To Najaf, Samarra, and beyond!!! #Trip2015

Day Three and Four in heaven! 

Four days into Najaf, and I'm already trippin' here and there and everywhere! On the third day of the #Trip2015 and our second day in Najaf, matlab yesterday, we were told to pack up our stuff for a longggg road trip to Samarra and Kazmain! We left our hotel at 4 AM in the morning and it literally took us two whole hours to reach the bus depot (which normally takes not more than 15 minutes but due to the crowd gathered for fajar prayers, it took a lot of smashin' and gashin' to reach the desired spot). That one mile walk was indeed hard. But not as hard as the 6AM-2PM drive from Najaf to Samarra. Try sitting upright for straight EIGHT hours without breakfast, or lunch, or even bathroom breaks!! Yeah, I know. BUT THAT'S NOT EVEN THE SCARY PART.

The borders of Samarra were shut closed and all the zairs had to walk around SIX MILES in to reach Samarra and the Roza of the 10th Imam, Imam Ali Naqqi aleyhsalam; Roza of 11th Imam, Imam Hasan Askari aleyhsalam; Roza of Sister of the 11th Imam, Bibi Hakeema khaatun salamulahalyeh; Roza of the 12th Imam's mother; Bibi Narjis Khatton salamulahaleyh; and the place called "Sardaab-e-imam-e-zamana" which is the place where the 12th imam, Hazrat Imam Mahdi (Akhiruzzamah) aleyhsalam stayed during his ghaibat in this world.

The walk to from the borders of samarra to the roza was pleasant. We came across plenty of amazing sight during the 6-mile walk.

 Like during the vvvvv long walk, I was complaining to my dad that my feet were giving up on me. Just when I was done complaining, I saw a very old man, walking with a walking chair with full enthusiasm. I was so ashamed and immediately regretted what I said and prayed that he must be so tired too. The next thing i know is that an army van stopped and they made him sit inside so that he wouldnt have to walk another 4 more mile to reach the roza. That was truly a blessing!

During the walk, the whole place was heavily guarded by mujahideens, or commonly known as, Iraqi Army. Those people are amazing cause they literally are putting their lives at risk happily to save samarra from being conquered and helping and saving the zairs! These Mujahideens are living proof of their devotion towards their religion.

             

             

Samarra was supposed to be Heaven on earth, but when we reached the actual place, my heart sunk instantly. In the recent years after the War on Iraq, Isis took over half the Iraq and tried to capture Samarra, but only succeeded in destroying the beautiful historic place. The place looked extremely fragile and was epitome of innocence, and yet so peaceful.

 I managed to take some pictures and snapchatted them but the wifi was weak and the snaps and videos were deleted. I did manage to save some pictures of the wall graffiti of samaraa that showed the resilient people of samarra!

 

During the walk back to the border of samarra, we saw plenty of war torn places and war tankers , but also some really good stuff.

                   

                     GOALSSSSS

 

Need this shirt ASAP

                                     

 

On the way back, I was also approached by some mujahideens that wanted me to take their picture! These people literally deserve all the appreciation in this world. Much love and respect for them.

On the way back , I was almost dead cause we were still food deprived and breakfast-less and lunch-less. And so, Help was on its way :') And kehtay haina, bhook mae insaan ko har cheez achi lagti hai. Even lentils, mannn! DAAL FRIKING CHAWALL OMNOMNOMNOM!

After reaching the bus depot, and another 3 hour road trip, we reached Kaazmain and about 2 miles in, we had to walk on foot. My feet gave me the red signals udhar. However, all the walking was worth it. Kaazmain was as beautiful as ever. Kazmain is the Homeplace and the place of Roza of the 7th Imam, Imam Moosa Kazim aleyh salam; and the 9th Imam, Imam Mohammad Taqqi aleyh salam. With the extremely tight security, I managed to take only one picture before i submitted my phone and mobile into Amaanaat (lockers).

Today, We were told we had to leave for Kufa and Masjid-e-Sehla but due to some reasons, the plan was cancelled. So my family decided to go to waadiyusalam, the oldest graveyard of Najaf, where most of the prophets are buried. In the graveyard, We went to the roza of Prophet Hood aleyhsalam and Prophett Sualeh aleyhsalam and the qayam gah or the place where the 6th Imam, Imam Jafar Sadiq aleyhsalam and the 12th Imam Imam Mahdi (Akhiruzzamah) aleyhsalam used to pray during their Najaf visits. And also, the well that Imam himself dug up and after all this time, is still so good!

the place where imam prayed

the well that imam dug up.

       

After the Waadiyussalam trip, we were all exhausted and made our way back to the hotel. We're leaving for Karbala tomorrow InshaAllah and I'm so excited for it already! Till we finally reach karbala for the arbaeen, this is me, signing off!

Digitally Yours'
Wurduh Jaffri.
Najaf, 29th November

THE FIRST TWO DAYS! #Trip2015

The first two days away from home and into the heaven!

if you're reading this blog, you probably must be someone I know from somewhere and you probably must be thinking, "what int he world is wrong with this girl?? why is she writing a blog whilst she is literally at the most amazing place on the face of the earth!?". Well, In my defense, I'd just like to say that Im SOOO TRULY VVV BLESSED TO BE HERE! andddd, i have a slight memory loss problem so I tend to forget the things Im not supposed to forget... Like the feels from the last Najaf-kazmain-Karbala trip! so, here I am, trying to cram the right words to sum up my feels into one blog!

