tuesday 2:45 pm Makkah
the peace of Makkah. alhamdolillah, Makkah has peace, but it is a very different kind of peace than one finds in Madinah.
Madinah is a city a person could easily call home. people study here. those who can will invest time greeting the Prophet sull Allaho alayhi wa sallam, getting the first row of salat, finding space in Riazat-ul-Jannat, or sitting in one of many, many halaqas throughout the Haram.
the word salam applies to Madinah in all its senses including the sense of security one feels there. though there is often much crowding at peak times, there is no sense that time is running out. yet the word sleepy only befits Madinah by contrast with Makkah.
Makkah is always moving. the Haram never sleeps, alhamdolillah. and like so many superimposed clockhands, the people making tawaf create their own timeflow.
time is always running out in Makkah. every hour, and perhaps every minute at times, alhamdolillah, another group of Muslims leaves Makkah to return to their own cities or to visit Madinah. and yet as often another group will arrive, alhamdolillah, here -- starting a new cycle.
the urgency that i feel here is very distinct from what one feels in Madinah. true, every time one goes with the funeral procession to the Baqqi graveyard in Madinah, one is reminded that death is near to all of us, alhamdolillah.
but here in Makkah, life itself makes demands: do you want the ajr of kissing the black stone? of making sijdah at the multazim? well, you won't get these or many other ajr by standing around waiting for someone to hand them to you.
and it's not about arriving early because queues mean nothing, though it is about being patient and persistent because no ajr can be seized by force or meanness.
and in that is the key that i have seen to finding peace in Makkah. submission to the Qadr, Will or Decree, of Allah subhanahu wata ala.
not submission in a sense of helplessness that begets indolence or inaction. submission in the sense that you strive, with the belief that you will never be shortchanged even when you do not get what you wanted.
submission that begins and ends with effort, with taqwa, and, inshaAllah, with acceptance.
