Muslim Views . June 201730

‘I SPENT all my money, Doc,’ hesaid.

We were in Madinah and Hajjwas still nearly a month away. Yet,he did not appear sad at all. Infact, he appeared unfazed, evenjovial. He recounted how he gotcarried away with buying presentsfor all and sundry with workingon some sort of budget completelythrown out amongst the mazesand alleys of the souks.

First, there were the compul-sory gifts for the immediate familyand friends who had worked tire-lessly to entertain and feed thestreams of well-wishers just beforetheir departure to Saudi Arabia.There was never a shortage ofsavouries, food and beverages onthe tables as some watchful eyesomehow immediately replenishedwhatever had been consumed.

Those people were uppermostin his mind when he went on hisfrenzied buying binge and he,within a few days, had ticked offall the names of those for whomhe had wanted to buy gifts.

He had also ticked off namesthat had not been there in the firstplace. Then, of course, there werethe irresistible bargains that hethought he would never again belucky enough to encounter – untilhe entered the store next door, thatis!

He was sheepishly grinningwhen he recounted his experi-ences. I have witnessed this manytimes before and was not certainwhat to expect next. Sometimes, itwas a prelude to prudent behav-iour, sometimes, it led to a dis-guised demand for dealing out abit of charity.

There were cases where a pil-grim in such a situation, either dueto pride, embarrassment or uncer-tainty, would suffer from severe

hunger pangs amidst mountains ofwaste food excess. He admittedthough that he had been influ-enced by the advice he was givenby previous hujjaaj who had veryreadily given their expert advice.

‘Buy everything in Madinah asit is cheaper, of better quality andavailable in all shapes and sizes,’was a common theme of what hewas told.

‘And I obliged without keepingcount of the number of rands Ihad left. Atleast, I have nomore items topurchase, I havedone all I wantto. In any case, Ican’t, even if Iwanted to!’ headded.

‘At least youwon’t have toworry aboutfood,’ I replied,and we talkedabout the Hajjpackages thatincluded mostmeals in theprice.

‘You knowDoc, I only re-alised how lucky I am yesterday.Every evening I would go shop-ping in Madinah for the past fewdays but last night, because I hadno money, I just went to theProphet’s Mosque. Yes, it was stillrelatively busy but it was busy inan unhindered way.

‘It was so peaceful, so sereneand it made me realise the value ofdetaching myself from the materialworld. Of course, I want to re-ward all those who assisted me be-fore I undertook this journey butnow I am not sure whether cloth-ing or some other souvenir can do

justice to my feelings of apprecia-tion.

‘I would rather want to tellthem how supremely blessed I feltjust being close to my belovedProphet (SAW) and the wonderfultranquillity of Madinah,’ he con-fessed.

‘Well, you bought the presents,so now you can do both!’ Ireplied. ‘Hajj is still a few weeksaway and, if you are already sospiritually inspired now, InshaAllah, you will feel even moreclose to your Creator when youstand on Arafah. Maybe the fact

that you have no money is a goodthing!’ I mischievously added. I at-tended to his medical issues afterwhich he made his way to theHaram.

I met him the next morning atthe breakfast buffet of the five starhotel we were staying in. ‘If youhave only one indulgence fromthis lavish spread, you will notneed to buy another morsel for therest of the day,’ I remarked. Therewere probably over twenty differ-ent cereals, pastries that would doa Parisian patisserie proud, andorchards of fruit.

‘That is the irony, Doc, I am notout of money,’ he replied. I wasconfused. Did he mean that he hadspiritual currency in abundancenow or was he going to live ex-tremely frugally? Or both? Heclarified his statement virtually im-mediately.

‘The morning that I left SouthAfrica, an old friend of my late fa-ther came to greet me. I have notseen him in years and, in fact, I felta bit embarrassed when he arrivedas I had completely forgottenabout him and had not informedhim of my intended pilgrimage.

‘My fatheralways re-minded me tonever forget ourelders but some-how I slippedout on this par-ticular person.Frail, weak andan octogenarianI felt humbledby his visit. Hewas the manwho had set upmy father on hisfirst businessventure decadesago and trustedhim enough torepay the debtover a pro-

longed period. The gentlemanmoved to another city some timeafter that but always maintainedclose contact with my father,’ hestarted to tell me.

He added that the gentlemanhad heard via the grapevine thatmy patient was going for Hajj and,as he was visiting Cape Town, de-cided to pay him a visit. The oldman told him that it was his hon-our to visit an intending hajji andthat the young man must in noway feel obliged to have informedhim. When the gentleman left, heslipped, as is customary in Cape

Town, an envelope into the hajji’shand. ‘Use it as your late fatherwould have used it,’ were his part-ing words. For some reason, hehad not opened the envelope but,instead, had put it in a smallprayer book that his father hadgiven him some time back.

‘I was sitting in the mosque lastnight and opened the prayer book.The envelope was still in there andI opened it. No, there was nomoney in there, just a small pieceof paper. My first thought washow could I use it as my fatherwould have used it? A mere pieceof paper. The side I looked at wasblank so I turned it around. It wasa deposit slip. A deposit slip for asubstantial amount of money,’ hesaid. His father’s friend had some-how got hold of his account de-tails and had deposited the giftwithout any obligations. ‘Do youneed medication, Doc?’ he asked.

I gratefully indicated that wewere well stocked. I was aware ofa lady who had been swindled outof some money that she hadpainstakingly handed over to a rel-ative to save for her Hajj. Her op-erator was aware of her situationand had made arrangements forher to pay off her debts after theholy journey. ‘I am only going touse this money for good causeslike that,’ he pledged.

He came to my consultingroom later that day, carrying aplate of the most exotic chocolatecakes. They were not included inthe Hajj package and I was wellaware of the ridiculously highprices the hotel charged for suchluxuries.

‘Don’t tell me you bought suchexpensive items!’ I gently admon-ished him. ‘Oh no, these are withcompliments of the pastry chefthat you attended to earlier, ’hesaid. Winking, he added, ‘WouldI spend good money on a choco-late addicted doc?’

No money a good root

I have witnessed this many times before and was not certain what to expect next, writes DR SALIM PARKER.

Even though the sun had set on his financial means, it dawned on his awareness of his spirituality in Madinah.Photo SALIM PARKER

‘Hajj is still a few weeks away and,

if you are already so spiritually

inspired now, Insha Allah, you

will feel even more close

to your Creator when

you stand on Arafah’