Interesting stories from Hajj 2008?

[AmatullahxXx]

Asalamualaykum.ALLAHUAKBAR! I seriously envy Abu_abdurahman.You are soo lucky to have met and benefited from all the akabirin. Please make dua for me.a hajis dua is accepted till 40 days.ALHAMDULILAH with your duas from all at SF i have started daaiyah course madrasah with the apaa that keepthegazedown recommended.i'm going on fine.my iman going stronger with Allah's fadhl.so please remember me in ur duas.WASSALAM.

[asifjamal]

what does that mean bro asif

Naseehat = advice
Dawat = Invite (invitation to others for complete Deen)
Aur = and
Ibadat = Pray,worship

He advised me "Invite (others towards complete deen) and worship"

-Is there any one who knows urdu and english better than me plz translate it correctly "Dawat aur Ibadat karte rahiye"

[KeepTheGazeDown]

"Dawat aur Ibadat karte rahiye"

Carry on (be steadfast) doing dawah and worship.

[bidder basher]

Salam

Can you please tell me more about u meeting sheikh yunus, he is my sheikh.

Also Maulana Talha slapping people without beards?? I red that as our akabir get older the dislike for non beards grow too, Maulana Madani used to be very displeased with non bearded guys too.

i only met him just one day before hajj in makkah. he was on wheel chair. his health seemed to be alot better since he came to london where he was to ill to deliver his bayaan. my urdu not being to goodi couldnt benefit much from him so i just sat in his company and asked him to make dua for me


yes shaikh talha is very strict with the beard as was hazrat madani (ra) who iv heard didnt even give or reply the salaam of the beardless. his father and grand father were also very strict regarding the beard. the father of shaikhul hadeeth (ra) didnt even allow his son to speak and befriend men without beards. the late mufti rasheed ludhvani (ra) even did a talk about shavin the beard and said the reason most people give are close to if not kufr

[hmg]

salamz,
its the effort and importance shown by our elders such as shayke younis, shayke talha that me and you have beards on our faces today,
and generally our deobandi halqa have kept this beutiful sunnat alive today,
make duaa for us students at the academy

[KeepTheGazeDown]

There is someone who is doing a Phd in hadith in saudi who goes to Sheikh Yunus each time he is in saudi. Sheikh Yunus has been giving this dars for sometime and I heard they have gone through quite abit of Bukhari.

[Jalal Attari Qadri]

Can someone share Brother Junaid Jamshed's 2008 Hajj Bayan?

Jazak Allah Khair in Advance!

[AmatullahxXx]

Asalams.just replying 2 someone who wanted to know where to meet tablighi buzrugs.my dad says that he always meets them by the part nearer to the green carpet in Musjide nabawi.after u cross the open area with umbrellas.(hope you understand,INSHALLAH.) many people have met molana tariq jamil d.b on the top floor making tawaf in the haram sharif.
FYI these ulama dont like many people meeting them as saudi officials object large crowds that form.duamakhas khas yaad.

[the-cbh]

National Hajj 2008 Survey Launched

Your views Count! Don't delay - visit www.the-cbh.org.uk and fill in your feedback!

The Council of British Hajis has launched an online survey to gather information and feedback from those who recently went for Hajj.
We want to hear about your experience(good or bad) from travel to tour operators to health in general. The information will help SHAPE the future of Hajj and Umrah travel. Deadline for submission is 31st March 2009. Don’t delay... Please goto http://www.the-cbh.org.uk and click on the link to Hajj survey 2008.



We will publish the results of our survey online. You are encouraged to pass this information onto your contacts and get them to fill in the survey, the more feedback the better the results.


Volunteers
We are also looking for local volunteers to assist us in our work, please contact us at: info@the-cbh.org.uk (writie Volunteer in the email Subject) and one of our administrators will contact you.

=======
The Council of British Hajis is an NGO working for the welfare of British Pilgrims at grass roots and Hajj and Umrah tour operators, bringing about self governance and a hassle free travel experience for all.

