The journey of a lifetime

On the Muslim date of 8 Zulhijjah 1433H, which will coincide with Wednesday 24 October 2012, Muslim pilgrims from all over the world will be in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, to begin the Hajj, a religious duty required of those who are able once in their lifetime. Hubby and I had been privileged to be amongst the guests of Allah in 2010, during which my good friend Yasmin Gan Abdullah and her husband also performed their pilgrimage. After returning home, Yasmin and I collaborated to produce a book of our experiences. By Allah's grace, another good friend, Noorshin Ng Abdullah, and her son Kamil are in the Holy Land at this moment. Alhamdulillah.

I have always been fascinated by personal Hajj stories, particularly of people who converted to Islam, and have a number of books on my shelves.

Michael Wolfe's book, The Hadj published in 1993, begins with how he came to Islam. He was born into an American Jewish-Christian family and, as a young man, had traveled a few times to Morocco. He was drawn to Islam and when he embarked on his Hajj, he began in that country. He stayed there for a month to prepare himself, a story that takes up the first ten chapters of the book. The following eleven chapters are of his Hajj,which to him "felt more like a starting point... I had been traveling through a religion as much as through a landscape. Now I was leaving my physical goal behind. The hadj at its best is a vivifying factor. Later I hoped to internalise its meanings."

Having written about his journey of a lifetime, Wolfe then edited a collection of "significant works by observant travel writers from the East and West over the last ten centuries." One Thousand Roads to Mecca, which came out in 1997, presents "distinct sides of a spirited conversation in which Mecca is the common destination and Islam the common subject of inquiry." This conversation goes as far back as the medieval period and into the twentieth century. I found the Hajj accounts of Australian Winifred Stegar (1927) and Lady Evelyn Cobbold from England (1933) particularly interesting.

The Road to Mecca by Muhammad Asad was first published in 1954 and is considered amongst the top 50 spiritual classics. He writes that his book is not "the story of a deliberate search for faith - for that faith came upon me, over the years, without any endeavour on my part to find it. My story is simply the story of a European's discovery of Islam and of his integration within the Muslim community." He had converted in 1926 after extensive travels throughout the Middle East. The book is a physical as well as spiritual travelogue. He describes his tawaf around the Kaaba: "And I, too, moved slowly forward and became part of the circular flow around the Kaaba... I walked on and on, the minutes passed, all that had been small and bitter in my heart began to leave my heart, I became part of a circular stream - oh, was this the meaning of what we were doing: to become aware that one is a part of a movement in an orbit? Was this, perhaps, all confusion's end? And the minutes dissolved, and time itself stood still, and this was the centre of the universe..." 

Two less formidable books, in terms of length, are Ali Shariati's Hajj (the Malaysian edition was published in 1987) and The Road to Peace by Liza Angela Milo Abdullah, published in 2000. An Iranian, Ali Shariati was a well known Islamic scholar who had suffered in the prisons of the Shah of Iran; he died in 1977 shortly after his release. His book guides the reader through the Hajj rites, interpreting them in the light of Islamic history and highlighting their social significance. 

Liza Angela Milo Abdullah is an Italian who became a Muslim in 1976 and performed her pilgrimage in 1996. In her book, she "narrates each day's events,... explains the significance of the rituals she performs. Interspersed within are other information such as the history behind them." She describes her elation as she sets out on her journey, "My heart is happy and I thank God, I am now ready to perform the journey with my body and with my soul. I tell my family to smile and be happy for me as I am fulfilling my vows as a Muslim." Three weeks later, as she waits in Jeddah to return home, she writes, "The journey is over - the most beautiful experience of my lifetime is over and yet it is not - for I carry it in my heart."

Getting the Best Out of Al-Hajj by Abu Muneer Ismail Davids is not a personal account, like the other books in this post, but I found it extremely useful and informative in my own preparation for the Hajj. With knowledge acquired after spending 15 years in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, about all aspects of Hajj from the Quran and Sunnah point of view, he published this book in 2000 (the second edition was published in 2006). The book provides "a good and plentiful source of information that helps the pilgrim to do the Hajj rites and rituals, from all sides and aspects that is solid and established in the Quran and Sunnah."

Mountains of Mecca - nasheed by Zain Bhikha

Eid Mubarak

Eid ul-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims on the first day of Shawal, the tenth month in the Muslim Calendar. It marks the end of one month of fasting during Ramadan. It is a joyous day of thanksgiving. In Malaysia, this day is 19 August 2012.

