aint no mountain high enough
my brother, zubair, his wife, hajira and their 4 year old daughter, sireen came to visit me for a mere 6 days last week. before they came, they expressed a desire to climb mt. sinai and told me to climb it with them.
i had already climbed it with naveed and bikey back in november and oh boy! it was the hardest climb ever. it took us about 4 hours to climb. it was freezing cold, pitch black, the path was wide enough for two people...one side bordered by a cliff, camels were popping up from behind us and from in front of us, and there were thousands of people crammed on the mountain. it seemed like a never ending path to the top but once you start, you can’t turn back. you HAVE to complete it. but before you think we are a bunch of lazy unfit whiny girls, let me explain to you what the state of our condition was.
the first day we arrived to dahab, we went horseback riding and did a bunch of other activities. horseback riding for 2 hours is enough time to give you a sore bum for the next day. the next day, despite sore bums and legs, we went on a camel safari that lasted 6 hours! within the first half hour, our legs were killing us. we had to get off the camels and walk while our bedouin guides rode our camels. we eventually got back on despite the pain. had lunch with some bedouins (nothing really exciting...just tuna from a can, bread, cheese and cucumbers). after that, we had to continue on with the camel safari but we begged our guides to take us back ‘cause we were in so much pain. they didn’t. okay, so after 6 hours of torturous riding, we get back to our campsite around 6 pm. we don’t have a room to stay in but need to rest before we leave around 11 pm to go to mt. sinai. so what do we do? we try to sleep for a couple of hours on some cots along the coast of the red sea. however, none of us really get any z’s ‘cause there are tons and tons of stray cats. i particularly cannot sleep due to paranoia of cats jumping on me.
okay, so 11 pm rolls around and now we gotta drive 2 and a half hours to mt. sinai. as we get closer and closer, the weather begins to drop until it’s about 40 degrees fahrenheit. get there around 1:30 am. so picture our state....none of us have slept, we’re cold, we’re in pain from horse back riding AND the 6 hour camel ride and now we gotta hike up a mountain. we start the climb...5 minutes later, we take a break. walk another 5 minutes...another break. this was our routine pretty much throughout our 4 hour hike (which the guide books say takes about 2 hours). there were about 5 rest stops. we were dying when we got to the 1st stop...even closer to the grave when we got to the 2nd stop. bikey couldn’t go any further but then out of the darkness appeared an angel named muhammad. he grabbed bikey's arm and dragged her to the 3rd rest stop and then told us we would be okay from here on. by the time we got to the 4th rest stop, i was completely shattered and couldn’t make it anymore. i started getting tummy cramps. and just when we needed him, our angel muhammad reappeared from the darkness to help me. this time, he held my hand (i was wearing gloves, plus, i was near death and didn't care that he held my hand) and dragged me up the final steps of the mt. sinai.
there is a masjid and a church on the summit. the masjid is always locked so no one can enter it. we made it to the summit just in time to pray fajr outside the masjid. then we watched the sunrise and subhanAllah, it was very beautiful. praying fajr and watching the sunrise made us forget about the 4 hours of pain and agony. alhamdulillah. but then, it was just as painful getting back down. you see, we took the camel path up and the steps of repentance back down. we collapsed at the bottom of the mountain and after the whole experience was over, the 3 of us vowed never to return again. but then.....
zubair and hajira wanted to climb it. no problem. i can watch sireen and sleep in a warm bed while the 2 of them go hiking in the arctic cold. at least that’s what i thought. but then what happens? hajira conveniently has to get sick. “no big deal,” i tell zubair. “you can climb it yourself.” “myself?! no way!!! come on, it’ll be fun!” he responds. “ha! you have no idea how much fun it is,” i say sarcastically. “anyway, naveed’s friend climbed it by herself. it wasn’t a big deal for her. plus, there are thousands of people on the mountain.” zubair begs me and begs me until i finally relent. “please pray for me,” i text my roomies the night i was going. “i don’t know if i’ll make it back alive.”
11 o’clock comes around. zubair and i are bundled up for the cold. we get in the van that will take us to mt. sinai. there are about 6 other people in the van as well, 1 guy from japan and the rest from france.
