A few of you asked about the shared rooms.
Let me tell you about the shared rooms.
Nobody warns you about the roommates. You spend months preparing your heart. You read the books. You attend the classes. And then you walk into a room in Makkah and meet men (or sisters if you a female) you’ve never seen before in your life, and this is who you’re living with for the next few weeks.
There’s the one who snores like an aircraft taking off, and swears every morning that he doesn’t snore.
There’s the one whose alarm is set for 3am and goes off at full volume, every single night, and who sleeps straight through it while everyone else is wide awake.
There’s the one who packed for a small army. Medicine for ailments nobody has. Snacks from home in quantities that raise questions at customs. Within a week, the entire room is living off his suitcase.
You arrive as strangers. You spend a fortnight sharing a bathroom, a floor, a kettle, and the greatest days of your existence. You get on each other’s nerves. You laugh at things that aren’t funny because you’re all exhausted. You cover for each other. You wake each other for Tahajjud.
And then one of them, the quiet one, says something in the middle of the Mashaer that stays with you for the rest of your life.
I’ve shared rooms with many brothers over many seasons now. Every single one of them is special to me. You go home to different cities, months pass, and then a WhatsApp group lights up on the first night of Dhul Hijjah, every year, without fail. It is a bond like nothing else I have in my life, and I did not go looking for a single one of them.
The rites are what Allah asked of you.
The roommates are what He gave you on the side.
Which one were you in your room? Be honest…and Tag your Hajj roomates! 🙂
#Hajj #DidYouKnow #Nusuk #albaitonnusuk
