The first semester of the school year just ended a week ago.  Last week we had final exams, and the week before that was spent reviewing all the chapters we had covered thus far.  During that last week I had a lot of D and C students come and ask me what they could do at THIS time to fix their grade and bring it up to a C or a B, respectively.  They become hostile and a little frantic this time of year.

Meanwhile the A and B students are as cool as a cucumber.  They didn’t have any missing work to turn in.  They’d be consistently studying all quarter, so reviewing wasn’t such a task for them either.  And most of them had worked hard to earn a good grade all quarter that they had a pretty nice cushion to fall back on during finals–their grades weren’t going to be effected as easily by a bad midterm grade.

I really felt sorry for the C and D students.  They had spent the first  8 weeks ignoring warnings of missing assignments, low quizzes and tests, tutoring opportunities, extra credit, etc.  Because they were lazy and procrastinated they were completely helpless when it really mattered to them.  And sadly enough, I think they were hoping for a miracle to come and help them transform into an amazing student in the last 2 weeks and then pull their grades out of a big old mess they spent 8 weeks creating. (more…)

I’ve sat down on numerous occasions and opened my wordpress and started typing out long stories about Hajj, but I can never finish.  Just now I started three separate posts about the lack of luxuries, going to Arafah, and Muzdalifah being my favorite part.  But each post ended with me pressing ctrl+A and then delete. I just can’t find the words to share my experiences with everyone.

Everytime I think about Hajj I just get sad.  Sad that I’m home again.  Sad that I don’t have the opportunities I had while I was there.  Sad that I can’t see my group mates on a bus at 4:00am going to the masjid to catch Fajr.  Sad that I can’t stand in a sea of honking busses, engrossed in fumes and smog.  Sad that my feet aren’t aching from all the walking.  Sad that the adhan is not blasting all around me reminding me that salah is the most important part of my day. Sad, sad, sad. (more…)

It’s taken me some time to write about Hajj.  Sorry if any of you were waiting.  But I’m having a tough time thinking, talking or reflecting on Hajj because it makes me really sad to know that it’s done and gone.

So to start myself off, I thought I’d pick a funny story, to make myself laugh as I think back to Hajj.

On the 11th of Dhul Hijjah, Saqib and I set out from our tents in Mina to make Tawaf Ifadah and Sa’ee.  It took us almost one hour to walk out of Mina, one hour on a school bus to get to the Haram, one hour to find something to eat and pray dhuhr, and then finally start.  I was exhausted before tawaf had even started!

We were making our laps around on the top floor.  It was midday, the time between dhuhr and asr.  We had chosen the top floor because the first floor was packed “from the windows to the wall.”  There were people all the way from the edge of the Kaabah, out to the edges of the main floor.  We had originally tried to make tawaf on the second floor, because we’d be covered from the midday sun and plus because certain parts of the second floor are air conditioned.  But that was serving to be difficult because of all the pillars inside, bookshelves, wheel chairs, and taped off areas from construction.  With no other choice we went to the third floor.

I like the third floor of the Haram, especially at Fajr.  It’s a pretty peaceful place.  Most of the other floors are jam packed all the time, with a pretty chaotic crowd.  But there’s something about tawaf and prayer in the open air with sun and clouds above you that makes it more… peaceful.  It’s also generally more quiet up on the roof.  Typically the crowd consists of elderly Hajjis that are wheelchairs, so you’ll just hear the softest humm of their wheels, mixed with other people’s feet shuffling past you.  The only time it’s ever “loud” on the 3rd floor is when someone is in a wheelchair behind you and they want you to move out of the way.  They usually hiss at you…like a snake.  And you’re supposed to get the clue, and move to the side.  It’s kinda nice, because it doesn’t distract you too much as you make tawaf and are concentrating on making du’a and dhikr.

So imagine my surprise, while making tawaf on the third floor, I heard a Saudi guard yelling at everyone to “Shway-ya!”  I was focused on making du’a, and I looked up startled.  What was the big deal?  What was going on?  Why was everyone slowly shifting to the left?  Was there a wheelchair coming up behind us with someone really important?

Nope.  I looked around, trying to see what all the fuss was about, and then I saw it. (more…)