Farewell Karbala, Hello Iran! #Trip2015

I cant really think of a fancy way to start this blog post, except, stating the major fact about this arbaeen in karbala. Too. Many. People.
About 30 million people visited Karbala this arbaeen (chehlum of Imam Hussain eleyhsalam and his family and tribe). Too many people obviously means difficulties in finding good spots to pray namaz, very very hard to do actual ziaraats of all the maqaams and the shrine and vvvvvvv hard to actually breath. And yet. Everything was so amazing and perfect and I feel super duper blessed.

With the decrease in temperature and increase in our anxieties to actually touch the zari-e-Imam Hussain eleyhsalam, we totally lost track of time. What started from the third day in Karbala a.k.a heaven on earth (last blog update), quickly turned to fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh day in Karbala.

Our hotel wass nice. Cozy. Comfy. But not a 5star hotel (we paid for one and we got none. yolo)

the crazy thing about Noor-ul-Ameer hotel is that it was owned by this man called Abu Haider, who was very very very sweet.. I think he was. I mean, I never actually understood his arabi. I hope he was saying good things to us all those times. ._.

I mean look at him.

One day before arbaeen, we tried very hard to get inside the Shrine of Imam Hussain eleyhsalam and failed miserably, because TOO MANY PEOPLE OMGGGGGGGEEEEZZZ! And so, we went to the Shrine of Hazrat Abbas eleyhsalam, who was the brother of Imam Hussain eleyhsalam. His shrine is also under construction but due to the underground level, we were able to do ziarat again.

When we got back to our hotel, we were told by our cousins back in Pakistan that a night before arbaeen, a couple of Pakistani Nohakhuaans will assemble near Khaimahgah and will have a full night azadari session. I was thrilled when I heard about it because during all my journey I just came across only ONE Pakistani Nohakhuaan group who were passing by our hotel whilst reciting nohas, (and who also were in our travel group when I came to Karbala back in 2012.They were extremely lovely people and had magical voices.) Khair at night around 11 or 12 I was going all shades of crazy and wanted to go but erryone at our hotel room were fast asleep. But eventually I ended up waking my mom up and we went to khaimagah of the martyrs of Karbala. We didn't find any Nohakhuaans there, However, we did end up finding a HUGE Pakistani kafla right outside khaimahgah and we joined them.

They were all from Dubai and Europe and were vvvv organized. We stayed there for a while but had to leave since we had to wake up early the next day. On our way home, Ammi and I decided to do a little sightseeing ourselves. We went to Tila-e-Zainabya, which was the spot or a short stubby mountain where Hazrat Zainab eleyhsalam, the sister of Imam Hussain eleysalam saw everyone of her family and tribe getting slaughtered in the battle of Karbala.

After wards, we went straight ahead to our hotel. Luckily our hotel was located at a place where most of the historical sites were present. And one of the gates of Imam Hussain eleysalam's Shrine which was called Sidratul muntaha lead STRAIGHT to our hotel and all the sites.

And so, we passed by Maqam-e-Ali Asghar eleyhsalam, The place where the infant son of Hazrat Imam Hussain aleyhsalam was shot an arrow straight into the infant's neck, which also pierced through the toddler and straight into Hazrat Imam Hussain eleysalam's arm. The Place is very tiny and surrounded by religious souvenir shops and a cot (jhoola) is installed there to remember the little martyr and the pain and suffering of a father that saw his infant die in his own arms, and saw almost EVERY MEN of his tribe getting martyred.

After the ziarat, we went straight back to our hotel as my feet were killing me (fat people problems) and so, the day ended with me in my comfy comfy hotel's bed. On the day of Arbaeen, we waited till zuhar prayers so we won't have to see a whole lot of people outside on the street for prayers and around 12:30, we were off to khaimagah since we heard there'll be a major Majlis at a Pakistani muakkab (big big tents). When we left the hotel, we were total eight people. But because it was the day of arbaeen, EVERYONE FROM EVERY COUNTRY WAS OUT ON THE STREET IN GROUPS IN A HUGEEEE NEVER ENDING LINE. On the day of arbaeen, Everyone is supposed to go inside the shrine of Imam Hussain eleysalam and Hazrat Abbass eleysalam to pay their respects for the fallen of Battle of Karbala. When we saw the huge crowd, we instantly knew we werent going to find the Pakistani muakkab, and so, after circling the entire place, we found Nada, NOTHING. Tired and disappointed we headed back to our hotel to pray and luckily, we found the Group of Pakistani zairs that instantly caught our eye.

Oh and I also found this Pakistani beauty!

We stayed with the paki gang for some time and left becasue we were hungry and wayyyyyy too tired. On our way back, we saw a line, and lines only mean something totally mysterious is waiting and so, we joined the very very short line. Turns out, on the day of arbaeen, the people of karbala gathers and make a hugeeeee Shwarma for lunch for the bhookay zaaireens (like us).

These people were so organized and clean, every cook wore a cap, a vest, a ,mask, and gloves to avoid any sort of contamination. In that line, we first received  a 7up, then a person would take out a bun from a packet and pass it to the other. Then the other person would shouffle the cooked chicken in a pan and stuff it in the bun. Then the other person would wrap it instantly with a butter paper, and give it to you with a smile on his face that'll melt you. The next person would give you a ketchup sachet (SCOREEEE). Because we all got like a foot long sandwiches now, we went to the hotel ASAP and gobbled it all up, and eventually prayed and slept and woke up the next day.