Knowing my Prophet

We are in the last ten days of Ramadan, the month when Muslims around the world fast from dawn to dusk. It is a month when we refocus our attention on God and strive to purify ourselves; it is a month of self-evaluation vis-a-vis Islamic guidance through the Quran and Sunnah. The Quran was first revealed to Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) during this holy month.

I have several books on my Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). The first one, which I bought very many years ago, was Martin Lings's Muhammad - his life based on the earliest sources. It is acclaimed worldwide as the definitive biography of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) in the English Language.

It was first published in 1983 and draws upon eighth- and ninth-century Arabic sources, of which some are translated in the book for the first time. Lings, whose Muslim name is Abu Bakar Siraj al-Din, uses a narrative style that makes the book extremely readable. Take this passage from Chapter Eight, for example, which describes how the fatherless infant Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) becomes a nurseling of the Bedouin woman, Halimah: "So I went and took him, for no reason save that I could find none but him.I carried him back to where our mounts were stationed, and no sooner had I put him in my bosom than my breasts overflowed with milk for him. He drank his fill, and with him his foster-brother drank likewise his fill. Then they both slept; and my husband went to that old she-camel of ours and lo! her udders were full. He milked her and drank of her milk and I drank with him until we could drink no more and our hunger was satisfied. We spent the best of nights, and in the morning my husband said to me: 'By God, Halimah, it is a blessed creature that thou hast taken.'" 

Another well-known biography of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) is Muhammad - a biography of the Prophet by Karen Armstrong. She is not a Muslim and was, in fact, a Roman Catholic nun for seven years. 

In her introduction, Armstrong observes that "the old hatred of Islam continues to flourish on both sides of the Atlantic and people have few scruples about attacking this religion, even if they know little about it." Indeed, the book's first chapter "traces the history of Western hatred for the Prophet of Islam". In a later chapter, she refers to Islam as "a religion of social justice". In her last paragraph, she quotes Wilfred Cantwell Smith who wrote in 1956 that "the 'fundamental weakness' of both Western civilisation and Christianity in the modern world 'is their inability to recognise that they share the planet not with inferiors but with equals.'" She then concludes, "The reality is that Islam and the West share a common tradition. From the time of the Prophet Muhammad, Muslims have recognised this, but the West cannot accept it... If Muslims need to understand our Western traditions and institutions more thoroughly today, we in the West need to divest ourselves of some of our old prejudice. Perhaps one place to start is with the figure of Muhammad: a complex, passionate man who sometimes did things difficult for us to accept, but who had genius of a profound order and founded a religion and a cultural tradition that was not based on the sword - despite the Western myth - and whose name 'Islam' signifies peace and reconciliation".  

An earlier publication in my collection is Muhammad - A Mercy to all the Nations by Al-Hajj Qassim Ali Jairazbhoy, first published in 1937. 

In his preface, the author states, "To raise a people sunk in the lowest depths of degradation and vice, and to have the rare fortune of achieving success in his mission in his own lifetime, is decidedly the monumental work of a highly successful character, one to inspire mankind with action, perseverance, patience, and faith. Any other would have despaired of success, would have yielded to the pressure of utterly hostile circumstances, but the Prophet gloriously outlived all struggles, persecutions, temptations, and failures; he was confident of his mission, confident of success, and so he succeeded at last in the very place of persecution, and could confidently say, 'Verily, I have fulfilled my mission.'" The last chapter of the book is of special interest, where the author advances his claim that "all the prophets had prophesied the advent of a world Prophet who should verify the truth of all the prophets who had appeared in the World". 

I bought my copy of Rafiq Zakaria's Muhammad and the Quran in 1997 at the London British Museum. Published in 1991, he reveals in his preface that "the idea of writing this book came to me after reading Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses. Its acclaim by a large number of non-Muslim intellectuals and its popularity, especially after the fatwa by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, convinced me that a fair picture of Islam needed to be presented once again in order to remove much of the distortion that has crept into its perception".

He further states, "The book is not the life story of Muhammad, nor does it give a translation of the whole text of the Quran. It is an attempt to bring out the essentials of what Allah has pronounced and what his Messenger preached and practised... Instead of giving my personal views, I have quoted the studied observations of highly respected persons, both Muslims and non-Muslims; their testimony lends authority to the assessment of the various issues under dispute". 

