My husband took me to Hajj for my 40th birthday 3 years ago.
It was the typical dinner conversation between my husband and I trying to decide what to do for my 40th birthday. Of course I always wanted to go for Hajj but never thought it was something I would do for my 40th birthday. I was thinking couple’s retreat or a girl’s vacation but my husband’s response was surprising.

He said, “We are going to Hajj for your 40th.” How does one say no to that? I agreed (not believing this could even be possible) and pulled out the calendar to see when Hajj was. Mind you, this is in April and my 40th wasn’t until September. It just so happened that my birthday that year and Hajj actually fell in the same week! I hadn’t the slightest clue but clearly my husband wanted to give me a gift of a lifetime for my 40th birthday. How could anyone top this?

Of course with Hajj comes the many challenges. It was the year of the stampede, the crane incident, followed by a sand storm. And it was the first time in years when it had rained in Mina. Days and nights became one and we were in survival mode. We had an experience of our own that made us believe at one point that we wouldn’t be able to complete our Hajj. But Allah had a plan of his own.

My husband and I were separated from our group and had to perform our Umrah with another couple that was faced with the same challenges as us. Guess what? After completing my first umrah (which at one point we thought we wouldn’t be able to do at all) we stepped out for the first time, took a deep sigh of relief and looked at the clock tower. It was midnight on 9/20/2015! I had completed umrah seconds before I turned 40. Was that in the plan? Did my husband plan it that perfectly? Absolutely not.

It was Allah’s calling and my time. It wasn’t luck that Hajj and my 40th fell on the same week and it wasn’t luck or perfect timing that I completed my first umrah before I turned 40.
And if someone asks me if I was ready or if I knew it was my time, my response is that you can never be ready and only Allah can decide if it’s your time.

Trust me if I told you that what happened to us and how we were separated from the group was the most testing time for us. Honestly I had no clue it was even my birthday anymore. The previous 48 hours had us so shaken up.

It was the best birthday ever! My Hajj family knew it was my birthday. They knew what we had been through and were so happy to have been safely united with us. After our umrah was complete they took me out for donuts, my favorite treat (how they found a donut place open at 2 am still baffles me).

I sat with brothers and sisters that were once complete strangers to me and had now become my Hajj family. I celebrated my big milestone birthday without my own brother and sisters whom I had never spent a birthday without. But let me tell you, it was one of the most memorable nights in my life. Those brothers and sisters I spent that night with are 3 years later a part of my everyday life. We keep in touch and check up on each other like we do with our own siblings daily.

With every challenge came ease. My own hijab and abayah was ripped off of me in the Rawdah and I myself prayed in a chain with my friend pulling me up and down making sure I came up from my sajda. But Allah is the best planner.

True Hajj Story By: Rebecca Siddiqui Abrar

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