Volunteer for us email: info@the-cbh.org.uk

[The Doctor]

Dear Brothers, Sisters and fellow travellers to Saudi Arabia,
I have a very interesting story for others to learn from, but I'm afraid it's from 2007.
Firstly, I'd like to say thanks to the Sunni Forum for providing me with a platform from which other unsuspecting travellers can learn from! Without forums such as this one, travellers cannot find out for themselves about accurate details regarding a service, and as we found out, just because a company claims to be professional from the information it provides you through its website or shop window, doesn't mean that it is.

This post is a result of an extremely bad experience involving a company called British Hajj and Umrah Services- previously based in Blackburn and now relocated near Preston. If you visit the website at www.hajis.co.uk, you'll conveniently find no postal address.
On the exterior, they seem a reputable company- good website, comes up near the top of most searches for Hajj and Umrah Packages- they've paid well for their advertising. However, as we discovered, there was nothing professional about the advice or service that this company provided- not just for us, but countless other families.

Copy the link below to read about the 30 welsh pilgrims that were stranded in Saudi as a result of the business owner, Shabbir Kothia's errors, and his assistant 'Brother Ibrahim', or Google '30 welsh pilgrims stranded in Mecca' I think there were about 250 stranded altogether, possibly from other parts of the UK, but I can't find the original link for that story

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk...name_page.html


Between their company and a London-based company called Al-Ehsan, run by a Dr Zuhair Al-Batat, a catalogue of serious errors were made, resulting in a traumatising experience, which my family and I will never forget.

As a result of these errors, my husband and 4 children aged between 8-13- all fasting were left stranded at Jordan Airport during the last few days of Ramadan. This was to be the children's first experience of Saudi- They never made it to Saudi. Apparently, the visa's set up by Shabbir through Al-Ehsan expired 24 hrs prior to my husband's arrival in Jordan. This was ordained for us. I was already in Saudi, having gone early to complete a placement in a Jeddah Hospital as a trainee doctor, and had to arrange a flight back to Jordan, alone on the 26th day of Ramadan- on a day where 3.5 million pilgrims were coming into Makkah for the 27th holiest night of Ramadan.

When questioned about the visas prior to departure, we were advised that the visas would still be valid, as the Saudi's were aware of late applications. We were first timers at arranging this so assumed that this was the norm. The point of this posting is so that others do not make the same mistakes that we have made. Double check everything with the foreign office, and other agencies- never trust the word of some of these so called agents working 'for the cause of Allah'. The personal statement on their website makes me feel sick at the thought of all the grief that companies such as British Hajj and Umrah services and Al-Ehsan put countless families through year in year out.

It is an experience that scarred us, and one that will unfortunately happen time and time again if nothing is done about it. I have waited to post this thread as we were waiting to see if there would be a case against these people, but because of the way that they work- by bouncing the blame on each other and stating that we had not booked packages from them- (everything was arranged by them, but separately- not as a package) we lost out in the end.

There is very little regulation for these rogue agents, and if the only way for more people to be aware would be through forums such as this, then so be it. The 30 Welsh Pilgrims fought their case as far as I'm aware, all the way to the House of Lords, when they were advised that the legal costs would surmount any possible refund of the money they were so unfairly cheated out of, and that the rogue agents would file for bankruptcy- which was exactly what happened, allowing them to set up elsewhere, under a new location, and providing them with the means to do the same thing again to some other unsuspecting, trusting family

For every period of adversity I believe there is a reason, and respite to follow. After arriving in Jordan, we tried to make best of the situation, and with a great deal of will and determination (at our own added expense), we crossed the border and visited the Al-Aqsa mosque in Palestine during the last two days of Ramadan.

Please make sure you get everything in writing, do not be tempted to give in to 'cash requests' by any agent- we insisted on all monies being paid by cheque/ credit card, especially when we were told that paying by cash would mean no added cost of VAT to us. That shouldn't be something even being entertained by a reputable agent. Insist on a 'package being put together in writing, even if you have to tailor make it like we did, and book everything separately. These companies pass the various parts of the package on to other agents, and work on commission- whilst you pay for the extra cost.

We need to be more proactive in ensuring rogue companies are more and more in the public eye and under scrutiny, to ensure that this kind of cheating is not allowed to happen to pilgrims- especially in light of the current financial climate, making it even harder for people to save for that one journey of a life time. If even one person is saved from an experience like the one that we've had, it will have been worth sitting down and taking the time to share our story with everyone.


Kind regards, and God Bless,

The Doctor