PERFORMING THE HAJJ WITH A DJIN

PERFORMING THE HAJJ WITH A DJIN

IT was end of 1980s and our destination for the day was Jabal Thur, one of the significant mountains in history of Islamic spread during the Prophet's time. There is a cave in Jabal Thur where the Prophet and Abu Bakar As-Sidiq took refuge from the Quraish disbelievers.

     As soon as we reached the cave, 40 pilgrims and I got down from our bus. As the leader of the tour group, I took them to that mountain. As soon as we arrived at the foot of the mountain, I regaled the pilgrims on the background story of Jabal Thur.

     Then, I brought them around the mountain. At the end of the tour, we boarded the bus again and before leaving for Arafat, I did a quick head count. There were 40 people everybody was in. I was glad that nobody had been left behind. Our bus finally left Jabal Thur.

     However, when we arrived in Arafat, a woman came to me complaining that her husband was missing. His name was Khamis, a 60-year-old from Johor. I was upset at the fact that she had not come forward sooner to inform us of her husband's disappearance before we left Jabal Thur.

     "Don't worry, we will continue with our tour of Mina, then to Jabal Nur and other places. While the pilgrims are busy with the tour, we'll head back to Jabal Thur again to look for your husband," I reassured her.

     The pilgrims continued with their tour while one of my uncles and I went back to Jabal Thur to look for Khamis. However, despite looking everywhere for him, we still could not locate him. Then, we looked in the areas near Jabal Thur, and again, from afternoon until night, our efforts were in vain. We returned to Mecca. When my father found out about the man's disappearance, he immediately scold me.

     "How could you? Can't you even look after the pilgrims without anybody went missing? It's not like you've never done a tour before," said my father, angrily. My father had been living in Mecca for many years and conducted Hajj and Umra tours.

     "Go and find that missing pilgrim!" said my father.

     How could he be lost? It seemed really strange thinking about it. I had been doing this work for the last five years and never had anything like this happen before. The next day, I went to see his wife.

     "Has Khamis returned yet?"

     "Not yet, Mazlan. I wonder how he is now," his wife replied, her voice quivering will all the crying she had been doing.

     From that day on, I mounted my search for Khamis but to no avail. He could not be found and had not returned at all to his lodging. In short, Khamis was still missing as the Hajj month come to an end.

     But Allah is great. One night, after almost a month into his disappearance and barely a week before the pilgrims were due to return to Malaysia, Khamis suddenly appeared. We were having our dinner after performing 'Isya prayer and were taken by surprise. As soon as she saw her husband, Khamis' wife suddenly hugged him.

     "Where did you go? Where did your disappear to? Have you eaten?" The question poured incessantly from his wife, while sobbing at the same time.

     What had really happened to Khamis?

     Khamis started to regale us with his tale. His story was so peculiar that we didn't know whether to believe him or not. According to Khamis, he was left behind by the group during our tour of the areas around the foot of the mountain as he had chosen to climb the mountain instead. He never reached the peak, just half way. He was so excited that he was not aware that the bus had left Jabal Thur. As soon as he realised it, said Khamis, the group was no longer around.

     "While I was lost, I saw Mazlan looking for me." However, said Khamis, something strange happened to him. Suddenly he found himself unable to move. He was stupefied.

     "I saw you were looking for me. I was standing right in front of you, but strangely enough, you didn't even sense my presence. I asked myself, how can this be happening. Can't you see me standing right in front of you?"

     "Then I shouted out to you but no response, as if you couldn't hear me. I couldn't do anything else as I knew that I was already in another world... the unseen world," said Khamis.

     "So, what happened to you after that?" I asked.

     "After all of you had left, 10 men came out from that cave." Talking in Malay, they introduced themselves to Khamis as djins, one of Allah's creatures. They looked like humans and are Muslims. They were green robes with green turbans. These djins then took Khamis to Thur Cave. And there he remained - eating, sleeping and praying together.

     "That was the first time I ever saw djins."

     According to Khamis, the djins slept on rocks and ate animal bones. However, they served him fruits to eat, especially dates. In the cave, there was a djin who assumed the role of the leader. He was respected by Khamis and other djins.

     Apart from that, there was one other unseen creature called Abdul Wahid. He was not a descendant of the djins, and he had a single role - to look after the surah Al-Ikhlas. He was the expert for it. And djins, who wanted to truly understand that surah, would refer to Abdul Wahid. Throughout his stay with them, Khamis's heart was always calm and happy.

     "Did you perform your Hajj?" I asked.

     "I did. The djins took me," replied Khamis.

     He told me, on 8th Dhu al-Hijjah, the djins took him to Mina to perform the Al-Tarwiyyah as carried out by the Prophet when he performed his Hajj. They spent the night there. The next day, on 9th Dhu al-Hijjah, they walked to Arafat to wukuf.

     "Without realising it, we eventually arrived in Arafat."

     Now that sounded strange. If a normal person were to do it, it would take him four to five hours to walk there. We became even more engrossed listening to his story.

     "As soon as we arrived in Arafat, we did our wuquf in Jabal Rahmah. I saw many djins all of shapes and sizes on top of the mountain and below. There were some, which had many heads. The most was in Aqabah. After wuquf, before sunset, we walked to Muzdalifah," Khamis continued his story.

