Makkah Al mukaramah

For This year's umrah Repin and I managed to get a Hilton package. In Madinah we stayed at the Mubarak Silver Hotel but in Makkah we stayed at the Hilton Towers, and it was the nearest hotel to the mosque. We didn't have to rush to get to the Masjid Al Haram every prayer time. Our travel agent was Andalusia and the mutawif or Guide who took us was a very young man by the name of Amirul. He was very knowledgeable and a pleasant as well as sweet natured guy. In fact he was one of the best uztaz that we've had so far. So we managed to do 3 umrahs or circumbulating around the Kaabah while reciting certain prayers, with our Uztaz Amirul guiding us the whole way.

On the 3 rd day we were given a short tour of the various holy sites. I had been to these places before but it was more interesting with our mutawif because he told us stories related to the site's history. For example Jabal Rahmah which is a small hill outside of Makkah was the place where Prophet Adam and Hawa ( Eve) his wife met after almost a decade of not seeing each other. The story is that after Adam and Hawa were sent out of Paradise for disobeying Allah they were sent to Earth. But an Earth which had no humans on it. They were the first humans. But they were not sent together - one fell somewhere on Mount Arafat and the other fell somewhere near Yemen or even further. For years they both prayed to God to ask for forgiveness and finally God forgave them and let them be together again and Jabal Rahmah or the Mount of Mercy was where they met. So it is believed that whoever asks God for a partner or a child here that prayer would be answered. I don't know whether this is true or not but my brother in law did pray that his son gets a child here and that son has now 4 children, after 8 years of childlessness previously. 

At Mount Rahmah or the Mount of Mercy

After doing our "tawaf" or walking around the Kaabah reciting prayers.

Our young Uztaz Amirul and us after performing our tawaf. 

People of all races doing the tawaf