This morning I woke up to Sheikh Baleelah’s voice in the hotel room. I read Fajr and went back to sleep. I am genuinely surprised because I went down for breakfast where I ate the best French toast and caught up with the rest of the fam.

The haram was very busy today so I read my jummah in the room and then ran down to the food court to find jummah lunch. We were on a deadline of 2pm for our ziyaret. I am pleased to note that our family was on time despite being the biggest group. We waited for some people and then got on the bus to begin our ziyaret to Taif with Ml Akoodie.

Makkah is the holiest place in the world. It has the first place of worship, the Baitullah (House of Allah).

Makkah had a few names which are mentioned in the Qur’aan:

⁃ Makkah: to crush (one’s ego and pride)

⁃ Bakkah: to cry (the physical eyes cry and the eyes of the heart cries)

⁃ Qaariah: habitation – first place to be inhabited on earth, Adam and Hawa met at Jabal Rahmah.

We then passed Mina and Muzdalifah which are part of the haram boundary. We passed Sheikh Sudais’s house and then Umm Al-Qura university. One half of the university is in the haram boundary and the other isn’t.

The 10th year of Hijrah is known as the year of grief. Nabi ﷺ lost his uncle, Aboo Talib and his wife, Khadeejah R.A. Nabi ﷺ no longer had the shadow of his uncle over him and the Quraish were troubling Nabi ﷺ a lot.

Nabi ﷺ decided to go to Taif to spread the message of Allah. Nabi ﷺ went with Zaid bin Haarith R.A. to the Banu Thaqif but they did not greet Nabi ﷺ warmly. They threw stones at Nabi ﷺ to drive Nabi ﷺ out of Taif. Nabi ﷺ’s shoes were soaked with blood.

But with difficulty comes ease, when Nabi ﷺ was out of the town, Nabi ﷺ made duaa to Allah Ta’alah.

اَللُّهُمَّ اِلَيْكَ اَشْكُوْ ضَعْفَ قُوَّتِي، وَقِلَّةَ حِيْلَتِيْ وَهَوَانِيْ عَلَى النَّاسِ يَا اَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِيْنَ، اَنْتَ رَبُّ الْمُسْتَضْعَفِيْنَ، وَاَنْتَ رَبِّي، اِلَى مَنْ تَكِلُّنِيْ اِلَى بَعِيْدٍ يَتَجَهَّمُنِيْ ؟ اَوْ اِلَى عَدُوٍّ مَلَكْتَهُ اَمْرِيْ ؟ اِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ بِكَ غَضَبٌ عَلَيَّ فَلاَ اُبَالِيْ وَلَكِنْ عَافِيَتَكَ هِيَ اَوْسَعُ لِيْ، أَعُوْذُ بِنُوْرِوَجْهِكَ الَّذِيْ اَشْرَقَتْ بِهِ الظُّلُمَاتُ، وَصَلُحَ عَلَيْهِ اَمْرُ الدُّنْيَا وَاْلاَخِرَةِ مِنْ اَنْ تُنَزِّلَ بِي غَضَبُكَ اَوْ تَحُلُّ بِي سَخَطُكَ، لَكَ الْعَتْبَي حَتَّى تَرْضَي، وَلاَ حَوْلَ وَلاَ قُوَّةَ اِلاَّبِكَ

“O Allah! I complain to You of my weakness, my scarcity of resources, and the humiliation I have been subjected to by the people. O Most Merciful of those who are merciful. O Lord of the weak and my Lord too. To whom have you entrusted me? To a distant person who receives me with hostility? Or to an enemy to whom you have granted authority over my affair? So long as You are not angry with me, I do not care. Your favour is of a more expansive relief to me. I seek refuge in the light of Your Face by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of this world and the next is set right, lest Your anger or Your displeasure descends upon me. I desire Your pleasure and satisfaction until You are pleased. There is no power and no might except by You.”

