That night I decided to do a last Tawaf around the Ka’bah. I wore my thobe rather than the ihram clothes but I made the mistake of trying to enter through King Abdul Aziz gate. This gate is only for the ground floor of the mosque where the Ka’bah is and you must be wearing the ihram towels. So as I was walking I felt a hand grip my arm and as I turned round there was a soldier who said “ihram”.
I stood there for a few seconds as I was really hoping to go in and then he lightly pulled another brother’s ihram clothes to indicate you must be wearing this. I walked back after this as that was my mistake.
As I walked back out initially I had thought to go back to my hotel. This was more due to disappointment than anything. But as I was walking I briefly found a housekeeper – the ones who constantly wipe the floor of the mosque. I explained as best as I could, pointing at my thobe and pointing back towards the mosque as if to say how can I get in. He seemed to understand and pointed me to another gate on the right side of the abdul aziz gate. This takes you to the second floor of the grand mosque where you circle anti-clockwise with the Ka’bah to your left just below.
It was less busy than my experience doing umrah but still very busy. The key difference was that a lot of people were sitting on foldable chairs facing the Ka’bah whilst reading the Quran. So this area was more an area to sit peacefully as you would do in any mosque. There was also sufficient space to walk and do a Tawaf if you so wished. I really enjoyed this area and wish I had spent more time there or even gone to the higher floors.
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