We tried our luck the next day at the shrine of Imam Hussain eleyhsalam and still no luck found our way (couldn't make it inside because of the crowd). This was the day when our group leader was to take us detailed sight seeing with the whole 90-people ka kafla. And we saw Maqam-e-Ali Akbar eleyhsalam, where the young son of Imam Hussain eleyhsalam was martyred.

Then we went to the Masjid where the 12th and the current Imam, Imam Mehdi (Akhiruzzamah) eleyhsalam, prayed during his ghaibat.

And we also saw the garden that 6th Imam, Imam Jaffer Sadiq eleysalam planted himself in karbala. That garden used to be a big lush garden back in the days. But because in all them years, zaairs grazed the garden (literally took leaves with them), The Iraqi government preserved a small area of it with a zari so the people could see it.

Lines here, lines there, lines everywhere. And that one scout who whips you with the fluffy dagger of annoyance (feathers wala duster) when you take too long to see the place.

After that I was toooooooo tired because of the weird detour of our kafla and hence I decided to ditch everyone and go back to the hotel. I didn't realize it was our last day in Karbala or I would have gone to the Roza again to try my luck because that following night, my sister went there and after waiting and getting smushed in a line for 3 hours, she finally made it inside! And even my mom was with her and she couldn't make it. And so we swore to visit karbala again.

The following morning (totally unaware that we were leaving the same day, on 5th december, we were woken up by the kafla leader telling us that we were leaving Karbala in an hour to Kufa and Masjid-e-Sehla. Confused and annoyed, we hurried ourselves up and started packing. They told us we would be leaving right after 12 and zuhr prayers. We all got packed and tayyar and stuff.... and everything slowed down. Then the lunch arrived and daal chawals were amazeballs.

Around 4 PM, The kafla leader came back with the rest of the kafla that was in a separate bungalow, and we all left the hotel and bid Abu Haider Farewell.

On the way towards the bus depot, we glanced at both the shrine one last time and promised ourselves that this will definitely NOT be the LAST TIME we ever see such beauty.

We also got to see our hotel from the previous 2012 trip again and boy, was it nostalgic or whattt!

After getting into the bus and taking forever, we left Karbala at about 7 PM. At night, heading straight to Masjid-e-Sehla. Around 9 PM ish, we reached Masjid-e-Sehla, where many of the prophets and Imams used to pray and live in the city of Kufa. After praying lot and lots of namaz, we were on our way to Masjid-e-Kufa, The residence of Hazrat Ali eleyhsalam, and the shrine of Hazrat Meesum-e-Tammar eleyhsalam.  (One of the sahabi of Hazrat ali eleyhsalam).

Unfortunately when we reached there (all these places are in foot ranges so we walked) around 11 ish, It was all closed down because it was too late..

Outside the residence of Hazrat Ali eleysalam.

Outside Masjid-e-Kufa, which is probably the most important and religiously historical masjid in our history.

After getting off early (because everything was closed off), we went back to the bus depot to see that our bus driver took the whole bus with him because he decided to have dinner whilst we all were hungry as hell. But as usual, our karwan don't care about our hunger while we are on road trips. Soon (like after an hour) we boarded on the bus again after waiting in the cold, dark night, and started the longggggg journey from Kufa to Mehran border (Iran's entrance for the by-road travellers). Around 5:30 Am, in the vvvv cold night, the bus left us witha shit load of luggage on the road side and we were, again, like WHA???? We had to walk around 3-4 miles into the border with so much luggage that i think that my hands shoulders died a little from the weight of this laptop and my stuff. Because we were a day early, our bus didnt come and so we had to walk from where the bus left us to the immigration and visa clearance from 5:30 AM to 7AM and we had to wait ON THE ROAD, AGAIN, with our luggage, in the freezing cold, from 7AM to 1 PM so we could find a new bus. Yes, I think now it's safe to say that we chose probably the most unorganized noob kaafla on the face of this planet.  
Now on the Mehran border, when we boarded a bus, things changed, atleast for me. Things changes, as in, the tempertature dropped to loww 2 degrees and at times minus four degrees. It snowed all the way from Mehran to Qum and we saw the most amazing views of the mountains along the way. The journey from mehran to Qum was 746 KM which took us almost 15 hours.

All along the way, we were SO SO SO HUNGRY BECAUSE NO LAST NIGHTS DINNER, NO BREAKFAST, NO LUNCH. We stopped on the way at a hotel, everyone got out. And the kafla leader decided it was too expensive and so we were on road again, hungry.

Then at around 9 PM, we stopped again at a hotel and the kafla leader didnt pay for anyones food and everyone had to buy their own food. What a waste of Money, man... BUT! WHEN WE MADE IT IN QUM AT 5 AM THE FOLLOWING NIGHT, EVERYTHING WAS TOTS WORTH IT!!! Our Hotel is so amazing here. The windows open up straight to the Roza of Bibi Fatima Kubra eleyhsalam, also known as Bibi Masooma-e-Qum, who was the youngest sister of the 8th Imam, Imam Ali Raza eleysalam, and daughter of the 7th Imam, Imam Moosa Kazim eleysalam.

We took our time to rest up and play with snow outside our hotel, and Walked to the shrine in the vvvv chilly weather to pray zuhr and asar prayers. And stayed there for Maghribeen.

The outside view

The inside view

The door to her grave

 the burial place

 

The mesmerizing chandelier inside

The entrance and exit

After that, I think I was the only one who was a little paralyzed from all the snow on our way back to the hotel. Till we all visit Masjid-e-Jamkaraan tomorrow early in the morning inshaAllah and try to survive the snow and cold, this is me, getting cozy in this heater and signing off!

Digitally Frozen,
Wurduh Jaffri.
Qum, Iran, 7th December.