we reach mt. sinai around 1:30 am. zubair and i begin our climb. i’ve warned zubair about how crowded it gets and how camels will pop up from behind us and we have to move out of the way but we have to make sure not to move towards the cliff or else we’ll plunge to a premature death. he’s a bit scared. however, i notice that there aren’t many people around. i think it’s because we arrived late and everyone’s already towards the top. so, anyway, we have 1 flashlight...just enough light for both of us in the pitch blackness. zubair sees light behind us and tells me to move over to let the camels pass by. they’re still far away but he begins to freak out ‘cause he thinks they’ll push him over the cliff. “relax!” i say. “the camel guide will give us a verbal warning when they get closer.” he grabs tightly onto the back of my coat and stops me from moving any further as the flashlights get closer. “just let the camels pass us.” “fine,” i say although i have a feeling they aren’t camels. i don’t smell camels nor do i hear the bedouin guide mumbling anything. the flashlights pass us by. turns out they’re 2 of the french guys from our van. “where are the camels?!” i ask mockingly. he’s a bit embarrassed. “don’t worry,” i reassure him. “i have a feeling there aren’t going to be a lot of camels tonight. there’s like nobody on the mountain”. i don’t know what is up with that! i had been told thousands of people climb it every night.
anyway, we climb deeper and deeper, higher and higher into the mountain. not a single person is in front of us, nor behind us. just me and my bro. “it’s actually a good thing i came,” i say to zubair. “you would have been alone and no one is here to guide you.” he agrees with me. we make it to the 1st rest stop. don’t see any other climbers except for the french people from the van. are we the only ones on the mountain? keep climbing. make it to the 2nd stop. i’m doing pretty well for the 2nd time around....i haven’t needed a rest break outside of the rest stops, alhamdulillah. zubair keeps track of the time. at the rate we’re going, we’ll be at the top within 2 hours, insha’Allah. continue the ascent. getting colder. 3rd rest stop. the man working behind the counter asks me if there are any others below me. i say i haven’t seen anyone. i guess we are the only ones on the mountain. keep going. we pass this narrow path that descends a bit and then leads to two paths. now i’m confused. which way do we go? no one’s around to ask for help. should we turn around and go back to the last rest stop? no...let’s just take a chance. bismillah. i think it’s this way. we keep climbing and see the 4th rest stop! alhamdulillah, we’re on the right route! i ask the man selling snacks how much longer we’ve got till the top. he says less than ½ hour. i’m getting a bit tired but not complaining. i’m strong and i can do it!....insha’Allah. reach the steps. there are a thousand steps...it’ll be good for my thighs. yeah....good motivation. step...step....step... “hold on, bro. let me catch my breath for a second.” “do you wanna stop and rest for a bit?” “no...let’s keep going.” finally, we reach the last and final rest stop! alhamdulillah! and it’s only like 3:30 am! made it within 2 hours! we see 2 of the french guys sitting there. they beat us. oh well....we beat everybody else....if there is anybody else. we just have a few more steps to go before we get to the summit but it is best to rest here till it is fajr time and then go up so we can see the sun rise as well. no point in going up there now and waiting in the freezing cold. so we wait here. drink some hot chocolate. more people start to come in. it begins to rain....hail. not good...the steps are gonna be quite slippery. the rain stops. the rest area is beginning to get packed. hmm...where are we gonna pray? the masjid is always locked...it’s wet outside...we didn’t bring a prayer mat to pray on...what are we gonna do? i ask the man working at the rest stop where i’m supposed to pray, thinking he might offer me a spot behind the counter. instead, he tells me to go to a certain man who will give me the key to the masjid! woah! i wasn’t expecting that! i didn’t think it was open to anyone! i quickly go to that man...zubair trailing behind me. i tell him i need to pray. he hands me the key and tells me not to let any non-muslims in the masjid. oh my! how am i supposed to guard the door to the masjid? what if a mad rush of people swarm into the masjid? i’m just an innocent little girl...they could walk all over me! “can someone please come with me?” i plead. “no...don’t worry,” he assures me. okay fine. we climb up the few steps. i already see a group of nigerians outside the masjid and the church. there is a man kneeling close to the door of the masjid and he seems to be wailing and screaming and i sort of fear him. i have to climb over his legs to get to the door ‘cause the path is very narrow. 2 nigerians ask zubair what the place is and zubair says it is a masjid and we are going to pray in it. the nigerians seem excited. i unlock the padlock and open the door. only muslims can enter! “oh, we no muslims!” so they leave. i try to find the light switch inside the masjid but fail. it’s pitch black inside. are there bats and spiders inside? i put my flashlight down and command zubair to pray quickly while i guard the door. his hands are so frozen and he is so nervous, he can’t even untie his shoelaces. “hurry up!!!” i yell. “i can’t hold back the crowd!” actually, there is no crowd...it’s all in my head. pray fajr inside the masjid. subhanAllah! are we lucky or what?! come outside...there’s light. the sun has risen. we missed the sunrise. oh well...so did everyone else. no one could see the sunrise due to the fog from the rain. no matter. we experienced something more beautiful. how many of you out there who’ve climbed mt. sinai prayed inside the masjid? yeah...i thought so.
