"Acu!!!""..the twins squealed my nickname in delight in front of everybody at the cafeteria. I was like..duh...why the heck you have to shout like that???I asked those two girls and they just answered me with a giggle. I shooked my head and proceed myself to make a cup of coffee.Everybody was still sleepy as the Subuh at Makkah is way before 5am.
Suddenly, I heard a announcement that whoever wants to climb Jabal Nur aka Gua Hira tomorrow night then they have to give their name to their respective mutawiff. Quickly, I went up to my nephew and asked whether will we be going and he said.."OF COURSE!! Ayah will give our name. You wanna follow us,Acu?" I nodded my head with a smile. Gua Hira..the place where Rasullullah receive his first testament from Jibrail. Yes,I do remember that story very well. While daydreaming thinking about how it felt climbing the Gua Hira, I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. I turned around and saw Liza grinning at me widely.
"What are you daydreaming about? Your boyfriend back in Malaysia?" she asked.
"Hmph..I wish I have one to daydreaming about..hahaha" I answered with a laughed. At that moment, Faiz came in with his group of friends and they saw us laughing happily. I raised my eyebrows at Faiz and he winked back at me. Hold on..what did he just do??
And then Syikin, my other friend called Faiz to come over. I looked at Syikin with a frown on my face..was like..err...why?? "I got something to asked him about the tahlil tonight and aqiqah," she answered. I just shrugged my shoulder and continue talking to Liza who is happily eating her bread with peanut butter. Again, I did not bother Faiz existence even though he is in front of me right now. Suddenly, Liza's husband asked how long does it take to climb the Gua Hira to Faiz. He answered "Normal is only 30 minutes but i think if its for this sister,(he point his finger towards me) it takes her 1 hour plus". I still remember the cynical smile on his face when i looked at him. I was dumbfounded when i heard his answers. My friends were trying not to laugh but obviously they can't help it. They burst into laughter and I can feel my face was scarlet red. Damn you Faiz for indirectly insulting me that I am fat!!I'll show you I can go up and will come down within 1 hour,insya ALLAH.." I said that to his face.
He laughed and shook his head. "I did not insult you, I am just giving you the motivation" he said and raising his eyebrow to me. I squeezed my eyes trying to composed myself from getting more angry. I felt Syikin's hand squeezing my arm. I turned to her and saw the question look on her face...as though asking in silent..Beb,what's going on here women??What's up with you and our mutawiff", I can see her eyes looking at me with wonder. I turned my gaze at Faiz again who are still smiling happily.
"Fine..its a motivation then..revenge huh? for bullying you back there at AL Ula?"
Faiz just shrugged his shoulder and left our place. I stared with amazement. He actually dared to say that to me? The so called Ustaz who supposedly not to have a eye to eye contact conversation with a women? Or was I the one initiate all this? At that moment, I felt something but I do not know what it is. Something weird feeling growing in me. I brushed off the thought instantly and continue talking with my friends whom also wondering what just happens.
Exactly at 9pm,our group of 'jemaah' already preparing themselves for the trip to Jabal Nur and waiting for the bus to pick us up at the lobby. Some of them even wearing hiking shoes, some of them wearing sweaters and boots and yes not forgetting my friend Syikin is wearing baju kurung, mind you. When she came out from the lift, I was stunned to see her so innocently wearing baju kurung. "Are you getting the date wrongly? the tahlil was yesterday night.." I said with a giggle."Oi..i did not bring a lot of clotheslah, women. Jahat you..i never expect to climb a mountain when i came here, you know!" she said with her hands on the hip. I just giggled and that moment I wasn't aware that I was indirectly looking for someone. I saw a group of mutawiff whispering with each other and giggled while they were staring at me. That's it..I was looking for Faiz because he was no where to be seen at that time.
