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lhumdulilah it was an amazing journey, I have no words to say how awesome it was and thank to Allah SWT!

Please do fulfil this obligation those who haven't performed it yet in spite of having means to travel, health etc. Check conditions for Hajj and having little children or other responsibilities could not be the excuse if all the conditions applied. Because once someone meets all the conditions and doesn't go for Hajj, he/she is committing sin. I met over there people who left their children with their friends NOT family members. The level of the Emaan is raised to its peak and the taste of the worship and "khashooo" I experienced can never never be imagined without that blessed journey. Now I understood why the 5th pillar of Islam is .

Outside of the haram, Fajar time!

Before putting the new cover!

Multazam! With new cover!

Tips:

nce you plan for hajj, don't go without preparation. Most of the people think that group leader can guide what to do and how to do. Sometime people might get lost and get separate from the group, Then they don't have any idea what to do next or

which dua should say while doing a particular step in Umara/Hajj. Sometime group leader is following his teacher/sect instead of the Prophet PBUH. On some occasion I also faced the same. Stay in your group but follow the SUNNAH. If you are well prepared, not only you can follow the SUNNAH but also can tell others as well and get reward of 'telling others what is right and forbid what is wrong'. Remember don't argue.

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et ready spiritually as well.

eep an AUTHENTIC book with you all the time in your shoulder bag that you can open any time and see what & how to do next ( I had Hajj-e-BaitAllah). f you are little afraid that your spouse or Hajj partner might not let you do certain things in a proper way due to his/her particular nature of rush or being lazy. Prepare him/her well ahead mentally. One month before the Hajj I started preparing my husband. Many times I reminded him that we will fully avail the opportunity and perform each and every step according to the SUNNAH and not rush. This helped a lot. Throughout the whole journey Alhumdulilah he was so cooperative that we did not have even a single fight or a small argument. Most people said to me that when families go together they usually have fight but Alhumdulilah Allah saved us from this!

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ake anti lice shampoo and comb with you. As there are so many people, walking together tightly packed, you might get one. I saw one in the wash basin of my hotel & I got alarmed. As you share room with others so we didn't know who got it. Just to be on the safe side I bought one from there and applied. You can very well buy stuff from there but you can save your time in finding the item in a new city with a new language. ake a night bulb with you, some get scared in the dark and keep the full room light on which could affect your health due to lack of sleep if you are not used to sleep in the light. First day one of my roommates got scared and after that she preferred to keep the light on during the night.

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ake leather socks with you as our feet are not used to walk on the marble. It might affect your "khashooo" during Twaf.

f you want to maintain "khashooo" in your Twaf do it from the second floor or the third floor. As there are so many people on the first floor (close to the Kaaba), every other minute you are being pushed and touched by "non mahram". I was personally not comfortable with this that you are doing voluntary Twaf (Nafly) and you are being touched with other men when there is a lot of room on the sec/3rd floor. No doubt the round is longer than the first floor but to get used to it start doing walk every day at least two weeks prior to your journey. We noticed Junaid Jumshaid doing his Twaf also from the sec floor and he is not a female. You will not be able to concentrate on your Twaf (as it is worship like salah) during Hajj season if you choose 1st floor.

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or any question related to Hajj/Umra or any other issue, go to Dar ul Afta office which is beside door no # 1(Abdul Azeez door). Don't ask your roommate or any other person who might be of different belief (not following the SUNNAH) and may guide you according to his/her beliefs. f you have simple extra cell phone (old one, came from Pakistan) take it with you as most of us here have cell phones which are locked with the companies so they don't work there. Sometime even not locked but they don't work there due to different size of sim card or other factors etc.

f you have iPad or the like take it but not the laptop as to take care of it or carry it on your shoulder all the time would be difficult. At home, download many Hajj lectures audio/video to avail the time you would have during long flights and long wait at the airports on the way to Saudi Arabia, from Makkah to Madina and back to your home country. Keep it in your shoulder bag. When you want to get relax and have rest, take it out and enjoy the downloaded stuff. Also download the authentic book on Seerat Un Nabi PBUH, the one I did was "The sealed nectar" (Jzk to Uzma who reminded me of this book). I did not realize that I would terribly feel the need for a seerah book in Madina. When you are in Makkah you just want to do more and more zikar, recite Quran, do Twaf and ASK Allah SWT for His forgiveness. The house of Allah has a powerful attraction that leaving it is far much more difficult. But once you are on the road to Madina you feel very badly the need to know the Prophet PBUH and his life, and want to listen to the nasheeds of Madina which unfortunately I did not have on my iPad except Hajj and Umra stuff. When you are in Madina you feel the prophets presence and wish to fly in the past. And Seerah book helps you to take that flight. We were also blessed to have Mulana Tariq Jameels visit who delivered his lecture on Seerah. To be able to attend him in person in the city of Mdina! was the icing on the cake. Both the cities have their own unique beauty and attraction, and are not comparable to each other in any way.

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bout shopping, if you have a visit of Madina, do it from there instead of wasting your time in Makkah. You have soooo much to do in Makkah. Schedule it in such a way that you can't miss your any salah in the Haram. Concentrate on your worship than shopping.

hen you are looking for hajj packages pay more attention to who covers the transportation during 5 days of hajj, from home to Mina, Arfah, Muzalfa, Haram etc than to 5 star/7star.

uring your stay in Makkah/Madina don't let the opportunity to do Bir ("Naiky") go away. Always avail it.

f you have time, visit the museum in Madina which has beautiful models of Masid nabwi, Janat ul Baqi, Battle of Uhad, Battle of Khandaq etc. They have trained people

in different languages who explain the models with little details. It is very informative and make notes of those details. After visiting the museum then go for Ziarah, and go to Masjid An Nabwi and see those things you have seen in the model e.g Ston-e-Aaysha or Ston-e-Touba etc.

The model of very first mosque

When Qibla changed, roof was shifted

The latest mosque

when expanded during the life of the Prophet PBUH

Model of battle of Khandaq Model of Battle of Uhad

Model of Janat ul Baqi

Manuscript of the Quran compiled during Caliph Hazrat Uthman's reign.