Assalamua'alikum everyone,
I've decided to move my blog to wordpress in order to organize my thoughts and ramblings better.
Follow me on www.sabirahm.wordpress.com.
Hope to see you there!
Sabirah M
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Mecca After Fifteen Years
Alhamdulillah, I was given the blessed opportunity to visit Mecca mukarramah and perform umrah twice. My uncle lives in Jeddah and drives into Mecca whenever the family has time, Masha'Allah. Alhamdulillah, that made my trip much easier and relaxed.
Mecca After Fifteen Years
I had been on umrah when I was ten years old and I couldn't imagine the changes that have taken place since then. Anxious, excited, and nervous...I could not wait to get there.
My heart began to sink as we passed through the check points along the outskirts. The first thing you see from miles away is the big clock tower and the hotels surrounding it, while all your heart desires is a glimpse of the haram.
My aunt and cousins began to point out the houses that were lined up along the roads intertwining their way to the haram.
They told me they were described by the Saudis as the most dangerous areas, ghettos, and homes of the illegal immigrants.
Signs of poverty marked the area all around; garbage thrown along the streets and sidewalks, abandoned buildings, graffiti on the walls, and solemn brick and concrete homes layered along the mountain sides.
Crawling through traffic near the haram, the minarets began to poke out between the buildings. My heart began to beat faster with excitement.
Surely, the area around the haram is clean and perfect!
My eyes began to tear up at the sight of garbage along the sides of the roads and the graffiti all over. Standing in front of the haram, a dark shadow loomed all over from the detested clock tower and its neighbors. The markets were now replaced with H&M, Starbucks, etc.
How could they get rid of the traditional markets that gave you a glimpse of the past...what it would have been like during the time of the Prophet (saw).
The markets I did remember were pushed back by the malls and over-priced unaffordable hotels into the side roads. They were overcrowded, filthy, and difficult to get to.
Walking into the haram, I felt my footsteps get heavier. I cannot explain the hundreds of emotions exploding inside of me. It was as if I had been separated from someone I deeply loved for years and now I would be reunited.
When my eyes laid on the Kaabah, it was as if my heart stopped and everything in the world had frozen. I couldn't hold back the tears. Nothing can ever explain the feelings and thoughts when seeing the Kaabah. Nothing can explain the sadness one feels when leaving it.
Whatever the state may be of the area around, the beauty of the Kaabah can never be taken away.
Mecca After Fifteen Years
I had been on umrah when I was ten years old and I couldn't imagine the changes that have taken place since then. Anxious, excited, and nervous...I could not wait to get there.
My heart began to sink as we passed through the check points along the outskirts. The first thing you see from miles away is the big clock tower and the hotels surrounding it, while all your heart desires is a glimpse of the haram.
My aunt and cousins began to point out the houses that were lined up along the roads intertwining their way to the haram.
They told me they were described by the Saudis as the most dangerous areas, ghettos, and homes of the illegal immigrants.
Signs of poverty marked the area all around; garbage thrown along the streets and sidewalks, abandoned buildings, graffiti on the walls, and solemn brick and concrete homes layered along the mountain sides.
Crawling through traffic near the haram, the minarets began to poke out between the buildings. My heart began to beat faster with excitement.
Surely, the area around the haram is clean and perfect!
My eyes began to tear up at the sight of garbage along the sides of the roads and the graffiti all over. Standing in front of the haram, a dark shadow loomed all over from the detested clock tower and its neighbors. The markets were now replaced with H&M, Starbucks, etc.
How could they get rid of the traditional markets that gave you a glimpse of the past...what it would have been like during the time of the Prophet (saw).
The markets I did remember were pushed back by the malls and over-priced unaffordable hotels into the side roads. They were overcrowded, filthy, and difficult to get to.
Walking into the haram, I felt my footsteps get heavier. I cannot explain the hundreds of emotions exploding inside of me. It was as if I had been separated from someone I deeply loved for years and now I would be reunited.
When my eyes laid on the Kaabah, it was as if my heart stopped and everything in the world had frozen. I couldn't hold back the tears. Nothing can ever explain the feelings and thoughts when seeing the Kaabah. Nothing can explain the sadness one feels when leaving it.
