Hajj 2011: For some women, preparing for the pilgrimage took an entire year

Stocking up on groceries, managing the work front and even physical exercise were all essential.

KARACHI:

Farzana Khan has been preparing for her second Hajj all year. The 48-year-old last performed the holy journey to Makkah and Madina in 2004. This year, she is one of 42,000 people from Karachi who are scheduled to perform the pilgrimage. Countrywide, the number of to-be Hajis is 179,625, according to the director for the Hajj programme in Karachi, Sattar Samtio.

“I am so lucky that Allah has called me again to His house,” she told The Express Tribune just hours before her flight to Saudi Arabia last week. But luck had nothing to do with her preparations before she set off with her sister and three other female cousins.

“From saving up money, to getting my work organised, and the house in order to function smoothly without me for a month, was quite a challenge,” she said. “But because I had started planning early in the year, and then more meticulously after the summer, I was all set to go a week in advance!”

On the work front, Khan who is a senior marketing manager at a multi-national company, had to leave behind specific instructions for an upcoming product launch.

For the regular household work not to be disrupted and her husband and two sons to be least inconvenienced, she stocked up the fridge and pantry with groceries, meat and poultry among other essentials to last the month she would be away. “I even arranged for the laundry to be picked and dropped from the house!” she said, clearly satisfied with her arrangements.

But this was all taking care of worldly affairs. Khan’s spiritual and physical preparations also took time and dedication. “I became more regular and regimented with my prayers,” she said. “I would recite the Holy Quran for an hour every day and practice my qirat with a Quran teacher.”

To meet the financial obligations prior to Hajj she said, “I started clearing of all my dues, debts and bills, including a whopping credit card statement,” she said, seemingly delighted at having achieved the feat.

Physical energy and stamina is of crucial importance on the strenuous journey. For this Khan began brisk walking at least 40 minutes a day, dedicated 30 minutes to Pilates every alternate day and kept on a strict diet which would meet all her nutritional requirements for the day. “We were advised by the private agency [responsible for their Hajj arrangements] to start walking in the shoes or slippers we would be wearing during Hajj at least a month to 45 days prior to the pilgrimage.”

Some people choose to watch videos of Hajj to get a feel of being near the House of God. “Different people have different ways in which they prepare themselves,” said Yusra Tahir, who is also in the same Hajj group as Khan. Besides following nearly the same spiritual and physical regiment as Khan, Tahir said she would like to meditate for an hour everyday trying to “cleanse her soul.”

“Sometimes people consciously or unconsciously complain about the most insignificant things or indulge in back-biting,” she said. “I have made a conscious effort to stay clear of all that this year and hope I can continue to do so for the rest of my time on this Earth.”

This will be 55-year-old Tahir’s first Hajj. “People say you should always perform Hajj in your youth,” Tahir said, adding “Old age brings with it many health complications but when I got an opportunity this year I decided I had to grab it with both hands!”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2011.