Articles by Basmah Salam:

Chapter 27: After Hajj, For the Rest of Life (Hajj series)

Visit MuslimahSource.org every Monday and Thursday for a new chapter to this Hajj adventure. Only a few chapters remain in the series. Stay tuned… On my way back across the world I was a little dazed and confused. I was almost telling myself that this was it. I was going to spend the remainder of my life traveling. The truth is, our itinerary is incomplete. We do have a destination we are waiting to get to. Right... Read More →

Chapter 26: The Last Pit Stop Before the Start (Hajj series)

Visit MuslimahSource.org every Monday and Thursday for a new chapter to this Hajj adventure. Only a few chapters remain in the series. Stay tuned… Our Gulf Air flight landed in the Jinnah International Airport of Karachi and I stepped off the flight and walked through the quiet halls of the airport with all the other groggy passengers. It was just before sunrise and Abdullah and I were ready for a long nap. But... Read More →

Chapter 25: Flying Away (Hajj series)

Visit MuslimahSource.org every Monday and Thursday for a new chapter to this Hajj adventure. Only a few chapters remain in the series. Stay tuned… We were relaxed but I wasn’t going to remain that way because as the sun set and the plane took off from the Jeddah airport. I couldn’t stop coughing no matter what. My coughing just went on and on and I couldn’t get a break from it. I didn’t know... Read More →

Chapter 24: Leaving Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Visit MuslimahSource.org every Monday and Thursday for a new chapter to this Hajj adventure. Only a few chapters remain in the series. Stay tuned… Abdullah and I had no idea that the Jeddah airport was going to become home to us for the next several hours. We made it through the glass door behind our Asian friends who looked like they were in a rat race form the way they wanted to practically trample over one... Read More →

Chapter 23: Leaving Jeddah… Almost. Not Really… (Hajj series)

Visit MuslimahSource.org every Monday and Thursday for a new chapter to this Hajj adventure. Only a few chapters remain in the series. Stay tuned… We were pretty cozy in our spot on the cool airport tiles. That’s where we parked ourselves after checking in our bags at the Jeddah airport and now we were waiting to board our flight… except we weren’t at our gate yet. We were still in the baggage checking-in... Read More →

Chapter 22: There and Back Again (Hajj series)

Visit MuslimahSource.org every Monday and Thursday for a new chapter to this Hajj adventure. Only a few chapters remain in the series. Stay tuned… I woke up as the rocking bus came to a stop. I tried pushing out my sleep and absorbing my surroundings simultaneously. The sun’s light was breaking over the horizon and there were crowds of people hustling all around pushing carts or pulling suitcases. We were... Read More →

Chapter 21: Good-Bye to Saudi Arabia… Well, Almost (Hajj series)

Visit MuslimahSource.org every Monday and Thursday for a new chapter to this Hajj adventure. Only a few chapters remain in the series. Stay tuned… I stood in the chilly air of Masjid an-Nabawi’s courtyard and seemed to be frozen there. The breeze picked up the end of my abaya now and then, tugging me to move forward. After a brief mental freak out I got my wits together and thought about this logically. Where... Read More →

Chapter 20: Visiting the Grave of Prophet Muhammed (sal Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) (Hajj series)

Visit MuslimahSource.org every Monday and Thursday for a new chapter to this Hajj adventure. After much waiting in the hotel’s lobby Abdullah finally showed up and asked if I was ready for the mission we were about to embark on. I was all like, “Yeah, yeah, of course. Let’s just get going.” I didn’t understand what the big deal was – we’re just going to a gravesite. But it wasn’t any grave,... Read More →

Chapter 19: The Mountain of Uhud (Hajj series)

Visit MuslimahSource.org every Monday and Thursday for a new chapter to this Hajj adventure. More than a decade ago I remember standing at a wired fence in some desert in Saudi Arabia as a little kid. My parents must have made Umrah (the Lesser Pilgrimage) and this was one of the tour spots we stopped at but I was very confused. I was surrounded by weeping adults holding their hands up in prayer. I was standing... Read More →

Chapter 18: The City of the Prophet (sal Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam) (Hajj series)

Visit MuslimahSource.org every Monday and Thursday for a new chapter to this Hajj adventure. In the cold, I barely wanted to move, but someone was tapping me and gently tugging the covers off of me. In a calm voice someone helped lift me up and slowly walk me to another bed, then tuck me into it. I was coughing, my nose was stuffy, my eyelids were heavy. Why was it so cold? What was happening? Was it fajr... Read More →