In this book, Rafiq Zakaria has selected 1,111 Quranic verses (out of a total of 6,666) to "reveal the nature and spirit of Islam and bring out clearly its message of monotheism and the consequences of good or bad deeds for this life and the life hereafter". He also covers "the stories of the prophets from Adam to Jesus, as narrated in the Quran... (to) give an illustrative insight into the values that the faithful are asked to emulate". 

'Abd al-Rahman 'Azzam, the first secretary-general of the Arab League, first published The Eternal Message of Muhammad in 1954 in the Arabic language. It is deemed a classic study in the Muslim world of the Prophet's (Peace Be Upon Him) Message. Written for a Muslim audience, the author points out in his preface, "My intention in writing the original essays was to clarify for Muslims some of the principles and origins of their society, faith, and revealed Law, and to speak of the life of their Prophet. It was not my intention to apologise or preach to non-Muslims". 

'Abd al-Rahman is saddened by the materialism of the West, the idol he terms as 'a high standard of living' to which many, including Muslims, appear to be attracted to. His book is "a serious attempt to point out the Muslim answers to today's world" and focuses on the fundamentals of Muhammad's (Peace Be Upon Him) Message, i.e. faith (Iman) and right-doing (Ihsan). The chapters explore social reform, the Islamic State and international relations, as well as what the author believes to be the causes of world disturbance. On the latter, he states that "extremism in patriotism or national loyalty has been a basic cause of the increase of world disturbances and the gradual expansions of wars from local struggles to universal  holocausts". 

He asks, in his last chapter, "Why not teach people, therefore, to loathe war as they loathe murder?", and calls upon mankind to return to "the (righteous) way of the prophets, who directed instincts in a manner satisfactory to the standards of virtue and the common welfare". 

Yusuf Islam's Arabic alphabet

Another book for children but just as great for adults, like Fatimah's Kampung. This book, A for Allah, is written by Yusuf Islam, who many of us know as Cat Stevens. Another labour of love, it took 20 years to produce and was first published in 1999. It began as a song of the same name to "teach my daughter (his first child born in 1980) that - above all else - 'Alif' (of the Arabic alphabet) is for Allah, and that everything else that we love and appreciate in this earthly life originates from His Divine Will and grace."

The song grew into a book, the design of which, writes Yusuf in his introduction, "has its own interesting tale. Just after I embraced Islam, I bumped into a fellow musician who had also become Muslim a year or so before me, Ian Whiteman... (who) was working as a designer at that time... (and) could also write Arabic calligraphy and displayed a distinctive flair with the pen... Much of the beauty in the design is due to his masterful style and talent." The book's striking cover is an early indication of this.

The book introduces the reader to the Arabic alphabet, choosing Islamic concepts to convey the various letters. Each page (and there are a total of 64 pages) is richly illustrated with meaningful images and exquisite calligraphy. You need to just look at the following pages to appreciate this.

I bought my copy at Kinokuniya in 2005 for RM50.85. If it's out of stock there, you can buy it online from Mountain of Light, the book's publisher, or through Amazon. 

Remembering our Creator

It is a striking book - black with a burst of colour in the upper corner, and the title and author's name embossed in gold. Within its full-colour pages is a flowing river of poetry and poetic-style prose by the author, Dr Safiah Osman, thanking "Allah SWT for His clear reminders that there must be love, fondness and kindness in our hearts."

Dr Safiah Osman is a very close friend of my aunt Datin Kalsom Taib and she has become a friend of mine. Soft-spoken, gentle, gracious and courteous, she is also humble, not speaking much at all of her achievements, which are many. She had been a Professor of Language Education at the University of Malaya and, later, at the Sultan Idris University of Education, where she moved on to become its Director for International Relations before retiring in 2004. Safiah was the founder member and first President of the Malaysian Reading Association, affiliated to the International Reading Association.

She had a dream she wanted to pursue after her retirement - and that was to put down her thoughts and feelings about the boundless gifts and blessings of Allah in books that will guide people to always remember Him. In this book, Let Us Remember Allah For the Gift of Love in Our Hearts, her sincere and heartfelt words cover the spectrum of love from what we feel for our parents, mothers, children, relatives and friends, to what we can have for the poor, elderly and sick; even for those who smile warmly, speak politely or forgive readily. 

