Hajj memories

As the crowds grow in Mecca this week, I'm remembering my own hajj five years ago. 

It was...amazing.  All of it.  The crowds, the beautiful masjid, the kaabah, all the people gathered together by a common purpose.  Just the people amazed me.  Walking together in rivers flowing to and from the sacred mosque in rhythm with the daily prayers.  Millions of people standing together to pray and saying ameen together and bowing together and prostrating together...amazing.  I remember the feel of the cool marble floor beneath my feet, the sound of the adhan echoing through the city, the sight of the sky changing colour as the sun rose after Fajr prayer.  Absolutely amazing.

It was trying as well.  The waits.  So much waiting.  Waiting for the bus to arrive, waiting for everyone to get on, waiting for the luggage to get loaded, waiting for the bus to move, waiting to get off the bus.  And the people were a trial as well.  I kept thinking of the verse in the Qur'an "And we have created some of you as a trial for others: will ye have patience?" (25:20).  Yes, the patience.  Lots of patience.

It wasn't just patience to endure the long waits.  It was the patience of not getting angry when things didn't go the way we wanted -- when it seemed that someone did something to wrong us.  It was the patience of not complaining about things that were not in our control.  It was the patience to understand people from different places and cultures and environments as they behaved in different ways in shared buses, tents, streets and sacred spaces.

It was the brotherhood and sisterhood.  Giving and receiving cups of zamzam water to and from strangers.  Conversing in gestures, for lack of a common language.  Sharing meals.  Holding hands.  Pushing wheelchairs.  Praying side by side.  Smiling.

Amazing.