Millions of praises for Almighty Allah Subanahu-wa-Taalah for awarding me and my family the opportunity to perform Umra last week.

Quickly refreshing for you that that there are 4 conditions to perform Umra which are 1- Ahram, 2- Tawaf, 3- Saee and 4- Cutting the hair. If you would like to read the complete method of perform Umra please click here  

During my stay at Makkah and Madina I learnt & refreshed the following Lessons:

1. Equality from Ahram: Ahram is a white uniform which every single Muslim man who is there to perform Umra wears. When in Ahram no one can know about the financial, social or political status of any other human being around. This gives the lesson that all human are equal regardless of their skin color, ethnicity  race or nationality. This teaches us to treat and cooperate with everyone with equal respect, care and affection. 
2. Patience during Tawaf: During the Tawaf, a lot of people get hit unintentionally however I observed everyone was saying sorry to each other and even the other person who got hit were showing a kind attitude. Hence everyone was trying to pamper the surrounding Muslims. This guides us to live our lives with patience even if we are hurt. Just like Muslims give respect to older people in Kaaba, the same is required to be done when we come back to our home country. All older person are to treated like our fathers and mothers.   
3. Discipline during prayers: Being punctual gives us a great deal of discipline. We can organize our tasks in-between two prayers. Since we perform our prayers on time, so there is a most likely chance that our tasks will not be time slipped. 
4. Simplicity during meals: Not having a lot of flexibility in availability of tasty food a lot of people either bring basic food to mosque and eat it. Rest of the people used to go to the common food restaurants and eat whatever is available. This teaches us to think of less fortunate people and feel their limitations who don’t have enough food. This teaches us to spend money for charity projects and add value to the humanity. Also i noticed people sharing/offering their foods to others by inviting them to join in their meal.  
5. Saying sorry again and again: During the rush while taking bus, while buying food, during the Tawaf and Saee everyone says sorry to other. Everyone is highly flexible and demonstrate high degree of patience. This practice should be done in the rest of the life too. Our apologetic approach can resolve hundreds of brawls at office or home. 
6. Loving Our Kids and others’: My son (5 years old) and my daughter (3 years old) received toffees and biscuits from a lot of Muslims during the stay time we spent in mosque J. Islam encourages taking care of kids. Further, Islam appeals all Muslims to take care of orphans by giving charity and by fulfilling their small desires. Allah gives great reward for such acts. 
7. Muslims unity: Unfortunately, in the materialistic world all Muslim nations are striving for their own monetary benefits. Islam teaches us to think Muslims as one body and work on the mutual gains instead of individuals. Muslim countries should increase their trade with each other, should invest in the projects, should introduce incentives to other Muslims from other countries etc.    
8. Funeral prayer; After every obligatory prayer, Imam performs the funeral prayers for kids and dead Muslims. This act reminds us to pray for others and remember our own death and do the great deeds in order to be a successful human in this world and the hereafter. 
9. Respect to elders and ladies: seat to older people on bus, priority to ladies because Islam gives great respect to ladies and elders.

In the end i would appeal all Muslims to perform Umra as soon as they can. Not only you will get reward of 100,000 prayers for each prayer you perform in Haram and 50,000 prayers for each prayer you perform in Masjid-e-Nabvi PBUH, but also you will get numerous spiritual benefits. Further all sins are washed out during the current and previous Umra. Muslims who intend to travel alone (without agents consultation) are suggested to go to Madina first to avoid Jeddah airport complication and easing out the travel without Ahram. If anyone would like to discuss any matter or for any advice, please feel free to contact me at mjunaidtahir@gmail.com