And these group of mutawiff were laughing AT me...not with me..but AT me..geez,Faiz definitely says something to them about me could not climb Jabal Nur. I felt my face flushed and looked away instantly but where is Faiz anyway? I did not see him anywhere..deep inside me was hoping that he will be around. There was a voice in me says, you gonna climb because of him...you gonna climb because you want to show him that you can do it..that you are women who won't defeat easily. Yes, that's it..I want to show him but yet...He wasn't around..where the heck is he? and why is it I want to see him badly??Go figure...hmmm...
"SUEE!!!!! WAIT FOR ME!!!!" Syikin were shouting asking me to slow down. "Come Syikin, we can't stop now! We are getting there!!!Look! We nearly there...faster!!everybody is there already!!" I shout with my short of breath. With so much of difficulties,and so much of hassle while climbing the Jabal Nur, at last we arrived at Gua Hira together with others 'jemaah' who has arrived there 30 minutes earlier than us. I dump myself at one of the big rock outside the cave and stared with amazement of how beautiful the Makkah is from above. Syikin immediately drank a whole bottle of mineral water to quench her thirst and grinned at me. She really looked exhausted and satisfied. "We made it" she said and stared at the same direction that I was looking. Then I saw something amazing. I turned to Syikin and poked her to look to the direction that I was pointing. She looked and gasped..."Masha ALLAH...Masjidil Haram..." we both went silent and enjoy the scenery after 1 hour climbing the Jabal Nur. Yes,i did not manage to climb the Jabal Nur within 30 minutes. There so many people that left behind that I do not have the heart to leave them especially Syikin. So, together we motivate ourselves to climb further and finally we reached the final post. It does not matter how long does it take for me to climb, I don't really care if Faiz will laughed at me if he finds out. It's the matter of I actually made it. I actually have succeeded climbing a 2500feet mountain with so much of effort. I could not describe to you how it felt when I was started to climb. There aura felt as though saying...GIVE UP! GIVE UP! but somehow or rather, an elderly 'jemaah' came to me and says ..."Can you imagine that everyday Khadijah climb this mountain with an elephant just to deliver food to our beloved Rasulullah?? If she can, so can you. Just tell yourself that this mountain is part of your life...your future where you been trying to achieve but so many obstacles to go through...you may struggle in life but yet you believe one fine day you will succeed in life,Insya ALLAH, so dear girl..start believing that you can,so come on,let's climb" he said with a soft smile on his face.I do still remember his face till today when he sat beside me while taking a rest. Without any hesitation, I remember I got up and did not stop climbing except waiting for the others. Of course, I will never forget that confidance feeling in me.
After 15 minutes of resting, I got up and went into the cave. I 'sujud' and felt thankful to ALLAH S.W.T for actually giving me this chance to be here. I sat there for about 10 minutes after suddenly I heard the mutawiff were annoucing that we need to go down within 20 minutes. All the 'jemaah' take this opportunity to take photos and I felt somebody is taking candid photos of me. I turned and saw one of Faiz's friend's is taking my picture at his handphone. He pretended to be taking other people's photos too. My eldest niece came up to me at once and told me that she saw the mutawiff is taking photos of me and she wonder why. I told her to just ignore it.
Everybody was being very careful when going down. It was kind of slippery due to the sands and it was really dark. I had a knee problem and climbing awhile ago was really painful moment for me. Trying to composed myself and ignoring the pain, I continued my journey. With Syikin holding my shoulder,I was being very careful. Step by step I went down and suddenly we heard a 'crack' sound and without any signal..'THUMP!" I fell down in the middle of Jabal Nur. I was falling like a car crushing down at the alley without a break. All i could hear was Syikin screaming my name from the top of her lungs. At that moment, I felt like a roller coaster trying to find ways to stop. All I could think of is 'PLEASE ALLAH!! stop me from falling or take me NOW!!!!! I closed my eyes and then suddenly I stopped...it took me awhile to realised what just happened.In dazed I tried to get up but I couldn't. From afar I heard Syikin voice and a guy coming down to get me..am i dead already?
to be continued....
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