Safa and Marwa (Saee) — Attraction in Makkah Al Mukarramah

The Holy Places of Masjidil Haram Masjidil Haram is located in the city of Makkah and it is the largest mosque in the world. Masjidil Haram building has the circle shape. The structure area of Masjidil haram is around 656.800 square metres including the outdoor and indoor. Masjidil Haram can receive more than one million people. Then, it consist of 3 floors and it has seven tower . Beside that, this mosque has 4 main door and 45 extra door. Masjidil Haram is the holiest mosque in the world and it is the primary destination of the pilgrimage who do hajj or umroh. The specialty of Masjidil Haram is “prayer in Masjidil Haram is more eminent than 100.000 times prayer in the other mosque.” It is really amazing. Masjidil Haram has some holy places, there are Ka’bah, Hijr Ismail, Maqam Ibrahim, Safa Marwah hills and Zam-Zam well. First, Masjidil Haram has a square building. It is Ka’bah. The foundation of Ka’bah is made from marble. The thickness of marble is 25 cm at least. Ka’bah is the first building on the earth which is used as a qiblat in moslem prayer piety, so that Ka’bah become a center building in Masjidil Haram. Then, Ka’bah is the most sacred site in islam and all of moslem around the world face the Ka’bah during prayer, no matter where they are. All of moslem who do hajj or umroh have to around the Ka’bah seven times, it is called tawaf. Every wall corner of Ka’bah has name. The north side is Rukun Iraqi (Irak), the south side is Rukun Yamani (Yaman), the west side is Rukun Syami (Suriah) and the east side is Rukun Aswad (Hajar Aswad). Next, Ka’bah has a shutter wall. It is kiswah. Kiswah is made from gold thread and is adorned with Al-Qur’an callighraphy. The width of the Kiswah is 658 m2. Also, Ka’bah has Al- Burk. Al-Burk is the gold door and it is made from gold 99 carats. The weight of Al-Burk is 280 kg. In addition, Hajar Aswad is a black stone. It is in the corner of tawaf. Hajar Aswad consist of 8 piece silver circle. Ka’bah is very wonderful and has a lot of history. Second, one of part from Ka’bah is Hijr Ismail. Hijr Ismail is located in the north side of Ka’bah. It is covered by a short wall (Al-Hatim) and it is circle shape. Hijr Ismail is the foundation of Ibrahim’s family. In this place, many people who do hajj or umroh piety do sunnah prayer directly because Hijr Ismail is a good place to pray. Third, in Masjidil Haram is found Maqam Ibrahim. The Maqam Ibrahim is a rock that has an imprint of Ibrahim's foot which is kept in a crystal dome next to the Ka’bah. Maqam Ibrahim faces with Al-Burk. Maqam Ibrahim is caressed by people who do hajj or umroh piety. Fourth, Masjidil Haram mosque has two hills, there are As-Safa and Al-Marwah. Safa and Marwah hills are located approximately half a mile from the Ka’bah. The distance between Safa and Marwah are 450 m or 1.480 feet. Safa and Marwah are two small hills and it is the place to do sa’i. Sa’i begins from Safa to Marwah. When the moslem do sa’i in Safa and Marwah, they are travel back and forth for seven times. Among Safa and Marwah are found the green pillar. Besides, among Safa and Marwah sets some tap water. The tap water originates from Zam-Zam Well, so moslem who feel thirsty when she/ he does sa’i in Safa and Marwah, they can drink the water directly as satisfied as possible. The last is Zam-Zam Well. The name of the well traditionally comes from the phrase Zomë-Zomë. Zam-zam water originates from spring in the base land of Masjidil Haram, it is called Zam-Zam Well. It is located around 20 m (66 feet) at southeast of Ka’bah. Zam-Zam Well taps ground water from the Wadi Alluvium lining and it spurts water non-stop. The well has never gone dry despite the millions of liters of water consumed every year. Zam-zam water has no colour or smell, and has a distinct taste. All in all, Masjidil Haram is the greatest mosque. It is the most special mosque in the world because the holy places in Masjidil Haram is very extraordinary and astonishing. Also, Masjidil Haram becomes center mosque...

