My eyes lit up and felt a warmness in my heart when I saw the males dressed in their Ihrams, the two unstitched white sheets wrapped around them at the gate for the flight from Abu Dhabi to Jeddah.

This was really happening, we had showered and got into our Ihram attire followed by 2 rakat nafl Ihram prayers before the flight. Our intention for Umrah was made as soon as the captain announced the Meeqaat area was soon coming up which now meant we were officially in the state of Ihram, the Talbiya Labbayk started, “Here I am! O Allah! Here I am your service” , the first of many Labbayk to be softly repeated throughout this trip.

The state of Ihram encompasses many things apart from just our physical appearance.

Our conscious effort to not raise our voices, disagreements or harsh words between us, no malice talk or gossip.

This proved testing especially having been awake travelling for almost 24 hours with very short intermittent naps. I could see some frustration building up, patience being tested at points before we even got to Jeddah.

The logistics with dealing with millions of people attending during Hajj has led to a specific terminal which deals with the mass influx of pilgrims.

The necessary passport control and baggage control measures was efficiently done within an hour.

I have been told Jeddah waiting times could vary between 5 to even 9 hours this was dependent on the many international groups awaiting for clearance into Saudi Arabia. From landing in Jeddah to arriving at our Aziziya hotel neighbourhood in Mecca took 10 hours.

The coach journey was segregated with the females in the back part of the coach and the males at the front. I was on the most important Islamic trip of my life and I appreciated the adoption of many Islamic principles throughout this trip. We, ladies bonded in the back over free gifts of Islamic literature, water, dates and snack packs courtesy of Saudi government and companies.

The over grateful welcoming Pakistani and Indian men served us at the transport stop terminals and tried to accommodate us as best as they could with constant reminders that we were Allah (SWT) guests and the Almighty had called us all on this special journey.

Touching moments were causing me to choke with tears welling up in my eyes.

I had travelled to many countries and had been welcomed with Masai dances, Nepalese red bindi dots and flower garlands, Tanzanian mountain guides giving us a sing and dance spectacle but this felt different.

The Hajj Helpers expected nothing from us, just wanted to be part of my journey by assisting us in any way they could just to please the Almighty Allah SWT.

Our mutual faith spoke silently without much words and the smiling sentiments resonated through me and the rest of the group. The excitement was brewing.

At 3.30am a group of black and white sleep deprived zombies walked in to the hotel lobby.

All of us were in desperate need of a few hours of sleep in between Fajar and breakfast.

At 9am refreshed we left the hotel and coincided with our partner group “five star Umrah”, our relatives of 3 girls, 18, 30 and 34, one boy aged 21 and Auntie had reached the hotel much sooner than us and had successfully embarked on their Umrah in the early hours.

They physically looked exhausted but their eyes were full of sparkle and joy, a great excitement suddenly enthused as their words of wisdom and practical advice were given for our first encounter of the Kaaba during our congratulatory hugs.

Quickly meandering through the very busy roads of Mecca leading to the Great Mosque Al Haram shareef, we were shoulder to shoulder with an array of International contingencies, Indonesian, Kazakhastanians, Malaysians etc.

Some groups attire were kitted with bright coloured sashes whilst others wore emblems of their nationalities or tour groups.

This was the best world party ever, a spiritual world Olympics all showing their allegiance as servants to our one and only Creator.

The plaza we walked into had the overbearing Hilton Clock tower on our left and faced The Great mosque. Thousands were heading in the same direction into one of the many gates of the mosque at the same time.Overcrowded bottlenecks entrances or upper floor viewing points of the Ka’aba were filled with excited pilgrims, officials present to readily usher you on.

As I tiptoed and edged towards the standing crowds on the first floor, I saw the top part of the Ka’aba. My duas and prayers I had in my head were paused to take in the majestic flow of moving pilgrims.

Our guide then ushered us to make tawaf, the circumbulation of the Kaaba on the upper floor was the safest option for my parents. In 40 degrees heat, the sweat poured off us.

My brother, Javid took care of my father and I held my mother amongst the masses of crying, chanting, shoving, over excited one directional homage.

The most heartfelt moments were hearing my father repeat after Javid’s Quran recitation.

This, I am learning is a common fact with many Asian parents who were not fortunate to have an Islamic education.

In the late 60’s, my father was one of many thousands who economically emigrated to the UK from Pakistan straight into the labour market at a young age of 16.

It was endless work for the next 38 years and a couple of failed attempts at learning the Quran over a few hours a week.

In hindsight, it must have been truly humbling to wish to learn Arabic by attending classes with his 5 year old daughter when he was in his 30’s.

Always a proud man, his short lived Arabic attempts were probably halted with embarrassment or work schedules.

I truly appreciated them funding our Islamic education between the age of 5 and 12 years old for 6 children. During Tawaf I appreciated the difficult times my parents must have gone through in the late 70’s and 80’s but still focused on our Islamic knowledge. The Tawaf was followed by drinking Zam Zam water, two rakat nafl prayers.

The next ritual was walking Safa and Marwa hills re enacting Hajar (as) searching for water for her young son Ishmael.

Again the crowds were equally enthusiastic with the ritual. The boys hurried up their pace under the green light and unsurprisingly I lost them amidst the immense crowds.

We did not meet up for a good 4 hours until leaving Makkah.

After snipping off an inch of hair, I felt elated that we had successfully completed our first Umrah and hopefully it will be the first of many.