It's a beautifully written book. Safiah's poems and prose are all the more meaningful accompanied by verses from the Holy Qur'an and authentic Hadiths, and illustrated by photographs and original Islamic calligraphic art-pieces. She gives so much in the book that you need to take your time to savour her words, reflect upon them and, of course, if you haven't been doing so, to build that love within you and share it (Please click here for the pdf sample of the book).

This is not Safiah's first book. Her earlier one, published in 2009, is "about the wonder of Allah's Creations, about love for the seas, oceans and mountains; trees, rivers, animals, insects, plants and vegetation." 

Both books would make ideal presents for all kinds of occasions. A gift of knowledge, one that may help to improve our deen, must surely be one of the best to receive.

Abused and imprisoned... because of his religion

On 11 January 2002, the first group of 20 detainees arrived at the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. It has been ten years since then and American President Barack Obama has failed to deliver on his promise to close the infamous prison. His signing of the National Defense Authorisation Act 2012 will ensure that it will continue to stay open. In Washington DC and other cities around the world, on 11 January 2012, human rights activists staged protests to mark the prison's tenth anniversary and to remind us of the fate of the illegally detained people there, "who can only leave Guantanamo in a coffin".

James Yee was a US army Muslim chaplain who was assigned to Guantanamo Bay in 2003 - "his duties required him to minister to the prisoners there, and he came to know their situation perhaps better than anyone else." However, his stint there resulted in him being called "a Chinese Taliban" and persecuted by accusations and innuendos. The West Point graduate "found himself faced with capital charges, subjected to abusive treatment, and imprisoned in solitary confinement - without any basis in truth." All the charges against him were eventually dropped but at great cost to his career and reputation.

Yee decided to tell about the "injustice... (which) has torn apart my family and put us into significant debt." His Syrian wife, Huda, "continues to struggle to understand how something like this could happen in America - her adopted country." His story is told in his memoir, For God and Country - Faith and Patriotism Under Fire, which was published in 2005.

It is a frightening story and makes you wonder - if the US could subject its own citizen to such injustice, what is it capable of doing to non-Americans?

In an interview with Democracy Now, an independent global news channel, after his book came out, Yee explained the reason for the book: "My story is one of principle and value, and why the values of diversity and justice, religious freedom, are so important to all people living in this country. And I hope in writing this book that if I can in any way help prevent what happened to me from happening to anyone else, then I think that is going to be my greatest contribution." He ended, "If it could happen to me, a third-generation Chinese-American who graduated from West Point, patriotically serving his country, being praised and awarded and recognised for great contributions, could land in prison for 76 days with these huge death penalty charges, it could happen to any one of us. And this is why we have to stand up for justice." 

  
Unfortunately, for these people, the future is very dim.

My friend - baker, designer... and writer

I am fortunate to have some remarkable women as my friends and one of them is Noorshin Ng Abdullah. A single mother, she uses her God-given talents to support herself and her son (now a young adult). She bakes really delicious cakes, for which she takes orders, and designs and makes clothes. Busy with these pursuits as well as taking care of her aged parents (until first her mother passed away and then her father not long after), she still finds time to be actively involved in NGOs. And Noorshin is also a writer, having written, illustrated and published her very first book, The Beauty of Covering Up, in 2010.

Front cover

It's a beautiful full-colour book produced with the help of Yasmin Gan Abdullah, with whom I co-wrote Hajj - The Humbling Journey in 2011, and her production team. The designer, Junaida Samsu, also worked on the book by Yasmin and me. 

On the back cover, Noorshin explains that her book "is a humble means of sharing my thoughts and ideas on the beauty of Muslimah covering ourselves not only with garments that conceal our aurah but also with beautiful manners and character that come our cloak of humility as Muslims." It is dedicated to her mother...

The chapters, each with its own pleasing colour scheme, begin with the first two reminding readers 'You Are Beautiful' and that 'Beauty (comes) From Within'. In the chapters that follow, Noorshin shares 'Words From Al-Quran', 'Branches Of Iman' and 'Striving Towards Modesty'. She also collected the experiences of women who donned the hijab in 'What Our Sisters Have To Say'.  

A page from 'You Are Beautiful'.

A Chinese Muslimah relates her experience in 'What Our Sisters Have To Say'.

The experience of a corporate high-flyer.

Noorshin has included several design ideas (all illustrated by her) in the book to show the many possibilities of covering up without looking boring.

