So we went to the Haram of Imam Hussain (AS) for Fajr.
Alhamdulillah, we had reached safely. Fajr time, it was so nice and peaceful and thw weather was damp. There were still a few days till all the other zaireen got here … then there would be hardly no place to move around! I stood at the door of the haram .. I was finally here, It was worth the three days of waiting. I was overcome with joy and tears started flowing out of my eyes as i kissed the gate and went inside.

I recited the Ziyaarat of Imam Hussain (AS), Hazrat Ali Akbar and Ali Asghar, All the shohadaa’. I hadn’t forgotten in since the last time I came here… I was so glad, my parents had always told me to learn the ziyaarat so I could recite it with fluence, but guess what? I already knew it. I was missing Kerbala so much and I was back now. Back where I belong. Where everyone belongs, In Kerbala!

I recited the dakhul, took permission, kissed the step and went inside .. It was the same feeling which I had the first time I had visited Kerbala again after 5 years. It had been just 1 year since my last trip and I was still feeling the same way, If i left and came ack tomorrow it would be the same feeling. I love the crowd, everybody there were the lover of Imam Hussain AS and came to the zari with the same intention!!

As I neared the zari … i was getting pushed in and out, in and out so I though ‘please just once, only once I want to do the ziyarat of the zari properly, even if its for a little while, just once. properly.!!’ and I got pushed in all the way! I held on to the zari and I didn’t want to go … When i had held on long enough, I got pushed out of the crowd without any effort at all! Alhamdulillah, I was satisfied that I got to hold the zari long enough to pray for everyone who’d asked me to!

I wanted to stay for longer, but I was feeling sleepy and couldn’t keep my eyes open and I think I’d fallen asleep so my wudhu had broken too …
So i was leaving and me and my mum found Sana and Nilofer Aunty in the sehen … Sana came back to the hotel with us but her room was locked so she slept in my room.
I don’t know how long I slept, but when I woke up, Sana and Zakeeya were sitting wide awake on the other bed and everybody else from our group was gone.

It was soon lunch time but no one had come back yet except for a few people … there was hardly anyone in the lunch room.
After lunch, me and Sana took Zakeeya to the haram for ziyarat because she hadn’t gone yet. She liked it but her scarf got pulled of in the crowd and she couldn’t do ziyarat properly. Later, I told her to try herself so she ran real fast through the crowd, did ziyarat and came back and I was like ‘Wow, that was good!!’ We prayed Zohr and Asr, then went back to the hotel to drop Zakeeya and went with Munir Uncle, Sultan Moosa uncle and Babban Bhai to exchange money and do shopping for people .. things like kafans, sajdagahs, tasbihs etc.

I was almost Maghrib when we came back and we still hadn’t gone to do Ziyarat of Hazrat Abbas, so me, Sana and Tahera Baji went there for Maghrib & Isha and stayed there till like 9:30 which i pretty late cause the zari closes at 10. When I went inside and recited the ziyarat i remember the incident which happened in Arba’een 2004. We had this really nice lady with us who was really grief-stricken and well, she was always lost because her son had been killed by a drunk driver in an accident. But a very sweet lady, She passed away just this year… (Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Raji’oon) anyway what actually happened was we had lost her at the zari of Ima Hussain (AS) and everyone was really worried and we were looking for her everywhere, some of us went to the roza of Hazrat Abbas to see if she was there. Sana and me went along. We found her there standing next to the zari doing du’a and we were SO relieved to find her. She told us that when she was in the Haram, she suddenly couldn’t see us and a man came and asked her something (i just dont remember right now) and when she stepped forward she was in front of the zari of Hazrat Abbas and it was all empty, then the man left her and she told us she saw us coming! I was so sad when i heard about her passing away. she was such a nice and sweet lady :/

Khair, we finished praying Maghribain and went back to the hotel and when we got there, all the food was over! and i was sooo hungry.
There was a majlis on the first floor, so I sat for a while then i started feeling hot (nofan, no ac :O) so i came upstairs and I found these 2 kids roaming around. There were from our group too. So i asked them their names. One was Farwa, 9 years old and her little brother was Ali, 3 years old. I asked them why they were roaming around so they said that their parents had taken her great-grandmom for ziyarat … WOW their great-grandmom was real old lekin she’s a really nice grandmom .. i liked her alot, sat next to her in the bus and i loved helping her in stuff … So me and Sana gave company to the kids for a while and their parents and great-grandmom got back at around 2 …
Thats when i went to sleep.

