Our last Jumah (Friday prayers) in Makka

Hello everyone

It was a long wait today for the Friday sermon and prayer here in Mecca. In order to secure a seat in the air-conditioned area we had to be here @ 10h30 already for 12h20.

There are soooooo many people here and because Jumah is a special day, many of the residents out of Mecca come in on a Thursday evening to 'catch' the Friday prayer or Jumah as we call it. With the result, the haram is filled to capacity. Women sit separately from the men.

It is our last Jumah here, we were very fortunate to have 1 Jumah in Medina ( the mosque of our Prophet Mohammed PBUH) and 2 here in Mecca.

I am sad to be leaving yet also been missing the family back home, so am suffering from mixed feelings right now. What I find totally unexplainable is that the talk is delivered in Arabic and although we as South African Muslims can read Arabic, we cannot speak or understand the language except for a few key words here and there. This is the unexplainable - despite the lack of understanding, there are underlying emotions that surface when the Imam (guess we can call him a priest) delivers his sermon. I find myself sobbing with emotion and can feel the urgency and his pleas to the Almighty for guidance, peace around the world, keeping us on the path of the good, among other things.

These pics are but a small section of the Holy Mosque in Mecca which has been set aside for women. There are countless ones all around the Haram which stretches for kilometers around the Kaba and they are all filled to capacity spilling out into the streets and paths around the haram.

We waited for half an hour to avoid the crush of people leaving the haram - this gives you an idea of the number of people here and that was just in our section alone.

These pics where sneaked with my iPad but I hope it will give u a small idea of the number of people here.

All colors, denominations, races, creeds coming here to serve their Creator.

We leave here on Sunday morning - I hope that there will be wifi at our hotel in Jordan and one more city we are visiting before returning to South Africa on the 30th.

Have a wonderful day

Hugz

Shamela