I am writing this as I sit here in my hotel's lobby, trying to get good wifi signals and feeling supa supah supaaaah cold and also, feeling supah supaaahh blessed! We left karachi on the morning of 25th November, the very day after all my teachers decided that they need to suddenly grade us on our google-searchin-copy-pastin abilities and gave us all assignments that obviously I couldn't deal with! Begged my friend to do it for me and left for airport on a good note. during the immigration process for the Dubai flight, Panic crept in and I, being the wreck that I am, made my assignment, ON THE AIRPORT and sent my friend so she could submit it. Bless her though.

The flight to Dubai was HORRENDOUS! Air travel was and never will be my favorite.. then after an hour of lunching, we finally were able to board again to Dubai-to-Basra flight.

MOMMY AND DADDY

The Two hour flight to Basra was much better than the flight to Dubai. Them ears kept popping and My sister puked twice, but I slept through it, and I was quite happy when the LCD was like "Three minute to landing", i mean, HELLS YES, MAN! GROUND, NEED GROUND, LUV TEH GROUND MUAHZZ GROUND MUAAHZZ.

Basra from up the clouds is amazing! I was literally choking on my own excitement. But khair, we had to wait on basra airport from 3-6 pm for a ride. we got the ride and then it was a 6 hour drive from basra to najaf. Obviously, even thinking about the long cold trip made us all scared, but the stops in the middle helped. People of basra are SO AMAZING! They literally open their homes for zaireens and welcome them for prayers, food, and even living at their homes. That is truly one of the best things that humans can do in a war torn poverty filled country, to be honest. Amongst the prayer and bathroom stops, we also stopped for food. There i was, thinking about food and thinking "yaar ab chowmein tou mujhay aik month baad he milengay, so unfortunate".. AND THEN MY MOM AND DAD LITERALLY APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE WITH CHOWMEIN IN THEIR HAND AND WERE LIKE WE DONT KNOW WHY AND HOW WE GOT THESE BUT WE THOUGHT OF YOU WHEN WE SAW IT!! Amazing things happen here, when you pray! My dad was having a hard time finding water for us so in his temper, he told us to sit tight cause "pani moula asmaan se nahi dengay aisay" and the moment he said it, one of the dudes from our group came with cartons and cartons of water bottles! My dad immediately regretted what he said and to our humor, moula did help us! things like these kept happening and we kept on testing things and to our surprise, they all came true. ofcourse, if ima be like moula gimme a million bucks, it wont happen cause things dont work that way. But one thing I know for sure is that if you pray really really hard about things that are legit, and pure, your prayers will never get abandoned.

Anyway moving on, We reached najaf at 12am and phirsay we were left akeley and our luggage was taken by all the men. Now all the ladies who were ditched by the men, walked around NAJAF3hours. in those three hours, we found out that even all the men weren't together. We found our father on the way and together with him and trying to communicate with people (They speak intense arabic and farsi) we found our hotel at 3 AM! and then whoosh sleep abducted me from this world and took me to the world beyond. and during our search for our hotel, we mistakenly entered the roza-e-hazrat Ali a.s and the mistake was a pure bliss! 

Today, 26 November was amazing!! I packed up some rusk (PAPAYYYYYY) in the box that PepsiCo sent me for the campaign #LightingUpLives and that box LITERALLY SAVED MY PAPAYYYS FROM DYING!

I've been snapchatting from @WhatTheWarda since the day we left so that i could show all my cousins and people i know see our every move. If you wanna see the inside of roza-e-moula Ali a.s, add me up. I'll try to take my phone inside the roza tomorrow. :')

After the breakfast, we went to the Roza of ameerulmomineen Hazrat Ali ibne Abi Talib A.s and, again, PERFECTIONNNN! oh the place was overrrrrrcrowded as heaven! it was truly overwhelming to see how many people from all across the globe comes to Iraq to pay tribute of the fallen and pay respect and pray! 

 

We were told we will leave for Samarra and kazmain tomorrow early in the morning at six,Today after isha prayers, we'll have a Dua-e-kumail session and i look forward to it already! we're all exhausted and super excited already to what this #Trip2015 hold for us! Till I explore, pray and try to remember each and everything, This is me, signing off(back to namaz and stuff). 

 

Digitally yours',

Wurduh jaffri! 
Najaf, 26 November!

#7UpWinters Bonfire Anthem!!

Winter is coming! Better yet, WINTER AA NAHI RAHA, WINTER AGAYA HAI! And to greet the winters in Pakistan, 7Up has yet again done something extraordinary! 7Up has launched a brand new song to celebrate the bonfire nights for the chilly winters. This absolutely crazy winter anthem is probably the first time a beverage brand has ever come up with, and let me tell you, 7Up NAILED IT!

The #7UpWinters Bonfire  Anthem is so chic, classy and so darn catchy, you will fall in love with every word of it. Y'all can listen to the song here! A rising star, Aima Baig who is also known for her Summer Wine cover, sung the #7UpWinters bonfire anthem. 

This original song is created and composed EXCLUSIVELY for 7Up, and of course, EXCLUSIVELY to welcome the winter season! Just like summers are incomplete without a thandi thandi bottle of 7Up, WINTERS ARE TOO! 

Nothing is more perfect than a cold winter night, a cozy bonfire, a couple of loved ones, someone with a guitar and everyone laughing and singing jingles, lots and lots of BBQ, and some chilled 7Up to go with it, and that is probably what makes the winter season the most awaited and the most loved season of the young and the old!

To make things even more interesting and exciting, #7UpWinters will be having a number of thrilling competitions and generous giveaways, to celebrate the essence of the beautiful winter season. Just make sure to keep an eye out for #7UpWinters and the 7Up facebookpage! Oh, and don't forget to have LOADS of fun this winter, and make everlasting memories with your loved ones and 7Up!

Till I spend my Winters travelling around the Middle East and making memories of my own, this is me; with a chilled 7Up in my one hand and a chargha in my other; Signing off!

Digitally Yours'
Wurduh Jaffri!