we had to leave for the other atraaf ke ziyarat at about 6 and I thought I wouldn’t go to sleep after Fajr but I was way too sleepy and I told my dad to wake me up after coming back from the Haram, and well, he forgot then when my mom got back she’s like didn’t you go? They already left!!’ so I had to get ready real quick and I went out looking for them. I found them when they were leaving from Till E Zainabiya, sigh I had missed the ziyarat of Till E Zainabiya … oh well I’ll go there later sometime. After that we went to the khaimagah which is about a 5 minute walk from Tille Zainabiya. Its where Imam Hussain’s tents were pitched.
After that we went to Maqaam E Shair E Fizza. I hadn’t beenthere before though cause we never knew about … Its about when Bibi Zainab saw that Ibn Ziyads army was coming to trampled Imam Hussain (AS)’s body Bibi Zainab prayed to Allah, Bibi Fizza on hearing her took her permission and prayed that Allah would send Haaris, a lion to guard Imam’s body.
Then we walked towards where Hazrat Abbas’s left arm was cut off and then where his right arm was cut off.
 We came home at about 8:30 AM, and had breakfast. Later I was feeling SO sleepy. My eyes wouldn’t stay open so I went to sleep and woke up at 2!!!!
I didn’t go to the Haram today because it was closed for ladies, its so sad cause the haram is always closed on the maqsoosi days, 14^th & 15^th Sha’baan, Arba’een, Arafaat L
 At about 3 my parents, Sana’s parents, Maulana Uncle and a few other people went to meet the Pakistani/Indian kafela whose husbands were killed a few days ago, the incident about the bus. Me and Sana wanted to go but they said no kids.

Then Shahnaz Aunty was keeping a dastarkhwan at night so me and Sana went to the kitchen to see what they were up to. They were making pakoras so we helped out a little bit and I went out on to the terrace to take pictures. I needed to have a shower so that’s exactly what I did after taking  pictures and I was showering when suddenly, the water stopped coming and I had to wait for 

   what seemed like hours and hours but I think it was just 15 minutes or something.
            Then while waiting for my parents I almost fell asleep when someone knocked on the door and said ke the dastarkhwan was ready so I got up and left
           so tonight was 15^th Sha’baan ki shab, and today’s plan was that we’ll do amaal in the majlis room then a jashn and then we would all go to Maqam E Imam E Zamana and Nehre Furat holding candles. after the amaal, I went back to the room to decide what to wear … took me like an hour. I had 3 suits and I didn’t know which one to wear so I just wore one of my mom’s yellow shalwar kameez. It was looking okay …
Then I went and sat in the jashn but it was soooo hot! Ooff ..
I sat for a while or something then my mom told me to go count the candles and keep them ready so I can give them out before we leave the hotel. That took like a whole 1 hour, then I went and sat in the jashn for like not even 2 minutes and someone wanted some ariza’s so I went and got 2 and she needed 3 more so I had to climb up two flights of stairs all over again and got the whole lot of arizas instead. Then I sat in the jashn for another 2 minutes and Zakeeya started feeling hungry and she got cranky, so I had to get her cornflakes (climb up again) and there was no fresh milk so I had to use Nido and keep tasting it again and again if it was alright otherwise Zakeeya wouldn’t drink it … another 20 minutes. When I went back to the jashn and it was almost over. Didn’t even get to listen to it :/
             Then everybody came downstairs, We also had to go to Maqam E Hazrat Ali Akbar and Ali Asgher. After that we went to Maqame Imam E Zamana but it was closed and there was no light anyways so instead we went to the Garden of Imam Jaffar As Sadiq (AS). We got dates from there :]
When on the way to Nehre Furat we were waiting for everyone to gather around and the maulana told everyone to give him their arizas and I was like ‘vvvaattt?!?! When did everyone write theirs? I didn’t write mine yet :O’ so everyone waited and everybody else started making fun of me cause I was writing such a long ariza and Maulana Uncle was like ‘Wow, its going to take atleast 5 or 6 angels to read your letter! ’  LOL

            After that we did what we were waiting for sooooo long, we got to put floating candles into Nehre Furat, it was sooo pretty, The whole of Nehre Furat looked lighted. There was an amazing atmosphere! Everyone was celebrating the birthday of our Awaited Imam (ATFS) and there was people giving out sweets and people playing with fireworks and dancing around with sticks. It was so amazziinnggg … even the bridge had candles all on the sides. We got pepsi and 7up and distributed it.
This was the funnest 15^th Sha’baan celebration EVER!!!!!

