17th Dhul Hijjah 1432 (Sunday 13th November 2011)

At Asr we managed to meet Heera and his wife. We went to the Zamzam towers, to the 3rd floor where the food court was situated. Akluma and I got our favourite mango slushes from the ground floor and met the other couple near the Burger King. We talked about out Hajj experience to date and Heera being his normal self was cracking as many jokes as he was gasping Oxygen, though this almost backfired where his wife did not take some of the jokes heart. After Maghrib on the roof of the harem we stayed on the roof, and I recited more of the Glorious Qur’an (which I started on day 1 of Hajj).

In the evening after Esha salaat on the roof, we looked to performing nafl tawwaf. This was so beautiful especially as we had more time to take in the surrounding of this magnificent masjid and could supplicate and read the Qur’an in a more tranquil setting than the ground floor.

After ordering our Al Muntada Zamzam 10litre drums @ 18riyals from Brother Sherif, we made our way to the hotel. On the way to our hotel we looked into some of the shopping complexes, and little did we know until then they were full of womens abayyyas! This was like kryptonite for me, from the memories of 1430 (2009). Though I must add it was not too bad, as I must say I had much more sabr (patience) this time round. After looking at much black abbayyas, thought my scenery could do with a change and we took a well deserved break and went back to our hotel.