We left the hotel in Medinah around 9:00 am. Upon entering the airport we had to pass all of our luggage through the security check. Then I had to go into the women's room for a security check. In the women's security check, a Saudi woman was waiting to check me. Everything checked out okay and then we went to the check-in counter. Zum Zum water is not allowed under the plane with the rest of the luggage so we had to carry it with us on board. As we headed toward the boarding gate and through security, security told us that 10 liter jugs of Zum Zum water are no longer allowed as of right now today. They said we could transfer the 10 liters into as many smaller containers as we wanted to carry on board. I stood outside a closed cafeteria while my husband and various Saudi men helped my husband locate smaller containers and then transfer the water into them. Alhamdulillah, the brother were very helpful. After transferring the water into a good quantity of smaller jugs, we went back to the security point. We noticed that it was okay for others to carry 10 liter jugs of Zum Zum, Subhana-Allah.
We went through the same security check at the boarding gate as we did just a few feet away at the entrance of the airport. Finally, we got through the security point and walked to the gate area and sat in the empty terminal until the plane arrived. As we sat there in the terminal looking out the huge windows watching plans pull up just outside the window, men kept coming and buying big bags of mint leaves. We could smell the wonderful aroma of mint. I wondered what were all these men doing with these HUGE bags of mint leaves? I had my husband go and ask the seller what the mint leaves were being used for. My husband return to tell me that they were using the mint leaves for TEA, Subhana-Allah! Fresh MINT tea, sounds pretty good, Masha-Allah. Finally the plane arrived just outside the window side by side the other planes.
The flight to Jeddah was only an hour and we quickly arrived in Jeddah around Thuhr time. In the airport we each took turns making wudu and then we went downstairs to the prayer area. The prayer areas are only for men, so I prayed just outside the prayer area behind a wall. After prayer my husband went to get us something to eat with the last bit of money that he had left. We were out of money, Masha-Allah.
We sat in the Jeddah airport all day long until 9:00 pm. For each and every prayer, it was beautiful to see everyone drop everything and pray in the prayer area as soon as the athan was called, Masha-Allah! Even the police in the airport were praying, Masha-Allah. During the maghrib prayer the area was so full that the entire hallway was back up with men, Masha-Allah!
Most of the day my husband was having a nice chat across the terminal with another Muslim brother. Hafsah slept occasionally. When Hafsah DID finally sleep, I was so tired myself that I went back to that area where I had been praying and slept right there on the floor. I tried to keep myself as modest as possible using my backpack as my pillow and Hafsah on her child carrier pad just like in Mina. Back home I always wear the traditional black abayah as was the practice of the female companions of the Prophet (SAW). During Hajj I had to wear my black jilbaab because I had to put Hafsah in the child carrier and the abayah didn't allow me to do that with modesty. From all this experience, especially being in the airport right now having to pray and nap in public, I quickly realized that a jilbaab is not sufficient for covering the awrah of a woman. Even though I am covered with black fabric from head to toe, I feel naked and not properly covered in this jilbaab. My abayah gives me great movement and doesn't show any part of my figure no matter how I move. This day in the airport has made me realize that the traditional black abayah is the proper cover for the Muslim woman, Insha-Allah.
At 9:00 pm we went upstairs to check-in for the flight to Pakistan. Again, we went through the same security process as in the Medinah airport. My husband was given a bit of a hard time, but we got that problem resolved and finally went through security check. After the security check there was a Saudi brother giving away Quran and other books to each person that came through security. He gave us a copy of The Noble Quran in the English language translated by Dr. Mohsin Khan. A packet of English books about Islam. An Urdu Quran and an Urdu book packet. We also got a couple of Arabic Qurans, Alhamdulillah. What a great gift, Jazakum Allahu Khairan.
As we sat down I noticed someone eating Pringles! I HAD to have some Pringles so we visited the duty free shop and bought some Pringles. They had 10 liter Zum Zum water jugs available for 30 Riyals. We already had our hands full or we would have bought many more. In Jeddah we noticed that it's permissableto bring ANY size of Zum Zum water with you AND put it down under in the plane with your luggage. In Jeddah they have special check-in stations just for Zum Zum. They bag up the Zum Zum jugs in special air tight bags just in case they leak.
Finally, we boarded the plane. As we sit here in the plane, we were just informed that we have to stop in Riyadh before moving onto Lahore. This we didn't know, Masha-Allah! We just want to go home, Insha-Allah! We are so happy to finally be on the plane, Alhamdulillah. We pray one day that we can return and stay healthy so that we can experience more of Medinah and a longer stay in Makkah, Ameen. Farewell Saudi Arabia.