            Eid Mubarak!!! Allahuma Salle Alaa’ Mohamed Wa Aale Mohammad!
            I woke up at like 12:00 in the morning all happy and looking out of the window at all the julooses and people reciting qaseedas and nasheeds and the passed by.
            Then Munir Uncle and Babban Bhai came knocking on the door and asked me if I wanted to come cause they were going to but cassettes and I needed some too right? SO I went with them wearing my favourite purple chador. I bought these nice nasheed cassettes for everyone to take back to Dubai as hadiya, so I bought a whole bunch by Bassim Al Karbalaei and some other recitors.

We came home and had lunch and decided to spend the whole day in Hazrat Abbas’s roza and the Haram. So after lunch, Me, Sana, Nilofer Aunty and Tahera Baji went to Hazrat Abbas… Prayed Zohr, recited Duas, Ziyarats etc. we stayed there till like 6, then we went to the Haram,We did Maghrib-Isha and stayed there till 9:30. When we came home there was still time, so we went to get more cassettes and some Iraqi sweets. Mummy had told me to come home by 10:30 because the Hazrat Ali Akbar ka side would be opened for ladies and I got late and my mom had already left so I went to the haram alone and met my mom and Zakeeya there and my mom said that there were too many people so they didn’t open it for ladies then we met 2 other ladies from our group and even they were disappointed ke it wasn’t open  and we were talking to them and suddenly my nose stated bleeding and I didn’t care about that but I started crying that my wudhu and I wont be able to do my ziyarat properly (it was our last night before we left for Najaf) and I was all ‘oh no I wont be able o do ziyarat, where will I do wudhu, I don’t want to miss ziyarat this last night pleeaassseeee, I want to do go do ziyarat’ and I started crying hehe.
Anyway, I found this place where there were less men and I did wudhu, then my mom said ke she asked the man near the door and he told her to coe at Fajr time then we can do the Hazrat Ali Akber’s side ki ziyarat. So anyways my mom went back to the hotel and I went inside to do ziyarat, after doing ziyarat I was going backto the hotel and I saw this huge group of ladies from our kafela and I asked them why they were sitting here so they told us that Shahnaz Aunty had gone somewhere and told them to wait, and she hadn’t come back yet.When I came back, my mom had gone to Tille Zainabiya without telling me, and even after I’d told her that I wanted to go with her, so I got upset with her and went to sleep before she came and didn’t even talk to her when she came back.
 

I woke up 1/2 hour before Fajr and my mom and me went to the Haram to do Fajr and then we asked the man to let us into the H. Ali Akber side and he said there’s too many people, come at 7. and there was araam se an hour left so we went to Hazrat Abbas’s and we did ziyarat and even went to Tille Zainabiya cause I hadn’t gone there yet to do Ziyarat. At 7 sharp, we were at the Haram and then Alhamduluillah the man let us in and we did the ziyarat real quick!!!
  
            We went back to the hotel to finish our packing. We reached the hotel at about 8:00 and we had to leave by 9:00… there was still an hour sp I took my camera and  clicked a few pics cause I had hardly taken any pics.
    Everyone was ready to leave by 11:00 which I actually not that bad, some people   
    take even longer
So anyways, we left the hotel and made 2 groups, one with Munir Uncle leading it and one with Babban Bhai leading it. My dad and Raza Uncle had to go get some paperwork done. Babban Bhai’s group had already left withour anyone knowing …. They left for the old garage when we were supposed to go to the new one. Anyways our group left for the new one and found the buses and settled down. We waited for the other group to come but they didn’t come for a pretty long time. Till then, even dad and Raza Uncle were back, so they went to look for Babban Bhai’s group.
After a while the other group came, but without dad, Raza Uncle and without Babban Bhai!!! So we sent one of the Iraqi assistants (name was Mustafa) to look for them. When Mustafa left, we found out that Maulana Uncle wasn’t there! So we tried calling Raza Uncle on his phone but he wouldn’t pick it up. We kept trying and trying and finally he picked it up, and he said he had both Maulana Uncle and Babban hai with them, and even Mustufa was there… in another 1/2 hour they finally reached!
Boy, what chaos! sheesh!
We left Kerbala at about 2:00 Pm

On our way to Najaf we stopped at the grave of Hazrat Hur Ibn Riahi, did ziarat, and recited nauhas. And stopped again at the grave of Hazrat Aun and we found out he was actually Aun Ibn e Jaffar not Aun Ibn e Abdullah Bin Jafar.

