Bismillah
You don’t just ‘go’ to Allah’s House, you are chosen.
Never in my life did I imagine myself standing in front of the Ka’bah. As an english revert I grew up knowing nothing of Umrah, what it was nor why someone would even want to go. So when I finally took my Shahadah, you can imagine it was the first thing on my to-do list! Slight problem however… I didn’t have a Wali to take me. Fast forward 3 years of dying to go, Alhamdullilah I got married. We could have chosen anywhere to honeymoon, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I wanted to see Allah’s House and our Prophet SAW’s Masjid. Not only this, we also wanted to start our marriage full of barakah and duas in the best possible place.
We started our journey by going to Madinah, where we arrived just as the adhan for Fajr was being called. Upon hearing the adhan, we left our bags in the hotel lobby and hurried ourselves to the Masjid. We spent 5 beautiful days there learning even more about Umrah, and focussing on our ‘ibadah before travelling to Makkah.
When we got to Makkah of course we went straight to Masjid-al-Haram. By this time I’d heard so many people talk of their experiences of seeing the Ka’bah for the first time that I became anxious as I walked towards it. SubhanAllah. I can’t put into words the mixture of emotions I felt. The beauty of seeing so many people from all over the world worshipping Allah, the shock of being at the very place we pray towards everyday, and the gratitude to Allah for guiding me to Islam and allowing me to visit His House.
Alhamdulillah, since then we have seen so many of the duas from our trip answered. The best of which being that I made dua to Allah SWT that He would grant me pious children in the future, and subhanAllah, the very first day we arrived back home I found out that I was pregnant with my first child. Meaning Allah had answered the dua before I even made it. As surely He is the best of planners.
This Umrah allowed me to really reflect upon both myself and the people around me, filling me with a greater appreciation towards Allah. Grateful, that He took me from not knowing Islam existed, to praying in some of the front lines in the world. It also filled me with a greater appreciation towards His creation; my family, my husband, my friends, for all that they do and have done to help me on this path to the truth.
May Allah invite us all to His House often, Ameen.