Makkah Anecdote

 Makkah Anecdote

Masjidil Haram is always especially crowded for Friday prayers. On our first Friday here, on 12th November, the Friday before Wukuf, we decided to walk to the mosque at 10 a.m., about two hours before Zohor. We hardly walked a quarter of the 400 meters to the mosque before we could go no further - the authorities have cordoned off the mosque a full 200 meters from its entrance, the entire marbled courtyard surrounding it in front of Hilton. We were still on the slimy bitumen road approaching the mosque with more people squeezing behind us and people were starting to sit down on the road, under the increasingly hot sun, shoulder-to-shoulder, knee-to-back. We were literally packed like sardines with no way forward, backward or sideways. And where did we find ourselves? We could sit on the 10-inch-high road-divider, quite comfortable, without which I would have suffered with my bad back. STILL PRIVILEDGED! ALHAMDULILLAH! We waited like that for two hours for the Azan and prayed while sitting down.