The Message 34

Allah says in Ayah 2:221: you are prohibited from Marrying (Nikah) female Mushriks until they believe in the Noble Qur’aan, a believing female is better for you than the Mushrik even if you like the Mushrik. You are prohibited to Marry (Nikah) Mushrik males until they believe in the Noble Qur’aan, a male believer is better for you than a Mushrik even if you like them. Mushrik call you to enter into Hell, while Allah calls you to enter Paradise and His forgiveness, clarifying his Ayahs to the people may they remember. The word Nikah means To Marry, Allah prohibited Muslim males to Marry from the Mushrik females, and prohibited Muslim females to Marry Mushrik males. What millions of Muslims did, did they obey the order of Allah, no, they falsely claimed that the Christians are (Ahlu Al Kitaab) received a book from Allah (the Injeel). Are the Christians truly Ahlu Al Kitaab? Allah says in Ayah 3:49 that Isaﷺ was a messenger to the Israelis (The Christians are not from the Israelis), the Christian book of Mathew 15:24 Jesus said that he came only for the lost sheep of the children of Israel. Allah did not send a book to the Christians, what books they have are what they invented, Jesus never heard of the Christians or Christianity, they worship Jesus and they are Mushrik (this according to their books). We are not allowed to marry from the Christians, or from those who worship human beings or any creature on Earth. Is the order not to marry from the Mushrik final, no,Allah allows us to marry from the Mushriks under one condition, Allah says: do not marry until they believe (in the Qur’aan), then the door is opened, not completely closed. Those who understand know that those are the orders of Allah, those who disobey will receive what they deserve. In order not to have divorces among those who married Mushriks, we need to call the mushriks to true Islam (in the Qur’aan), knowing that Allah is watching, and knows if their believing is Genuine or not.

Why Allah prohibited us to marry from the Mushriks, Allah says: a believing female is better than a mushrik female, a believing male is better than a mushrik male, why? Allah says that mushriks call you to enter into Hell, while Allah calls you to enter Paradise and into His forgiveness. Those who are aware of those who married from the mushriks know that the children become mushriks, because the mushrik mothers have a great effect, and if the father is a mushrik the effect is even worse, shirk (kufur) enters easily to the families who marry from...

To put things easier, imagine going around a running track 7 times while wrapped in only 2 piece of clothes with thousands of other runners at the same time. Except that you are running between two hills (if you're doing saee in the first floor). Entering Safa from the tawaf area is like changing seasons- it's cold! Great air conditioning make the saee area cold- yet your ihram make you warm.

To begin saee, you have to go to Safa. There's a large signboard showing Safa, so just follow it. Then you'll see a small 'hill' covered within a glass wall. That is the remnants of the original Safa hill. From that hill, face Kaaba, read your intentions, and start walking. By the way, if you don't feel like walking miles or if you really can't walk (and these options are also available for tawaf), there are two options to you to do saee- First, go upstairs (3rd floor) and rent a scooter. Second, hire someone (the helpers queue near Safa, so just choose) to push a wheelchair for you while helping you reading the prayers for saee. Both options will cost you 100 riyal per pax.

After reciting your intention to do saee, you may begin your saee. You may recite any prayers you want, but usually, if you come with a mutawwif (an umrah guide) he read the prayer aloud and you may just follow him. Then comes the green light. It's sunnah to walk a bit faster or run in this area. So just run to the end of the green lighted area, and then continue walking.

Then you see Marwa. Go closer to the hill and then run to Safa again. Repeat until you complete saee- it's Safa-Marwa-Safa-Marwa-Safa-Marwa-Safa-Marwa. Where's the Marwa hill you ask? The 'hill' is now just patches of blunt peaks on an almost flat surface, really. On the hill you may end your umrah with a tahallul, or cutting/shaving a bit of your hair.

Speaking of tahallul, you may just shave/cut your hair here or just stay in ihram until you arrive at the barbershop and pay 15 riyal to get your head shaved clean, which is recommended. Note that there are some people not in ihram carrying scissors. Those are tahallul touts, of which they will charge you 10 riyal or so for cutting a bit of your hair with their scissors.

The Saee tracks have 4 storeys. If you want to experience the two hills, the first floor is clearly the best choice. If you want convenience though, you can choose to do saee in the ground, second and third floor. Note that Zamzam water is everywhere here, so don't worry about dehydration. In fact, don't buy water- it's free everywhere in the Masjid...