Among the most interesting and spiritual journeys is going to Saudi Arabia to perform umrah. I will
tell you about the time I performed Umrah. At the airport in Pakistan, we all changed into our ahrams.
We enjoyed our time during our flight although it was a bit delayed. Then after a 4 hour flight, we
landed at Jeddah airport. It is a beautiful, bright, full-of-life airport. What made it more fun for me was
a huge aquarium filled with lots of fish that I watched with fascination to pass the time. A driver then
arrived and took us to our home in Makkah; my father works there so we visit him often and get an
opportunity to perform Umrah as well. Since I was asleep during the flight, I was unable to eat the
pancakes with strawberry yoghurt the air hostess brought for me, but I ate it as soon as I reached home.
Then we all took a nap, and soon were energetic enough to perform Umrah. Haram Shareef is a 10
minute drive from our home, so we took a taxi because the car parking is far away from the Masjid. It
was very hot as it was noon, but the beautiful white tiles of Haram Shareef were still comfortable to
walk on. As we climbed the escalators to the Masjid, the big Clock Tower came into view, making me
very happy as that has always been my favourite landmark. Everyone kept patting me on the head as I
looked very cute in my ahram; that’s another thing that my father had to stop every few moments to
adjust my ahram as it kept getting in my way. We went around the Khan’e Kaa’bah 7 times and I got so
many gifts. First someone gave me a pencil, then some sweets and a ton more. Then we performed
Zuhr prayer and continued for Sa’ee. Sa’ee is the act of walking from Mount Safa to Mount Marwa 7
times. I ran at the green lights in remembrance of Hazrat Hajra AS who ran in search of water for
Hazrat Isma’il AS. That’s always my favourite part of Sa’ee. Then we drank Zamzam and congratulated
each other after finishing Umrah. Everyone appreciated that I completed the entire Umrah on foot and
no one had to pick me up. After that, we went back home, buying the famous Albaik on our way. We
reached home, ate, and slept a happy and tired sleep.