Friends need to support one another. Noorshin had many in regard to her book; there were those who helped her get started, who instilled confidence in her, who gave helpful comments, who helped towards part of the publication costs. My contribution was to offer my house for introducing Noorshin's book to guests that included my family and friends, as well as those of Noorshin and Yasmin's, on 12 February 2011. 

Waiting for others to arrive.

Pot-luck.

Some of Noorshin's designer clothes on sale.

It was a simple but memorable occasion, during which guests not only got a copy of Noorshin's book for themselves and others but were also able to catch up with one another and make new friends. Noorshin's road towards and in Islam is a fascinating one and I hope that her next book will be a memoir. By the way, Noorshin also blogs at Enjoy Your Life, where she shares her values and experiences.

The exquisitely designed endpaper of The Beauty of Covering Up.

Note: The book's pages above are reproduced with Noorshin's permission.

A book everyone should have

I found out about the book on the late Yasmin Yusuf's blog. She called it "one of the most important books I've read all year (2006)", which was good enough for me to buy a copy. And she was right except to me, it is one of the most important I've read and will continue to read, a book that I will be picking up every so often. Because it gives me so much, makes me think, makes me feel, and makes me want to do better. Indeed, to me, it is a book that everyone should have.

That book is Purification of the Heart - Signs, Symptoms, and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart, a translation and commentary of Imam al-Mawlud's Matharat al-Qulub by Hamza Yusuf.

In the book's introduction, Hamza writes, "When people are completely immersed in the material world, believing that this world is all that matters and all that exists and that they are not accountable for their actions, they effect a spiritual death of their hearts. Before the heart dies, however, it shows symptoms of affliction. These afflictions are the spiritual diseases of the heart (the centre of our being)... (which) relates to our desires exceeding their natural state, as when people live merely to satisfy these urges and are led by them."

The book is based on the poem, Matharat al-Qulub, which offers the means by which purification of the heart can be achieved. The poem was written by Shaykh Muhammad Mawlud al-Yaqubi al-Musawi al-Muratani, who hailed from Mauritania, West Africa, a master of Islamic sciences. Hamza translates and comments on the poem as it examines a range of afflictions of the heart: miserliness; wantonness; hatred; iniquity; love of the world; envy; blameworthy modesty; fantasising; fear of poverty; ostentation; relying on other than God; displeasure with the Divine Decree; seeking reputation; false hopes; negative thoughts; vanity; fraud; anger; heedlessness; rancour; boasting and arrogance; displeasure with blame; antipathy towards death; obliviousness to blessings; and derision.

Hamza says, "If we examine the trials and tribulations, wars and other conflicts, every act of injustice all over earth, we'll find they are rooted in human hearts. Covetousness, the desire to aggress and exploit, the longing to pilfer natural resources, the inordinate love of wealth and position, and other maladies are manifestations of diseases found nowhere but in the heart. Every criminal, miser, abuser, scoffer, embezzler, and hateful person does what he or she does because of a diseased heart. If hearts were sound, these actions would no longer be a reality. So if we want to change our world, we do not begin by rectifying the outward. Instead we must change the condition of our inward. Everything we see happening outside of us is in reality coming from the unseen world within. It is from the unseen world that the phenomenal world emerges, and it is from the unseen realm of our hearts that all actions spring." 

One year is coming to an end very soon, and another is set to begin, God willing. At this time, with thoughts of starting anew, many make all kinds of resolutions. Why not keep it simple? Just look within and aim to change just one thing about yourself, which could be as simple as to not waste food, or to donate RM50 a month to charity, or to think before you speak. 

May we all strive to be better people in the New Year and all the years to come, people who will give to the community, people whose words and actions will benefit others, people who will care and give a thought to others. 

Give me books, says the sultan

When a dignitary is invited as guest-of-honour to some big event, he would without fail be presented with some memento as a token of appreciation for his presence. I have been to a number of such functions and I have often wondered what happens to the memento afterwards. Of course, that would depend on the memento given but I have no doubt that if it's yet another pewter plate, plaque or some meaningless item in a glass case, it will be designated to a dark corner in the store-room. What a waste of money!

The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, is one dignitary who is invited to more events than he can ever remember and his store-room must be filled to the ceiling with items that he has no use for whatsoever. It was refreshing to read in a local newspaper recently that he is requesting organisers to give him books instead of expensive presents. Obviously keen on recycling, His Highness said that after reading the books, he will pass them on to the public library.

