Performing umrah with the children

While being able to perform the Haj or umrah is already a great blessing, taking the whole family along just adds to the completeness of the experience.

Muslim parents who have taken their small and grown-up children with them to Mecca and Madinah describe an experience that is beyond words. Having their children with them gives them peace of mind as they don't have to worry about what's happening at home in Malaysia. However, there are certain “sacrifices” that also need to be made as the adults inevitably end up taking turns keeping an eye on the small children while the others prayed.

Mother of four, Halina Haidar, took her whole family with her for the umrah in 2009. At that time, her youngest was six and her eldest was 17 years old.

Although she had gone before, this was the first umrah for her husband and children. When Halina had gone alone for the umrah prior to that, she had had such a wonderful pilgrimage and really wanted to bring her family along.

Her desire turned to reality when her son said he wanted to go for the umrah and her mother-in-law offered to help subsidise the trip.

Halina's family went with her sister-in-law and husband and the ustaz and his wife. Altogether, there were 10 in their group and they were there for two weeks.

According to Halina, her kids had attended the special preparation class before going to Mecca so they knew what to expect.

First umrah

For entrepreneur Mazniha Mohd Ali Noh, it was the first umrah for her whole family with the exception of her husband who used to live in Cairo, Egypt. The couple went with his parents, her parents, their helper and the four kids.

They went for the umrah in May last year and their kids were aged two to 16. Jasmine was 16, Dahlia, 15, Lily, four, and Johan, two.

“It was amazing. It was our first time going for the umrah and we didn't know what to expect. My husband had been before with his family because they used to live in Cairo, Egypt, when he was little,” she explains.

Mazniha was not nursing at the time as she had weaned Johan a few months earlier because she was going abroad for a business trip.

She prepared the children by bringing them all along for the classes organised by the Lembaga Tabung Haji.

“That is how I prepared not only the children, but myself, too. In fact, we even took Lily and Johan for the classes. People always say children are too young to understand but you'll be surprised (at what they absorb). We took them along for the classes, not so much for them to understand what we would be doing, but more for them to know that we were going to Mecca and they'd see a lot of people and what they would look like and what we would be doing.

“Although we didn't know what to expect, everything turned out well. We went for prayers five times a day and we had to go to the mosque at 3am in order to have a good place to pray. For the morning prayers, we just picked up the two small ones, carried them and put them next to us and we prayed while they slept. Then we carried them back to the hotel.

“As for the last prayers, sometimes we stayed on longer at the mosque and if they were sleepy, they just lay down and slept. Alhamdulillah they were easy,” she says.

Returning to Mecca

Kindergarten and daycare principal Hajjah Norizan Haji Razali took just half her family with her for the umrah in 2002. She left two of her six children in Malaysia – one was a bit too playful and the other needed to be close to a toilet then. They were three and five years old.

“We felt guilty when the family was not together,” explains Norizan.

She adds that she constantly called home to check on her children and how they were coping without the rest of the family.

On that pilgrimage, Norizan found it quite stressful as the youngest then was just two years old and the eldest was 12.

“I was worried a bit then and bought a leash to tie the youngest one to me. I was worried about losing him.

“For that umrah we were there about 14 days but then they were still kids and it was just like a tour for them,” she says.

This year, she had the intention of performing the umrah during the holy month of Ramadan. In fact, Norizan had wanted to go alone.

However, her husband was concerned about the family celebrating Hari Raya Aidil Fitri without her, so Norizan was encouraged to cancel her trip.

Because her desire to go was so strong, Norizan found a way to take her whole family with her. This time, she managed to take all her kids – aged 11 to 21 years.