The secret of the green hat was well acknowledged by our group by the end of yesterday's Haj rituals.
Since Day 1, everyone had wondered why I was wearing a green straw hat to Haj.
"I'll wear it there in case I get lost, they can find me easily," I told my mother as I was packing.
It turned out to have a much bigger role.
As we continued our most critical Haj rituals two days ago, and drowned endlessly in the flood of pilgrims wherever we passed, one thing distinguished our group - my green hat.
Many became lost during the jamarat, so the tallest man leading the group waved the hat up high as we walked and the lost ones managed to find us.
I was so worried we would lose our main source of guidance when it fell off my head as my leg slipped between the train and the platform at the Arafat metro station.
I was pushed by the stampede into the train and my leg just slipped. Luckily a passenger grabbed me quickly inside and my hat was found soon after.
The hat also protected me as I performed jamarat on the last morning. A stone hit the back of my head and I hardly felt it under my headgear.
Jamarat is when pilgrims throw seven stones at the three spots where Satan tried in vain to talk the Prophet Ibrahim out of slaughtering his son Ismail, and where he tried to turn Ismail against his father, and where he tried to turn Lady Hajar against Ibrahim.
It is a pillar of Haj where many pilgrims have died in the past and I was terrified.
But it turned out to be the most fun of all. When you enter the jamarat area the scene fills you with fear and excitement.
You see so many arms moving back and forth as quick as the wind. The sound of the stones hitting the wall and pillars echoes in the air.
"How big are their stones to cause that pound?" I asked my friend.
The stones are supposed to be round in shape and the size of a hommos bean so they do not hurt anyone.
I wanted to make sure that my stones reached the area where we were supposed to throw them, so I took a spot in the first line.
That can be the riskiest spot, because stones were sure to be thrown my way.
But with the green hat, everything seemed possible.
I lowered my hat and body as if I was escaping bullets until I reached my spot, then I jumped up and down to throw one stone after the other, until I finished seven for each.
When I was done, I sneaked out again with head and shoulders low, struggling to find my friend Samira, a 24-year-old nurse from the UAE delegation, who was cracking up at my performance.
The person next to me was very serious as he kept chanting "Allahu Akbar" with each stone.
Another woman threw her stones very quickly in silence and rushed out.
It is sometimes the smallest objects that add flavour to what we do in life and turn a basic action into a joyful one.
[ hdajani@thenational.ae ]
Diriyah project at a glance
- Diriyah’s 1.9km King Salman Boulevard, a Parisian Champs-Elysees-inspired avenue, is scheduled for completion in 2028
- The Royal Diriyah Opera House is expected to be completed in four years
- Diriyah’s first of 42 hotels, the Bab Samhan hotel, will open in the first quarter of 2024
- On completion in 2030, the Diriyah project is forecast to accommodate more than 100,000 people
- The $63.2 billion Diriyah project will contribute $7.2 billion to the kingdom’s GDP
- It will create more than 178,000 jobs and aims to attract more than 50 million visits a year
- About 2,000 people work for the Diriyah Company, with more than 86 per cent being Saudi citizens
Kill Bill Volume 1
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Uma Thurman, David Carradine and Michael Madsen
Rating: 4.5/5
Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
Barbie
Director: Greta Gerwig
Stars: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, America Ferrera
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 540hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 2,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Kerb weight: 1580kg
Price: From Dh750k
On sale: via special order
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
Voy! Voy! Voy!
Director: Omar Hilal
Stars: Muhammad Farrag, Bayoumi Fouad, Nelly Karim
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
FA Cup final
Chelsea 1
Hazard (22' pen)
Manchester United 0
Man of the match: Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
The five pillars of Islam
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.