I'm a firm believer in giving books as presents. Ask my nieces - they never had to guess very hard what were inside the nicely wrapped packages they got on their birthdays. And now I've started to give books as wedding presents as well; my favourite set for a newly-married Muslim couple is The Muslim Family Series comprising four books that cover the whole spectrum of family life, from the wedding to the spouses' rights and obligations, to marital intimacy and to Islamic regulations for newborns.

What better way to start a new life together than with the right knowledge according to the Quran and Sunnah? My Auntie Chom tells me that she has been giving my book Hajj - the Humbling Journey, co-written with Yasmin Gan Abdullah, for weddings.

As I've posted earlier, I love books, which means I love buying them. I can't resist bookshops and can happily spend hours in them. More often than not, I'd leave with a book or two. But there comes a point when my shelves just can't take any more.

One of my bookshelves

And I still have books waiting to be read!

I will read them... eventually

So what do you do when you have lots of books but not enough shelf space for all of them? My answer is simple - give them away. I have this rule now. After reading a book, I ask myself if I would want to read it again. If I would, the book goes on my shelf; if not, I'd give it away. I started the ball rolling by going through my books a couple of months ago and ended up with quite a few boxes that went to Viva Palestina Malaysia for its fund-raising bazaars.

There are other ideas on what to do with your books if you don't want to keep them, which can wait for another time. 

"No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books." 

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

A personal project

It was November 2010 and my husband and I were in Makkah to perform our Hajj. It was by Allah's Will that my good friend Yasmin Gan Abdullah and her husband were there as well. Two weeks before I was to leave Malaysia, she had called me with her good news and we were both delighted to learn that we would be in the Holy City at the same time. We promised, God willing, to meet up in Makkah.

We did and Yasmin mooted the idea of sharing our personal Hajj journey through words and images in a coffee-table book when we return home. Hajj is a very intense experience and we were of one mind that we would like to express this, not only to encourage those who hadn't yet been to go but also to help relive memories in those who had. We wanted the images to be original so took photographs whenever we had the opportunity. I didn't bring a camera so used my Nokia N86 which has an 8mp camera - the photographs, such as the one above, came out thankfully well.

Although we were back home in December, we didn't get down to writing immediately because of other work commitments. Yasmin then set the deadline for us to get started on our book - the very first personal project for us. We agreed that the book would have two parts, one comprising three chapters - an introduction to the Hajj, my journey and Yasmin's - and the other consisting of photographs that we had taken of the Hajj, the people of Islam, Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah and the Prophet's Masjid in Madinah. Because of our respective strengths, Yasmin would handle the design and production aspects while I would write whatever else required. 

Initially, we worked on the premise of getting sponsors to underwrite the production costs of the book but this proved to be an exercise in futility. We still wanted to publish the book, however. Alhamdulillah, Yasmin succeeded in working out an arrangement with the printer to pay in instalments as the book is sold. It was exciting to see the book coming together over a period of months and we were soon at the stage of checking proofs.

To generate interest in the book, we started a Facebook page and geared ourselves towards 'launching' our book, Hajj - the Humbling Journey, on 8 October. Just three days before, 500 copies of the book were delivered to my house, the other 500 to Yasmin's office.

Earlier, we had to deal with the question of how to launch the book. Given our very limited budget, we decided to introduce the book to a small group of abut 40-50 people over brunch at my house. Our immediate family members and close friends were asked to come, and we also invited those who had liked our Facebook page.

Next question - who to introduce the book? We sought the advice of my dad's cousin, Datin Kalsom Taib (or Auntie Chom, herself the author of three books, one of which is on her husband). Unfortunately, the person she suggested wouldn't be available. The day before the event, over breakfast at my house to finalise details, it dawned on Yasmin and I that the most appropriate person would be Auntie Chom, who had been very supportive of our initiative. I called her and she immediately said yes.

And thus on 8 October, our book was finally introduced. 

Yasmin, Auntie Chom and I

The book cover

Yasmin and I with designer Junaida and project assistant Norhayati

Now comes the hard part - selling the book. Yasmin and I were not in favour of distributing our book through the usual bookshops, as the commission charged would mean that we wouldn't be able to meet our production costs. The best way would be to sell the book ourselves and place it at selected places, including Sri Munawwarah and Dakwah Corner Bookstore. Alhamdulillah, the response to our book has been heartwarming and encouraging. We feel truly blessed to have realised our niat (intention) of sharing our humbling Hajj journey.