A Visit to the Holy Lands
We finally crossed the border at 4:30 am in the morning and entered in to the occupied lands.I was totally exhausted and fell asleep while driving from the boarder post. We were brought to a certain point when we were told to exit the bus. With our bags in our hands we enter the old city from the Damascas Gate.
Entering the old city was like turning back the pages of history. The world has modernised and it is as thou this area has been captured in a timeless vacuum. After we settled in to the Hashimi Hotel we had a short nap after Fajr till 9, then we took a walk down to the Haram for my first Ziyaraah. It was amazing walking through the old city and making our way in to the Al Aqsa compound. We passed the guards and entered into the compound.
After entering the compound I tried to figure out where the main Aqsa Masjid was. It is a bit confusing as there are three different Masjids in the compound. It was a splendid day in Jerusalem with the tempreture around 34 degrees. With the sun beating down on our heads we eventually reached the Masjid.
We entered the Masjid with flashes going through my mind of the various Ambiya Alaihi Salaam that walked on this very area. We made our way to the front of this huge Masjid that has a red carpet and filled with. Massive brick pillars. I made two rakaats Tahiyatul Masjid and made dua for all those that request for dua.
We then proceed to the Dome of the rock Masjid and made two rakaats there. It is used mostly by the women during the month of Ramdhab. We then returned to the hotel to join with the group for the days Ziyaraats.
We first left Jerusalem to the West bank suburb of Izariya. Here we visited an orphanages for 86 boys. The manager was an orphan himself and he is now running the place. We gave out hampers, interacted with the children and spent individual time with the children. We were told that children were brought to the orphanage for many different reasons. Sometimes they had lost one or both their parents or as a result of social problems or marital problems and sometimes simply because their parents are unknown. After that, we visited a home for the disable. They catered specifically for those with retardation of up to 70 percent.
I saw the apartheid wall for the first while we were traveling to Hebron. It is huge and really intermediating. It is kilometres in length and surrounds the entire West Bank.
The Palestinians have been very warm and always smiling and welcoming us. The warmth they have displayed has captured our hearts and within my first few hours of being in Palestine I felt a deep connection with them.
Yusuf Moosagie
Al Quds- Jerusalem
8th August 2012