Hajj: Generosity

Hajj: Generosity

Whilst in Madina we were fortunate enough to meet a special lady, the wonderful Auntie Noor as she is commonly known (according to Sidra) but otherwise known as UmmBilal Petersen of the Al-Miskeenah Blog. Auntie Noor was aware that I would be in Madina with my family and wanted to meet us. Sidra, who was in our group, mentioned that Auntie Noor had asked after us when she met her earlier and would visit our hotel later but had passed on some items as gifts for us. First there was a Hajj “scrap” book for my daughter, Auntie Noor had thoughtfully put together a scrapbook and made cut outs of various Hajj related items for my daughter to glue and colour in, the pack contained, a glue stick and colouring pencils as well! Then there was a pack for me that contained a very large satellite map of Madina all marked up with significant and sacred places and then a smaller satellite map with additional detail and then a map of the Baqi cemetery marked with all the relevant resting places of the Sahabah and other notables. If that wasn’t enough we were treated to some wonderful Hummingbird Cake made by Auntie Noor with the secret ingredient of plenty helpings of dhikr whilst making it, it had bananas, sultanas, pineapple, walnuts/pecans, really delish! It was the most wonderful thing I had tasted on my entire trip. JazakAllahu-khayran Auntie Noor and I made the duah you asked for at Arafah and everywhere I went and may Allah increase you in this world and the next.

There were two other examples of generosity out of many that stick in my mind and these were from total strangers. One thing you quickly realise outside of the west is how genuinely loving people are towards children. People will stroke and kiss your child and if you are not used to it it is quite disconcerting especially since in the west you hear about child molestation and paedophiles almost every other day. However, you soon get used to it. Everywhere we went my daughter was looked upon with that “aahhh, what a cute kid” type look. Some people would kiss her, pat her, stroke her and play with her, others would give her a one riyal note, and others would just extend a hand to touch her then wipe their hearts as if to receive tabarruk.

We were in a shopping centre under Masjid Bilal in Madina, my wife was browsing for clothes and a shopkeeper from another shop was playing peek-a-boo with my daughter and as we were leaving he pulls out a sun hat for her, in fact it was a very good floppy straw hat with flowers and a near perfect fit for her. In fact we had been discussing earlier in the day that we should buy a sun hat for her. We tried to offer the shopkeeper money for the hat and all he said was “hadiya” (Arabic for “gift”) and was happy that we accepted the gift, he had no expectation that we would buy anything from him or even visit his shop.

One of the most amazing acts of generosity we witnessed was from a street seller. We were at Uhud and in most places you see women in full black niqabs and abyas selling items from mats on the floor. More often than not these women are very poor but instead of choosing a life of begging they sell trinkets, hats, misbahas and other things that hujjaj would be interested in. As we were walking past one such lady my daughter noticed a basket of rings and other trinkets and started trying them on. Like most little girls she loves to dress up and try on jewellery, all the rings she tried on were far too big for her. The stall owner pulled out a small ring, a perfect fit for my daughter and handed it to her, we tried to say “la! la!” (“no! no!”) we didn’t need it but she immediately said “hadiya!”, we tried to offer her money and she just would not take it from us and just repeated “hadiya”. A moment later she pulled out a stack of small bangles and gave them to my daughter with the word “hadiya” again. I quickly told my wife that we should buy something from her and tried to find something we liked, eventually we settled on a pack of hats which were SR5 (five Saudi Riyals) and I gave her SR10 and said “hadiya” so that she would keep the change, but no, she would not, she had given a gift and did not want anything in compensation for it. SubhanAllah, the dignity and generosity of this woman, who (Allahu-alim), was probably quite poor and yet she had a big heart where she gave away more than she earned from us. May Allah increase her in this world and the next.

8 thoughts on “Hajj: Generosity

  1. Masha Allah beautiful entry. That’s very true of Khala Noor. She also sent some activities to my daughter which I photocopied and gave to the girls at school along with some duas which the girls would read before tests/exams.

    It’s a relief to see children. I’m glad to hear all was well, alhamdulillah. Amin to your duas for all the people you met there and Khala Noor.

  2. Masha Allah beautiful. Ameen to the duas. Subhan Allah it sounds as though you had a wonderful time.

    May Allah reward all those kind souls you met and may He continue to bless yourself and your family. Ameen.

    Wassallams.

    Adnan

  3. Assalamu alaikum Dear Sidi Mas’ud and family,
    JazakumuLlahu khairan for the kind words…however that was the least I could do, and compared to the generosity of the Ansar RadhiAllahu anhum, my efforts are minuscule. Allah Ta’ala is Kareem, so we, Insha’Allah, try to assimilate some degree of this attribute in our dealings with each other, and certainly our innocent little ones have such a nature as to extract love from us all, SubhanAllah. And a huge jazakumuLlahu khairan for the Du’a, I continue to include you and yours in mine, and to send Salam every time I am in and around Masjid Nabawi. Alhudmulillah there are many Madians aspiring for the taste of Jannah, displaying such honourable qualities of sharing and giving regardless of their station.
    Wassalamu alaikum

  4. salaams,
    just started to read these blogs! and really inspiring to read the experiences u had. May Allah bestow blessings on the woman who gifted bangles for yr daughter.

  5. Assalamu alaykum

    I know it’s been years but I used to read the Al-Miskeenah Blog a lot back when it was around and I just wanted to know if anyone knows what happened to ‘Auntie Noor’… honestly that Blog was such a Light for me growing up, seeing fresh pics of Medina every day, but then it disappeared and I have been worried about the Author ever since.

    Would love it if someone could respond, I’d at least like to know what happened… Jazakum ALLAH khayr.

    Allahumma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa AaliHi wasallim.

  6. Asalaamualaikum Warahamatuallahi Wabarakaatu.

    Saad-
    I’ve also Trying to locate sister kala Nur
    From Al miskeena.
    Most beautiful blog with regular updates of Haramain Shareefain.
    Had an apportunity to meet Kala Nur.

  7. Allah bless you! This is amazing. I loved her blog and benefitted from it a lot. I’m so sad it’s no longer available. Is that satellite map available online anywhere?

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