Whatever the state may be of the area around, the beauty of the Kaabah can never be taken away.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Friendship You Can Never Get Back
Assalamu'alaikum,
Today I got an e-mail from one of my childhood friends. There were times we grew apart, times we were convinced we'd kill each other, times we lost touch, and times we were inseparable. Yet in some weird way, we were always best of friends. We always knew we could call each other even if we hadn't called for months. I have four or five friendships that fall under this category and we kind of have our own little group. I like to call them my sisters...and not to be corny...but really because we have the love and bond of sisters and at the same time we can also tear each others hair out like sisters. The group expanded as we moved away from one another and branched out into our own lives. Parts of it broke off from silly teenage drama. Nonetheless, the core group of friends always remained intact.
Anyways, there was one thing she said that seemed out of place and stood out from the rest of the e-mail. It was something that we all knew but never really talked about. She wrote, "We always clicked...I have never made a friend like you anywhere else." I also know that includes the rest of the girls...not just me...but being thousands of miles away from them...it really hit home.
We met around the time when I was in Pre-K. We started off in the same town and gradually our parents took us our separate ways. We went to completely different high schools and colleges far apart. We grew up to become unique people with few similarities. Somehow through Allah (swt) and technology (AIM)...we managed to make it through all that. We made tons of freinds...lost most of them...and we always ended back together. It almost sounds like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants...except it was different in a way.
After marriage, I felt a distance form between all of us that I really thought this time it was it. We wouldn't be able to go back to normal. Heck...one of the girls turned Shia(not that I have anything against them...she just separated herself a little more b/c of it), the second one hated that I married an Arab, the third one married someone who took her away to lala land, and the fourth one just hated that we were all married and she wasn't. Adding to all that...I moved across the world.
Surprisingly...Allah (swt) showed us a different plan. I talk to them more now...than I did when I first got married. All the other people that I thought I had grown so close to...people that I thought understood me in ways that my original group couldn't...they were the ones that let that distance separate us. My sisters were the ones that bought webcams so we could skype, that e-mail me, that take the time out to look at all my pictures and comment on each one. They are the ones that calculate the time difference...and wait for me to talk. I love them and I never want to lose what I have with them...and I am so glad that we didn't let all the things working against us separate us. I have tried so hard to make friends like that wherever I go...and I have never been able to form bonds like the one me and my sisters have.
So if you have a friend like that and there may be some distance creeping up between the two of you...crush it now...and don't let it grow. There are some friendships that you can never replace.
Today I got an e-mail from one of my childhood friends. There were times we grew apart, times we were convinced we'd kill each other, times we lost touch, and times we were inseparable. Yet in some weird way, we were always best of friends. We always knew we could call each other even if we hadn't called for months. I have four or five friendships that fall under this category and we kind of have our own little group. I like to call them my sisters...and not to be corny...but really because we have the love and bond of sisters and at the same time we can also tear each others hair out like sisters. The group expanded as we moved away from one another and branched out into our own lives. Parts of it broke off from silly teenage drama. Nonetheless, the core group of friends always remained intact.
Anyways, there was one thing she said that seemed out of place and stood out from the rest of the e-mail. It was something that we all knew but never really talked about. She wrote, "We always clicked...I have never made a friend like you anywhere else." I also know that includes the rest of the girls...not just me...but being thousands of miles away from them...it really hit home.
We met around the time when I was in Pre-K. We started off in the same town and gradually our parents took us our separate ways. We went to completely different high schools and colleges far apart. We grew up to become unique people with few similarities. Somehow through Allah (swt) and technology (AIM)...we managed to make it through all that. We made tons of freinds...lost most of them...and we always ended back together. It almost sounds like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants...except it was different in a way.
After marriage, I felt a distance form between all of us that I really thought this time it was it. We wouldn't be able to go back to normal. Heck...one of the girls turned Shia(not that I have anything against them...she just separated herself a little more b/c of it), the second one hated that I married an Arab, the third one married someone who took her away to lala land, and the fourth one just hated that we were all married and she wasn't. Adding to all that...I moved across the world.
Surprisingly...Allah (swt) showed us a different plan. I talk to them more now...than I did when I first got married. All the other people that I thought I had grown so close to...people that I thought understood me in ways that my original group couldn't...they were the ones that let that distance separate us. My sisters were the ones that bought webcams so we could skype, that e-mail me, that take the time out to look at all my pictures and comment on each one. They are the ones that calculate the time difference...and wait for me to talk. I love them and I never want to lose what I have with them...and I am so glad that we didn't let all the things working against us separate us. I have tried so hard to make friends like that wherever I go...and I have never been able to form bonds like the one me and my sisters have.
So if you have a friend like that and there may be some distance creeping up between the two of you...crush it now...and don't let it grow. There are some friendships that you can never replace.
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