On March 7th 2007 - Wednesday, I had a trip to Qena and Luxor together with Ust Muhammad Abd Malik, Ust Suhaimi, Ust Wan Mohd Zubir and Ust Firdaus Taha. We followed Tareqah Jaafariyah Group to attend ‘hadrāt’ (plural for ‘hadrah’) at Qena and several places in Luxor (of course we're not visiting ruins and temples of the Ancient Egypt). I need to clarify here that I'm not joining any tareqah group; just observing some local culture.
I went to Cairo from Mansoura on 12.30 pm by taking a public van at Mahattah ad-Dawliyyah (Utubis Dawli). It was a smooth journey until Rod el-Farag, Cairo where the van had been stopped by traffic policemen for making a traffic offence. It was on 1.45 pm. The angry driver argued with the policemen and tried to defend himself but it was not a lucky day for him. Those policemen seized his macrobus and leaved the passengers including me out of nowhere!
I completely had no idea where I was. I tried to leave the place by stopping every public transport passing the road to but none of them go to Ramses Square. Most of them were heading to Tahrir Square. I had no choice, so I took a van to Tahrir. From Tahrir, I took Metro subway to Ramses and from Ramses to District 7 of Nasr City.
TicketsThe hadrah began with the first ‘madah’ (poem and praise dedicated to Prophet Muhammad bpuh) recitation. The second recitation was conducted by Ust Abd Malik as an honor by the Group towards us. Approximately at 2.30 pm, the leader of Tareqah Jaafariyah Group, Sheikh Abd Ghani Soleh Jaafari arrived.
Waiting for 'Asr prayer calling.That night, we stayed at one of the local sheikh’s house. He was Sheikh Muhammad.
On next day, we did our breakfast provided by Sheikh Muhammad. The menu was fatir with cheese and strawberry jam. All five of us had it with Sheikh Farouk and his colleagues. Later after the breakfast while waiting for transport to al-Bayadiyyah, we spent some moment with the veteran sheikh listening to some of his experiences and thoughts.
We began moving to al-Bayadiyyah at 10.30 am. We took a rest at guest room on the ground floor of the mosque while waiting for Jumu’ah prayer. After that, the hadrah ceremony at the village began. The ceremony ended one hour after ‘Asr prayer. It was the last hadrah during this visit. Thanks to Sheikh Ashraf, we were given the opportunity to take a picture with Sheikh Abd Ghani Soleh Jaafari. We also did take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the locals for their hospitality. See you all again, by God’s will. I can never forget your warm hospitality and generosity.
In the midst of hadrah.
Just before the end of hadrah.
Picture time!
Taking a pic with Sheikh Abd Ghani Soleh al-JaafariAfter Maghrib prayer, we went to Luxor Railway Station. It was still early to wait for the train from Aswan to Cairo so we walked to the Abu’l Haggag Mosque to visit Sheikh Yousef Abu’l Haggag mausoleum, a Sufi and his two sons’ graves. Sheikh Yousef Abu’l Haggag was born in Baghdad, but he spent the latter half of his 90 years in Luxor. He died in year 1243. The mosque is located on the site of Temple of Luxor just behind the Pylon of the temple. The Temple of Luxor was built mainly by Amenhotep III and Ramses II.
In front of the Court of Amenophis III, Temple of LuxorWe departed from Luxor Railway Station at 8.00 pm heading to Cairo. We slept during the journey until 3.30 am when some of brothers from the Tareqah invited us to teach them Malay and even treated each of us with a cup of tea! As for the effect of the caffeine, we were unable to sleep again until we reached Cairo at 5.45 am.
It was a really enjoyable and interesting experience. I can see where the humanity and spirit of brotherhood were still alive at these remote areas. Their smile, their courtesy and their friendliness are something that creates a good memory. Hopefully, I can attend the hadrāt’ again.
