I got invited to al-Haram at such a young age. I was barely 23. Let's be honest, never in my whole life would I have thought I would be invited here in my twenties. I always thought I'd probably consider umrah when I'm in my forties or so. But God is so great. He knew this was the one experience I needed. And I couldn't be more blessed. 

Let's back up a bit shall we,

I only started considering umrah back in 2017, when and a good friend of mine mentioned that the one place she wish she had gone before getting married was Umrah. Of course, I didn't think much then. I was nowhere near getting married. But deep down, something sparked, and it became something I yearned to do. 

Then it came time for annual leave plotting - ok let's be honest, plotting for leave as a nurse sucks because you have to book a year in advance and you don't know the possible tour slots or your memo for 2 weeks of AL will be granted. But Maa Sha Allah, He truly aligned it beautifully. I told my mum my intention for Umrah and she was on board right away. It took my dad quite a while to agree since he was so sure he wasn't ready, but he had to anyway, cause yknow, mahram and all. 

Alhamdulillah I got the slots requested and eventually it was all just tawakkal and waiting for a tour group to open up the specific dates I was on AL. We started going for classes with TM Fouzy (strongly not recommended) and by God's grace they had only one tour slot for the dates I had. If it wasn't jodoh then I don’t  know what is man. 

Of course a couple of months before we had to go and after all payments were made, I got transferred to ICU. At this point, let's be honest, my tawakkal level was over the roof man. I mean, seriously, if I didn't get my original AL slots, I would probably be so broken and just cry. And it didn't help that my SNM only came back from her leave a month after I came in. So basically for a month, I was having mini attacks, fearing my AL slots would be rejected. 

Of course I'm overly dramatic la, and got my slot. HAHA. 

But I'm not gonna lie the months leading up to the day was extremely intense too. My mother always said that even if you paid and is on the way there already, if you haven't stepped into al-Haram, you are still not invited yet. 

And that scared the bejeezus out of me. 

For one, I ride everyday to work and I've had this gut-feeling I'll get into some kind of accident and not be able to make it there. (My gut feelings are never wrong, and I eventually got into one, a month after we came back lol.) So I prayed, every single day that He would invite me there. That I'd be able to see the Ka'abah once in my life. Even during the bus ride there I was so engulfed with fear that we wouldn't make it. 

But He is truly great and I am beyond humbled to be able to make it to His holy land. But more on that later. 

Until next time. 

With love, Hannah 💕