After this duaa, Jibraeel (A.S.) came to Nabi ﷺ offering to cause the mountains on either side of the town to collide. Nabi ﷺ said “No! Rather, I pray that Allah blesses their children to be Muslims and worship Allah Ta’alah alone. Even if they have rejected Islam, I pray that Allah blesses their progeny to be Muslim.” [Bukhari]

After a fairly short drive, we arrived at the cable car to take us to the top of the mountain. The place where the cable car was had a little souk, a water park (which was closed because it’s winter) and a place to read salaah where we read asr.

We then went on to the cable car which is advertised as the “longest cable car in the world”. We saw beautiful views as we went higher on the twenty five minute ride. When we reached the top, it was super cold and everyone needed their jackets. We could feel the temperature drop.

We got on the bus and began driving through the town. As Taif is known as the City of Roses we visited a rose factory where they showed us the process of making rose perfume and rose syrup. We bought some tea to warm up and got on the bus.

We passed Sheikh Shuraim’s house which was beautiful and massive.

We then passed Masjid Qantara which was built by the Ottomans and is where Nabi ﷺ sat with Zaid bin Haarith (R.A.) after Nabi ﷺ was stoned. It was here that Nabi ﷺ met Adas who was a Cristian. He brought Nabi ﷺ grapes and Nabi ﷺ asked him where he was from. Addas replied “Yunjiwaah”, Nabi ﷺ said that this is where my brother, Yunus (A.S.) is from. Addas was stunned because this was the truth and he accepted Islam.

Next, we passed Masjid Quwa which is where Jibra’eel (A.S.) came to Nabi ﷺ when Nabi ﷺ made duaa. Nabi’s ﷺ duaa was accepted by Allah Ta’alah as a seventeen year old boy accepted Islam. This boy was Mohammed bin Qaasim, the same Mohammed bin Qaasim who brought Islam to the IndoPak sub continent. This was a huge revelation for me as a South African of Indian descent. This means that somewhere, somehow, we are linked to the duaa Nabi ﷺ made in Taif and our Islam comes from Taif. Knowing that Nabi ﷺ made duaa for us is honestly the biggest comfort. Alhamdulillah.

We also passed the masjid of Nabi’s ﷺ cousin, Abdullah ibn Abbaas (R.A), Masjid Abdullah ibn Abbaas. Ml mentioned that a lot of battles were fought in that area.

We then began to rush a bit as we needed to be back at the Cable way by 6:30pm. Thankfully we were only a few minutes late and they waited for our group since we were so many (44 people!).

We all made it back on to the bus and drove a bit before stopping for supper on the side of the road. They called for a group of seventeen and it was us! We got to the room and that was a table laid out on the floor with chicken, rice and condiments. We were so hungry and ended up eating A LOT. It was so good.

The drive back to the hotel was quick and despite wanting to sleep, my Ridwan Mamajee and Uncle Farid had very entertaining stories.

Taif was a very special visit and if an opportunity arises for you to visit, please grab it with both hands.

We got to the hotel, freshened up and went back to the haram. The haram was fairly empty and this night ended up being my favourite night in the haram.

Before Makkah used to be power for me but this trip, I found a peace like no other. Allah knew my heart needed to come home. The peace that is found in front of the Ka’bah is unlike any other feeling. I pray that every person with imaan in their hearts gets to experience this peace in front of the Baitullah over and over again.

We decided to go back to the room to freshen up. We met up again, got some delicious margherita pizza and then made our way back to the haram.

The barriers were already put up by the mataaf but after some manoeuvring, we made it on the mataaf right in front of the Ka’bah. A perfect moment followed with Sheikh Maher’s beautiful fajr.

After fajr, we met up with a few of our fam and had breakfast with a view of the haram. The chef even made some french toast for us which was the perfect ending to the night/morning. After this, I jumped straight into bed and was in cloud 9 before I finished reading any of my duaas.

Step count: 9 248