Hajj for the Second Generation

Convert and immigrant Muslim parents both struggle with raising their children in America.  These children grow up in America without the experience of either choosing Islam as the convert parents did or of coming from a Muslim country the way most immigrant parents did. 

This 2007 article from Gulf News talks about hajj for this second generation of Muslims in America.

Mina: The 20-year-old American tells his Haj stories a mile-a-minute, his hands moving in excitement about how he arrived in Makkah days ago, lost amid the massive crowds, and saw a man drop dead while circling the Ka’aba.

“Dude, I saw it, the guy had the most peaceful smile on his face,” Adil Muschelewicz, performing the pilgrimage for the first time, said on Sunday.

The young man from Easley, South Carolina, had arrived alone in Makkah because of a travel agent mix-up that prevented his family from catching up for three days. He was with hundreds of thousands of others circling the Ka’aba, when he saw the elderly man fall dead. The body was quickly lifted out of the crowd.

Muschelewicz didn’t know the cause of the man’s death exhaustion maybe, he said but it became one of the many powerful religious moments that have shaken him during the trip.

“I looked at his face and I looked at the Ka’aba, and it was like he was happy, he’d gotten close to God. It just went boom, like this deep bassline in my heart,” he said.

Hajj Poem for Children

This is an excellent hajj poem for children (and adults) that teaches the steps involved in making hajj.  The poem is from Loving Allah.

HAJJ

by Umm Nour/Hollie Moore

The Month of Hajj is soon to come

To Mecca the people will begin to run

Around the Kaaba they will make Tawaaf

Then, to Arafat they will be off

On Arafat the people will stand

Then the next day Eid Aludha will begin

In the Eid morning together we will pray

Then the rest of the day it is eat, run, and play

Now it is off to Moozdelifah where the pilgrims will stay

Their stop in this place is until the next day

The next place is Mina where the pilgrims will go

At this stop is the Jammrah and pebbles they’ll throw.

The tenth day of Hajj for the pilgrims is busy indeed

But for the rest of the Muslims it is the Eid.

The pilgrims are busy to Mecca they return

They have the hopes that all of these good deeds they will soon earn

One of these acts is sacrificing a sheep

Then they will trim their hair with still the hope of good deeds to reap

Again the pilgrims will make Tawaaf

Then running between Saffa and Marwa they will be off

On the 11th day of Hajj back to Mina they will go

For the next three days at the Jammrah they will throw.

The Hajj for the pilgrims is coming to an end

They are hoping that Allah accepted it all from where they began

There is one more thing that the pilgrims must make

It is seven more times around the Kaaba for Allah’s sake

Back to their lives the pilgrims return

Hoping Allah accepted all that they earned

On Ihram and Modesty for Muslim Men

This is, unfortunately, a true story related to me by a relative who made hajj some years ago.  The story goes like this:

Among the men in the group, there was a man who, for whatever reason was unaware that the two unstitched cloths of ihram for men were just that and nothing else.  He never realized that ihram meant no underwear.  Try as they  might to reason with him, the other men were unsuccessful in pursuading the man to wear his ihram.  The brother flatly refused to make his hajj if it meant going without his underwear.  So while everyone else in the group went on, this man spent the entire time in the hotel and never made hajj.

Now, it could be that the man had incontinence issues that he did not want to discuss.  That is unfortunate, because Allah is merciful and exception is made for persons with such health problems.  He may have missed hajj because he was embarrassed.  But embarrassment is not a good reason to miss out on Allah’s mercy.

If the issue was modesty, it is well for any man who has such concerns to address them before leaving for hajj by making sure he can put his ihram on properly and move around in it without accidents.  Practice wearing the ihram at home in order to get comfortable standing, sitting on chairs and floor, rising and walking in it.

But do not mistake arrogance for embarrassment or modesty.  We do not know better than Allah concerning the duties and rites that He has decreed for us to observe.  Nor should any of us attempt to choose or reject the tests that Allah gives each of us individually during hajj.   

Remember that all the women on hajj know what you’re wearing (and not wearing) and the women don’t care about you.  They are trying, struggling, praying to get through the rites of hajj themselves.

Be mindful of the modesty of women on hajj as well.  It does no good, in the effort to make your own hajj,  to breach the etiquettes of modesty of others.

Your Money on Hajj

Deciding how to handle your money when travelling is a big concern.  Whether you use cash, checks or plastic, you have to be careful. 

You may convert money to Saudia Riyals at some banks before you leave home.  Often you will get a better exchange rate if you do so, but you then have the problem of traveling with a lot of cash.

If you don’t want to travel with plastic, you have the option of Travelers Cheques. 

Make sure you know the currency conversion rates when you make purchases so you have an reasonable idea of what things really costing you.

If you don’t know any Arabic other than you salat and duas, please take some time to learn “How much?”  and be able to count to 100 in Arabic (you will have a lot of time to practice while waiting on planes and busses).  Otherwise, you will end up having to hand a merchant a bunch of cash and just letting him take his asking price from it. Alhamdullilah for Islam, the Saudi merchants are honest, but it doesn’t feel good to have to transact business that way.

Keep copies of the numbers of any credit or debit cards. 

Set up a separate account for hajj expenses with a separate debit card.  Do not link your hajj debit card to anything else.  Some of us have debit cards that link to several accounts or to the same account in which we receive our pay electronically–that can spell disaster if you lose it. 

Make sure your pin number will work overseas.  Apparently, pins with more than 4 numbers or with zeros can be a problem.

Be aware that your bank’s ATM may charge international transaction fees.

Purchase or retail fees for debit and credit cards range from as little as $1.50 to as much as 4%.  (Example, a Muslim woman found when she made hajj that she lost in fees $20-$30 every time she used her card.

The Discover Card doesn’t work in the Middle East.

Here are more tips for using credit cards or debit cards while making hajj.

Do You Have Enough Pages in Your Passport for Hajj?

If you have travelled outside of the country with your passport before, make sure you have enough pages left for your trip to and from hajj.  Check with your hajj group. You will need at least 2-4  blank pages in your passport, depending on the route you are taking. If you do not have enough pages, then you need to act quickly. 

Go the the U.S. passport site and follow the instructions.  Please note that although the service of adding pages is normally free, it will cost $60 to expedite the process.  Make sure to include the  (printable) form DS 4085 with your application for additional pages for your passport.

If your hajj group is leaving soon, you may have to go in person to get the pages you need:

You should make an appointment to be seen at a Regional Passport Agency only if:

The U.S. passport is needed in less than 2 weeks for international travel
The U.S. passport is needed within 4 weeks to obtain a foreign visa
Contact the National Passport Information Center to make an appointment or locate a Passport Agency.

For more information or to make an appoint, to call the National Passport Information Center (NPIC) toll–free at 1–877–487–2778.