1st time i climbed mt. sinai, i was blessed with the sweetness of the sunrise. the 2nd time, i was blessed with being the gatekeeper of the masjid. nothing can beat that. but i must admit...i’ve had it with mt. sinai. no more for me. and i vow to that.
i had already climbed it with naveed and bikey back in november and oh boy! it was the hardest climb ever. it took us about 4 hours to climb. it was freezing cold, pitch black, the path was wide enough for two people...one side bordered by a cliff, camels were popping up from behind us and from in front of us, and there were thousands of people crammed on the mountain. it seemed like a never ending path to the top but once you start, you can’t turn back. you HAVE to complete it. but before you think we are a bunch of lazy unfit whiny girls, let me explain to you what the state of our condition was.
the first day we arrived to dahab, we went horseback riding and did a bunch of other activities. horseback riding for 2 hours is enough time to give you a sore bum for the next day. the next day, despite sore bums and legs, we went on a camel safari that lasted 6 hours! within the first half hour, our legs were killing us. we had to get off the camels and walk while our bedouin guides rode our camels. we eventually got back on despite the pain. had lunch with some bedouins (nothing really exciting...just tuna from a can, bread, cheese and cucumbers). after that, we had to continue on with the camel safari but we begged our guides to take us back ‘cause we were in so much pain. they didn’t. okay, so after 6 hours of torturous riding, we get back to our campsite around 6 pm. we don’t have a room to stay in but need to rest before we leave around 11 pm to go to mt. sinai. so what do we do? we try to sleep for a couple of hours on some cots along the coast of the red sea. however, none of us really get any z’s ‘cause there are tons and tons of stray cats. i particularly cannot sleep due to paranoia of cats jumping on me.
okay, so 11 pm rolls around and now we gotta drive 2 and a half hours to mt. sinai. as we get closer and closer, the weather begins to drop until it’s about 40 degrees fahrenheit. get there around 1:30 am. so picture our state....none of us have slept, we’re cold, we’re in pain from horse back riding AND the 6 hour camel ride and now we gotta hike up a mountain. we start the climb...5 minutes later, we take a break. walk another 5 minutes...another break. this was our routine pretty much throughout our 4 hour hike (which the guide books say takes about 2 hours). there were about 5 rest stops. we were dying when we got to the 1st stop...even closer to the grave when we got to the 2nd stop. bikey couldn’t go any further but then out of the darkness appeared an angel named muhammad. he grabbed bikey's arm and dragged her to the 3rd rest stop and then told us we would be okay from here on. by the time we got to the 4th rest stop, i was completely shattered and couldn’t make it anymore. i started getting tummy cramps. and just when we needed him, our angel muhammad reappeared from the darkness to help me. this time, he held my hand (i was wearing gloves, plus, i was near death and didn't care that he held my hand) and dragged me up the final steps of the mt. sinai.
there is a masjid and a church on the summit. the masjid is always locked so no one can enter it. we made it to the summit just in time to pray fajr outside the masjid. then we watched the sunrise and subhanAllah, it was very beautiful. praying fajr and watching the sunrise made us forget about the 4 hours of pain and agony. alhamdulillah. but then, it was just as painful getting back down. you see, we took the camel path up and the steps of repentance back down. we collapsed at the bottom of the mountain and after the whole experience was over, the 3 of us vowed never to return again. but then.....
zubair and hajira wanted to climb it. no problem. i can watch sireen and sleep in a warm bed while the 2 of them go hiking in the arctic cold. at least that’s what i thought. but then what happens? hajira conveniently has to get sick. “no big deal,” i tell zubair. “you can climb it yourself.” “myself?! no way!!! come on, it’ll be fun!” he responds. “ha! you have no idea how much fun it is,” i say sarcastically. “anyway, naveed’s friend climbed it by herself. it wasn’t a big deal for her. plus, there are thousands of people on the mountain.” zubair begs me and begs me until i finally relent. “please pray for me,” i text my roomies the night i was going. “i don’t know if i’ll make it back alive.”
11 o’clock comes around. zubair and i are bundled up for the cold. we get in the van that will take us to mt. sinai. there are about 6 other people in the van as well, 1 guy from japan and the rest from france.
we reach mt. sinai around 1:30 am. zubair and i begin our climb. i’ve warned zubair about how crowded it gets and how camels will pop up from behind us and we have to move out of the way but we have to make sure not to move towards the cliff or else we’ll plunge to a premature death. he’s a bit scared. however, i notice that there aren’t many people around. i think it’s because we arrived late and everyone’s already towards the top. so, anyway, we have 1 flashlight...just enough light for both of us in the pitch blackness. zubair sees light behind us and tells me to move over to let the camels pass by. they’re still far away but he begins to freak out ‘cause he thinks they’ll push him over the cliff. “relax!” i say. “the camel guide will give us a verbal warning when they get closer.” he grabs tightly onto the back of my coat and stops me from moving any further as the flashlights get closer. “just let the camels pass us.” “fine,” i say although i have a feeling they aren’t camels. i don’t smell camels nor do i hear the bedouin guide mumbling anything. the flashlights pass us by. turns out they’re 2 of the french guys from our van. “where are the camels?!” i ask mockingly. he’s a bit embarrassed. “don’t worry,” i reassure him. “i have a feeling there aren’t going to be a lot of camels tonight. there’s like nobody on the mountain”. i don’t know what is up with that! i had been told thousands of people climb it every night.
