Mohammad Elshinawy – My Hajj Story – A Taxi Cab Ride

			Salam Alaikum wa rahmatullah over him in 2015 was my first opportunity to perform hajj and Hajj is
always special with the first Hajj always has a very unique taste a very unique fineness in the air,
and I asked a lot to write for us and you, at least one had an accepted hedge a pure hedge before we
meet him alone, I mean.
		

			So it was four years after I was forced to leave my studies in the College of howdy in Medina, a
very difficult decision, but my father was very ill. And so I left and it was the first time back in
four years, and it was exactly four and change months after my father in law passed away.
		

			And I remember being in Medina, before the hedge rituals even started, and I got into a taxi to make
my rounds, certain places that I wanted to visit or revisit. And the taxi driver was a man with
clearly agent features.
		

			And so I said to him, Where are you from? Because he had an impeccable Saudi accent. And usually
those who come for the jihad or they call they come to be in the company of the Prophet sallallahu,
alayhi wasallam in a city to live and die, and live off of people's charity, the New Age philosophy,
if you will,
		

			not necessarily recommending it, just a beautiful intention, you can tell they're not from that
part. But this person was an elderly man of Asian features that had a flawless Saudi accent. So I
asked him, Where are you from? All this happening in Arabic, of course. He said to me, I'm from
Florida. I'm from Atlanta. It was Becca, Stan. And I said, How long have you been here? He said,
		

			I was born here. This man was roughly 65 years old. I said,
		

			How many generations
		

			he said, my grandfather and this is my story for everyone. And in sha Allah, it is all that you need
to hear, to decide to make Hajj every single time that you can. And immediately next year, if you've
been putting it off, he said my grandfather had all girls, all his children or daughters. And he
said, Oh Allah, if you give me a boy, I'm going to make Hajj for you. And you shouldn't do that. By
the way, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,
		

			you know, vowing that if Allah does something for you, you're gonna do something for him. It's as if
you're implying he hasn't done anything for you. That's why he says that's how you pull something
out of a stingy person of vow, right?
		

			And so Hajj is obligatory to begin with, right on every capable person, what he made this vow. And
Allah granted him a boy, which is the father now of the brother driving me around the taxi driver,
he says, so when my father was about 12 years old, my grandfather decided that he had to hold true
on his promise to Allah. And he said, we have to make hedge. So he took my father. And they traveled
south,
		

			all the way down to India. And then they ran out of money. He says, and they did not have enough
money to buy their tickets to get on the ship, to cross the sea to get to Arabia. He says, and so
they work. Can you imagine for two years
		

			to put together the money to get on the ship? He says at the end of the second year, it was time for
		

			the voyage. And we did not have enough money for two tickets. My grandfather and my father had
enough money for one ticket and change. And so the Seaman or the captain basically sympathized with
their situation, he let them board anyway. And so they got on the boat and they traveled across the
water. Till they got to, let's just say roughly Saudi Arabia. He says, The moment we got to Saudi
Arabia, I think he told me Jeddah because the ports are in Jeddah, and there are others, as well. He
says, My grandfather died. And so now my father is all alone there at 14 years old.
		

			He said and he would just, you know, loiter, if you will in the streets and come to the masjid.
		

			And they were at the time selling citizenship to Saudi Arabia for one real andriana nowadays is
about 25 cents us.
		

			He says And whoever
		

			Couldn't afford it
		

			was going to get apprehended arrested could get deported. So after getting there he was about to get
sent back or sent away or imprisoned.
		

			Or May Allah forbid, worse, you know, get abducted into some trafficking, dynamic human trafficking.
And so he said I was in the masjid and the officers grabbed me and I explained to them my situation
my father just died. I'm here all alone, I have no money. I don't even have the Wonder yet. And so
Allah open his heart, the heart of the officer to this man and he wrote, my father, the taxi driver
is selling heroes, my father, a Saudi citizenship.
		

			And he became a Saudi citizen. He said, on the Hajj season began, and a
		

			hedge group from Jordan Hodge group from Jordan showed up and we interacted, and we became friends,
the owner of the hedge group. And when he realized I had a Saudi citizenship,
		

			he married me to his daughter.
		

			This is the father narrating. And so this 65 year old was Becky driver.
		

			A love lesson and protect him if he's still alive, says that's my mom. That's my dad, they performed
Hajj together. That was Becky man from Florida and the Jordanian woman, the daughter of the owner of
the hedge company, and then they relocated to Medina.
		

			And they've been there ever since. And I was born there 60 some odd years ago.
		

			So he's saying like, this is an amazing story. But then he turns around to me, and I'm just like
crying like a baby.
		

			And I've not
		

			i'm not loving it at the moment. I look back at it now. And it's so beautiful. But I had just lost
my father. And so I'm just sitting there telling him and your dad, your dad, what about your dad?
Did he ever go back home? Did he ever see his sisters again?
		

			And he's just like, no, he had no way to get home and no reason to get home and just life moves on.
		

			And I said somehow, like, this is really an amazing story. Because, you know, you read about the
Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and how like, nice. She delivered her baby as they
were exiting Medina and she just wrapped herself up and kept it moving. She was not going to let go
of the opportunity to make Hajj with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and she went to Hajj
carrying her newborn in her postpartum phase. You know, it's a two week journey, at the very least.
And so you think about this story of this
		

			14 year old father of those Becky driver you think about this, we'll have another level on him and
the difficulties of hedge, you know, years and years and years ago. And then how easy it is for us
nowadays. And so we are not doing a loss, a favor by prioritizing this hedge as if and I don't mean
that you know condescendingly a pillar of Islam. This is absolutely serious. And I don't think many
of us take it as seriously as we should. We need to mobilize assets when we have them. We need to
prioritize as best we can. We need to make sure that we are excused in front of Allah for trying our
very best to fulfill our debt to him. Allah subhanho wa Taala said that
		

			he will wait and it is for Allah right for Allah upon the people. The people are indebted with this
to make Hajji to the sacred house, even if he lay his head Vila, for whomever is able to do so. When
many hats are left in the Lucha Bunny and Hamid and whomever turns their back, whoever feels like
they have no need a lot of soldier has less of a need, he is praiseworthy without people coming to
his house from every direction left and right to praise him. So
		

			right for us, a hedge and an accepted hedge and make it a means for us to to get back home to get to
gender, with our fathers and our forefathers and our mothers and our ancestors.
		

			And the prophets and the righteous I love them. I mean, it's like a lovely and everyone said I want
to get