We finally reached Najaf at around 5:30, almost Maghgrib time. Everybody got their rooms immediately and got ready to leave for the Haram. Sadly, the Haram was far from our hotel (Durr E Najaf) so we had to go by bus.
Everyone as so excited cause they could see the Roza from the bus!!
Then we got off at this point cause buses weren’t allowed to go any further so everyone got off and walked to the Roza. I was taking ze video :]
We stood in the sehen and recited the ziarat… It’s a very long ziyarat though sheesh. It seemed longer because I couldn’t wait to go inside . We had to recite the ziyarat of Prophet Adam, Prophet Nuh and Imam Ali (AS). We went inside and did ziyarat! OMG there were so many people! I couldn’t even get close to the zari, so I backed out and ran in through the people from under their legs and chadors, I finaly got in ad could hold on the zari but my scarf had slipped off and some lady’s elbow was in my face. I held on to the zari and did du’aa for everybody. When I had held on long enough, I left to pray Maghrib an Isha, it was already 10 and the Roza was starting to close so I prayed and the people working there shooed me out. I went out and the ‘dadiaunty’ (what I call Farwa and Ali’s dads great-grandmom- read 6^th september’s entry)  so they were gonna let her go in after everyone left because she was in the wheel-chair, there were many people already to help her so I went back outside. Our group were the last people to leave the shrine.

Got home at about 11:30 and had dinner, and went to sleep

After breakfast, we left the hotel at about 9:00 AM. First we went to Masjid Al Hannanah, the mosque which was actually a church before. Its about the time when the Christian man borrowed Imam Hussain’s head from Yazid’s army and carved a stone which looked the same as Imams head. There is also a small piece of flesh fro his neck which is buried there. So we did the ziyarat and left.
After that we went to the grave of Kumail Ibn Ziyad, The companion of Imam Ali (AS). We always recite Dua E Kumail, but this time we couldn’t because there was less time.The guess where we went!?!?!?
To meet Ayatollah Seestani!!!! :O as soon and I went in, I started crying. They had made the ladies sit in this room. I kept crying and I couldn’t stop hehe. And when we entered the room, I was SO amazed. He was like totally standing out … he was so so so so so noorani and he creates this really peaceful aura around him vow! He had soft features and they were screaming out kindness and greatness! And he spoke in such a low but clear voice. It was getting late so we had to leave and he just greeted the ladies in the beginning from far, but dad told Ayatollah Seestani that I was his daughter so he put his hand on my head and prayed for me, and I started crying!!! I’d got to see him up close! He refused to give me an autograph though. Omg it was so awesome!!! Getting to meet my marja’!
After that we went to the Haram and prayed Zohr and Asr, went back to the hotel and rested for an hour or so.

At 5:00 PM we left again to go to The house of Imam Ali (AS). First we had a majlis in his sitting room, I checked out Imam Hasnain’s library and everyone’s rooms and this aunty commented ’see? They had such small rooms, hardly any place for a bed and nowadays kids make a fuss even we give them a room big enough for all their things!’ after that I went to the well of Imam Ali (AS) to get some water and then we went to the room where Imam Ali was given his ghusl. Everyone was leaving and I was about to room and this lady from our group said she didn’t do ziyarat properly cause she was late and had lost the group, so I gave her a tour and we finished the ziyarat ke prayers and we were late, the group had left a long time ago for Masjid E Kufa. When we left Imam Ali’s house, it had gotten dark and I got sort of scared cause it was all quiet and there was only the two of us and it wasn’t really very safe.

 Anyways so we walked faster and reached Masjid E Kufa. Alhamdulillah, Babban Bhai and Munir Uncle were still standing there and they told us that everyone was inside praying Maghrib and Isha, so both of us rushed inside and did namaaz and I did lots and lots of qaza prayers like at least 20 hehe … cause we had time. After that we had a little majlis and went to all the maqaams where Angel Jibraeel came to the Prophet, or where Prophet Mohammed SAWW did namaz, and where some Prophets sat and rested or did namaz etc. there were atleast 15 maqaams to do ziyarat of, but for the first time we got to do all of them properly o otherwise we would always have to leave early.

Then inside mAsid e Kufa, 3 people are buried:
Hani Ibn Urwa, Muslim Bin Aqeel and Mukhtar Al Saqafi. We did their ziyarats and had a little majlis in each of the places.
Then we came home, had dinner and slept

12th September 2006 - Day 10