     As soon as they reached there, Khamis did his prayers, led by a djin by the name of Qurnain. Khamis and all the other djins then spent the night there. From Muzdalifah, they went on to Mina to throw pebbles at the stone pillar of Jamraat. According to Khamis, it was at that point tha the saw the devil with his own eyes.

     "Blood trickled out of him when hit by the pebbles thrown by the pilgrims. The devil had horns, and was really ugly and scary," he continued. There was a lot more that Khamis had told me about the devil's appearance, but I have forgotten them as it has been quite some time.

     "How could you throw? Wasn't it crowded with pilgrims at the time?" I asked.

     "We could penetrate the human bodies," replied Khamis.

     From Mina, Khamis and his new friends, the djins, retuned to Mecca to do the tawaf. They also jostled like the humans, but their way of doing the Tawaf was somewhat different compared to humans. Once that was completed, Khamis and the djins returned to Jabal Thur.

     "Now we have completed the Hajj together," said one of the djins. "Thank you so much Khamis."

     "You're welcome," I replied. Then, I enquired whether I could return to my own world. I miss my family, I told them. My wife must be very sad and be looking for me.

     "All right. May we meet again one day," replied the djin. Later they sent Khamis to the foot of Jabal Thur.

     When he arrived there, a taxi immediately came into view. Khamis got into the taxi and told the driver to take him to Al-Masjid al-Haram. When he reached there, the taxi stopped near a bridge where the pilgrims carried out their Sayee. Khamis got out of the taxi and put his hand into his pocket to get his money out to pay.

     Turning towards the car, Khamis was just about to ask about the fare but the taxi had disappeared!

     "Then, I went into the mosque to pray, do my tawaf as well as other rituals."

     Once that was completed, Khamis thought deeply about how he was going to get back to his lodging. He had forgotten where it was. But Allah is great, and while he was walking aimlessly. Khamis bumped into a somewhat religious looking old man. His face was white, and he had a long white beard and wore a white robe.

     "What's wrong brother? You look like you have a problem," greeted the old man in Malay with Arabic accent. Khamis explained his dilemma to the man.

     "Who are you staying with?"

     "With Abdul Rahman Dom," replied Khamis.

     "Oh, I know him. I live here, and I know all the people who organise the Hajj groups. Let me send you home."

     Khamis followed the man who then took him up some stairs, which led to a door.

     "Open the door," said the man. Khamis did as told. As soon as he opened it, he was so happy when he saw us, his Hajj group, enjoying our dinner. Excitedly, he turned to thank the old man who had sent him there but... he man had disappeared.

     "Are you sure about this?"

     "It's true Mazlan. How could I lie? We are in Mecca!"

     Does Khamis story ring true? That was the question playing on our minds when he told us about his experience. However, after questioning him so many times, we finally convinced that he was telling the truth. The reason? When we asked him about certain places around Jabal Thur, Mecca, Mina and others, his answers were accurate.

     His replies to our questions about djins, their appearance, their food, their practices, also convinced us. His answers were consistent as those told to us by the ulamas about the world of the djins.

     On top of that, Khamis never really had a deep religious knowledge prior to coming to Mecca. However, after his sojourn with the djins, he could answer any questions posed to him about any religious rules and regulations. He could also elaborate everything about the Hajj.

     If there weren't any great teachers, how could he know all those rules and regulations? To say that he had learnt from a religious teacher - a human was not possible - because everybody was so busy with their Hajj.

     His character, which had suddenly transformed to being religious, convinced us even more about his story. Khamis was just a regular guy. But throughout my acquaintance with him, I noticed that he was a noble person, and someone who respected others. He never engaged in gossiping and was pious.

     His background was also quite special. Maybe that was the reason why he was given the opportunity by Allah to undergo such a wondrous experience.

     Khamis was just a kampong guy, selling fruits from his orchard that stretched two to three acres. His house was small and was built on a paddy field. His daily routine basically comprised doing things to earn his livelihood and on religious duties. In the mornings, Khamis would go to his orchard, and when the azan sounded for Zuhr, he would return home to pray. Then, he would help his wife with the housework.

     Khamis was not the sort of person who like hanging out at coffee shops. If not for gatherings, he seldom went to other people's houses. This was probably because he was a rather quiet person. I was told that he detested lying and bad mouthing other people. Another thing, Khamis never owned anyone any money. He went to Mecca with the money he had amassed over six years, selling his produce.

     Apart from the, he also had several other noble traits, which I admire. Firstly, whenever the call to prayer came, Khamis would immediately pray, either at home or with the congregation in the mosque. He would never delay. And his ablution water never dried off his body. If ever it was annulled, he would immediately renew it. On top of that, he gave all fruits which had fallen in his orchard to the mosque and other villagers.

     "Those are extra from which my family and I picked up. It's true that the orchard belongs to me but these fruits do not belong to me alone. They all belong to Allah and I have to distribute them to other people who deserve them," said Khamis.

     As Khamis's story came to an end, I looked at my watch. It was almost time for Fajr!

N / F : FROM "THE BEST COLLECTION OF STORIES FROM MECCA", BY MASTIKA.