My pilgrimage to Mecca

from the beginning of February to the 14th of February 2003

Besm Allah Al Rahman Al Raheem

La Ilah illa Allah

لبيك أللهم لبيك, لبيك لا شريك لك لبيك

I thank Al Mighty God for allowing me to travel to holy Mecca Al Mukarrama and visit the great house ( bayt Allah ).

I thank Al Mighty God that permitted me to accomplish a pilgrimage in the holy land, Pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the five Pillars of Islam . Every Moslem is hoping to accomplish at least one pilgrimage during his lifetime.

This was in February 2003.

As it is forbidden to take pictures inside the Holy Kaaba . In this page I will display pictures that I captured from a live TV broadcast at the time of a prayer in the Holy Kaaba during the holy month of Ramadan dated the 16th of November 2003.

The TV broadcast is from a Saudi Arabian channel called 3ein Channel, diffusing directly from Holy Mecca.

First Impression is beyond belief, what you see here is like a sea made of people

And this is only a small portion of the Area that is all the time covered by the Moslem people who are visiting the Holy Kaaba.

Among many tasks, the Moslems have to fulfill during pilgrimage, they come to pray and to circle around the Kaaba seven times.

الحمد للة الآسلام بخير

Here you see more of that area, this area is almost equal to the half of the area surrounding the Kaaba at the ground floor

At the foreground of the picture, you see people sitting in the terrace , because the Harem El Sharif is composed of an open ground floor, a closed first floor, covered by an open terrace.

During my Pilgrimage , my only and big worry, was to be able to find a place ( 0.6 m2 or less ) inside the walls of the Haram El Shareef ( The Holy Mosque)

As you see This prayer is taking place inside the covered first floor, and it demonstrates how it is difficult to find a small place to pray.

I used to come one hour earlier than the time of the prayer to be able to find myself a place.

When I was a little late, I had to pray outside the walls of the Haram. in a big square that surround it .

Right you can see the walls of the Holy Mosque, you see the people who are praying outside, this is the place I told you about, El Hamd Lellah My Hotel ( Hilton Mecca ) was right on that square at the left of the picture. So I came down and found myself already in that square .

But would you believe me if I tell you that reaching the Mosque through the crowd was so difficult , that once I prayed in the Hotel Lobby , with hundreds like me .

Look now at that general view of the holy Kaaba ,this picture was taken as I said before in Ramadan , it is not during a pilgrimage time.

Pilgrimage time comes only after two months of the end of Ramadan .

Still the amount of Moslems in this place at one moment is over two Millions .

During my Pilgrimage we were more than three millions .

The three domes at the feet of the Minarets are occupying only a small part of the terrace .The terrace is very big and it surrounds the Holy Kaaba

Sometimes during pilgrimage I used to come and sit there behind the three domes .

After I prayed the Maghreb , I waited for almost two hours with all the other Moslems in the same place behind the three Domes for the next prayer Al Eshaa, the two hours passed like two minutes for me.

It was very pleasant to sit there in the coolness of the evening ( February ) reading Koran and contemplating the marvelous Kaaba , all illuminated by flood lights with different colors that added to its beauty.
Many times after I finisned the prayers, (Maghreb and Eshaa) I came down to find the space around the Kaaba less crowded, so I could Pray right in front of it.
Those were unforgatable blessed moments.