anyway, we climb deeper and deeper, higher and higher into the mountain. not a single person is in front of us, nor behind us. just me and my bro. “it’s actually a good thing i came,” i say to zubair. “you would have been alone and no one is here to guide you.” he agrees with me. we make it to the 1st rest stop. don’t see any other climbers except for the french people from the van. are we the only ones on the mountain? keep climbing. make it to the 2nd stop. i’m doing pretty well for the 2nd time around....i haven’t needed a rest break outside of the rest stops, alhamdulillah. zubair keeps track of the time. at the rate we’re going, we’ll be at the top within 2 hours, insha’Allah. continue the ascent. getting colder. 3rd rest stop. the man working behind the counter asks me if there are any others below me. i say i haven’t seen anyone. i guess we are the only ones on the mountain. keep going. we pass this narrow path that descends a bit and then leads to two paths. now i’m confused. which way do we go? no one’s around to ask for help. should we turn around and go back to the last rest stop? no...let’s just take a chance. bismillah. i think it’s this way. we keep climbing and see the 4th rest stop! alhamdulillah, we’re on the right route! i ask the man selling snacks how much longer we’ve got till the top. he says less than ½ hour. i’m getting a bit tired but not complaining. i’m strong and i can do it!....insha’Allah. reach the steps. there are a thousand steps...it’ll be good for my thighs. yeah....good motivation. step...step....step... “hold on, bro. let me catch my breath for a second.” “do you wanna stop and rest for a bit?” “no...let’s keep going.” finally, we reach the last and final rest stop! alhamdulillah! and it’s only like 3:30 am! made it within 2 hours! we see 2 of the french guys sitting there. they beat us. oh well....we beat everybody else....if there is anybody else. we just have a few more steps to go before we get to the summit but it is best to rest here till it is fajr time and then go up so we can see the sun rise as well. no point in going up there now and waiting in the freezing cold. so we wait here. drink some hot chocolate. more people start to come in. it begins to rain....hail. not good...the steps are gonna be quite slippery. the rain stops. the rest area is beginning to get packed. hmm...where are we gonna pray? the masjid is always locked...it’s wet outside...we didn’t bring a prayer mat to pray on...what are we gonna do? i ask the man working at the rest stop where i’m supposed to pray, thinking he might offer me a spot behind the counter. instead, he tells me to go to a certain man who will give me the key to the masjid! woah! i wasn’t expecting that! i didn’t think it was open to anyone! i quickly go to that man...zubair trailing behind me. i tell him i need to pray. he hands me the key and tells me not to let any non-muslims in the masjid. oh my! how am i supposed to guard the door to the masjid? what if a mad rush of people swarm into the masjid? i’m just an innocent little girl...they could walk all over me! “can someone please come with me?” i plead. “no...don’t worry,” he assures me. okay fine. we climb up the few steps. i already see a group of nigerians outside the masjid and the church. there is a man kneeling close to the door of the masjid and he seems to be wailing and screaming and i sort of fear him. i have to climb over his legs to get to the door ‘cause the path is very narrow. 2 nigerians ask zubair what the place is and zubair says it is a masjid and we are going to pray in it. the nigerians seem excited. i unlock the padlock and open the door. only muslims can enter! “oh, we no muslims!” so they leave. i try to find the light switch inside the masjid but fail. it’s pitch black inside. are there bats and spiders inside? i put my flashlight down and command zubair to pray quickly while i guard the door. his hands are so frozen and he is so nervous, he can’t even untie his shoelaces. “hurry up!!!” i yell. “i can’t hold back the crowd!” actually, there is no crowd...it’s all in my head. pray fajr inside the masjid. subhanAllah! are we lucky or what?! come outside...there’s light. the sun has risen. we missed the sunrise. oh well...so did everyone else. no one could see the sunrise due to the fog from the rain. no matter. we experienced something more beautiful. how many of you out there who’ve climbed mt. sinai prayed inside the masjid? yeah...i thought so.
1st time i climbed mt. sinai, i was blessed with the sweetness of the sunrise. the 2nd time, i was blessed with being the gatekeeper of the masjid. nothing can beat that. but i must admit...i’ve had it with mt. sinai. no more for me. and i vow to that.
posted by sarwath at 2:26 PM
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