Alhamdulillahirobbil’alamiin
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Universe.
Allahumma shalli ‘ala sayyidina Muhammad wa alaa aali sayyidinaa Muhammad.
In the spring holiday of 2024 in Bremen, Germany, our family was blessed with the opportunity to perform Umrah together. It was a prayer we had made during the Hajj of 2023, asking Allah for the chance to fulfill Umrah with our entire family at the best time. Not even a year later, Allah sent us an invitation to Umrah at the best time: during Ramadan (1445 Hijriyah).
Independent Umrah
Yes, we embarked on an independent Umrah journey. It became possible after the KSA government opened up this opportunity legally from anywhere around the world. Choosing this independent Umrah option for us means comfy traveling and worship. It’s a choice of freedom. It’s also economical, though. We’ve got our freedom in travel itinerary, management of the team, expression during the journey, meal options, and so forth. For instance, as part of freedom in travel itinerary, we even had the chance to visit the capital of the land of the Prophets: Cairo, Egypt, which only cost us 100€ for five people, including two nights staying in a well-located apartment in downtown Cairo! This amount doesn’t include meals for suhoor (pre-dawn meal) and iftar (breaking fast), as eating is a matter of preference and budget. In reality, everyone knows that food prices in Cairo are incredibly affordable (read: super cheap!).
Of course, there’s effort involved in preparing for this independent Umrah journey as part of our endeavor (ikhtiyar).
Here, we will discuss our preparations till lessons learned, including requirements for potential emergencies that must be ready to be faced. Some preparations are basically the same as the preparations for Hajj that we did a few months earlier (read about the previous post on Hajj preparation). Still, there are differences considering that this Umrah is done with a whole team: five of us.