are planning on doing before we have kids inshaAllah.  But, until now, it’s just been something we’ve mentioned a few times in passing.  Not anymore!  inshaAllah next Saturday (first weekend in Ramadan, yaaay), we’ll be going to the bank to open up a hajj savings account (which will be in reality a hajj checking account, since savings accounts here draw interest).  inshaAllah, our goal is to start by putting aside $10 each week, the cost of one meal out, and gradually increase the amount when we’re in a better financial position.   That way, we’ll be able to make hajj in a few years time, inshaAllah ta’la!

Sadly, there aren’t a lot of news pictures of the pilgrims at Arafat today.

According to a hadith in At-Tirmithi, the Prophet (saws) recommended this dua for the day of Arafat

Laa ‘ilaaha ‘illallaahu wahdahu laa shareeka lahu, lahul-mulku wa lahul-hamdu wa Huwa ‘alaa kulli shay’in Qadeer.

None has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone, Who has no partner. His is the dominion and His is the praise, and He is Able to do all things.

Today would also be a good day to re read the Prophet’s last sermon, which was delivered today at Arafat in the year 10 A.H., or 632 A.D.

“O People, listen well to my words, for I do not know whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying to you very carefully and take these words to those who could not be present today.

O People, just as you regard this month, this day, this city as Sacred, so regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return the goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Treat others justly so that no one would be unjust to you. Remember that you will indeed meet your LORD, and that HE will indeed reckon your deeds. God has forbidden you to take usury (riba), therefore all riba obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital , however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer inequity. God has judged that there shall be no riba and that all the riba due to `Abbas ibn `Abd al Muttalib shall henceforth be waived.
Every right arising out of homicide in pre-Islamic days is henceforth waived and the first such right that I waive is that arising from the murder of Rabi`ah ibn al Harith
ibn `Abd al Muttalib.

O Men, the Unbelievers indulge in tampering with the calendar in order to make permissible that which God forbade, and to forbid that which God has made permissible. With God the months are twelve in number. Four of them are sacred, three of these are successive and one occurs singly between the months of Jumada and Sha`ban. Beware of the devil, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope that he will ever be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of following him in small things.

O People, it is true that you have certain rights over your women, but they also have rights over you. Remember that you have taken them as your wives only under God’s trust and with His permission. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Treat your women well and be kind to them, for they are your partners and committed helpers. It is your right and they do not make friends with anyone of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste…

O People, listen to me in earnest, worship God (The One Creator of the Universe), perform your five daily prayers (Salah), fast during the month of Ramadan, and give your financial obligation (zakah) of your wealth. Perform Hajj if you can afford to.

All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves. Remember, one day you will appear before God (The Creator) and you will answer for your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.

O People, no prophet or messenger will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand words which I convey to you. I am leaving you with the Book of God (the Quraan) and my Sunnah (the life style and the behavioral mode of the Prophet), if you follow them you will never go astray.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than those who listen to me directly. Be my witness O God, that I have conveyed your message to your people.

Islam Channel is showing Mina and Mecca at the moment. Path to Peace has the feed a little bit clearer.

BBC – video with One Pilgrim’s Journey – I love Indonesian dress, especially their prayer outfits.

BBC – Hajj begins

CNN – Hajj, the essential journey – looks like they have a new video up for every day.

I live vivaciously through the lives of others. Every Ramadan, I my free time at work browsing through the yahoo news photos of Ramadan celebrations around the world. Ramadan in the Twin Cities isn’t bad, but it just isn’t this or this. Seeing muslims celebrate, breaking their fast, making salat, and going about their daily lives during that sacred month helps me feel more connected to the muslim ummah.

And now it’s hajj, so I will once again live vivaciously through pictures of pilgrims as they are in the midst of what is probably the highlight of their lives. I apologize for the formatting below. No matter how many times I fix it, it just goes right back to looking silly.

Ya Rabb, may my husband and I get to make hajj soon inshaAllah!

Muslim pilgrims circle around the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Mecca. Around two million Muslims will Thursday begin the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca amid increased safety measures aimed at preventing stampedes which each year claim scores of lives.(AFP/Mohammed Abed)

Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims performing the Hajj attend the afternoon prayers around the Kaaba, the black cube seen at center, inside the Grand Mosque, in Mecca, Wednesday Dec. 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Muslim Pilgrims performing the Hajj walk outside the Grand Mosque of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday Dec. 27, 2006. At least 2 million Muslims, from dozens of sects and around 160 countries, begin on Friday an exhausting five-day ritual that all able-bodied Muslims are required to make at least once in a lifetime. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Mecca from above : Muslim pilgrims pray in the holy city of Mecca in preparation for the annual Hajj. (AFP/Mohammed Abed)

The biggest moon fight usually occurs a few days before Ramadan, and then a few days before Eid al Fitr. This year was especially exciting, as we added a new dimension to the usual local sighting vs. international sighting debate with the Fiqh Council of North America declared that they were following calculations rather than physical sightings.

Ten Days Allah Swore By: The First Ten Days of Dhu’l Hijjah

A short lecture by Shaykh Husain Abdul Sattar

I *heart* these free lectures. ShaykhFaraz Rabbani is very interesting to listen to.

We are quickly approaching the best days of the year, the day of Arafah and Eid al Ahdu. These days fall in the Islamic month Dhull-Hijja, which will be starting inshaAllah this weekend.

While 2 million muslims are in Saudi Arabia, eagerly waiting to complete their hajj, for those of us at home, we can still reap some rewards and benefits from the first 10 days of this month. Fasting these first 10 days are a sunnah (an example) of our blessed Prophet (saws). In addition, doing good deeds and extra worship are held in even higher regard during this time.

Ibn `Abbas (ra) reported that the Prophet (saws) said: “There are no days in which righteous deeds are more beloved to Allah than these ten days.” The people asked, “Not even Jihad for the sake of Allah?” He said, “Not even Jihad for the sake of Allah, except in the case of a man who went out, giving himself and his wealth up for the cause (of Allah), and came back with nothing.” (Reported by Al-Bukhari)

Visit IslamOnline for more articles on these 10 days. Mutmainaa lists acts of worship and activities that are perfect to at this time.

National Geographic has produced an excellent documentary on Hajj called Inside Mecca, just one of the many islam themed videos available for free online.

This video provides an insider’s view of the hajj and can be especially insightful for non muslims. It’s an excellent little dawah piece, easily accessable and easy to understand.