Summary:
In this video, Alban Fejza goes through his checklist of items to prepare for his 2025 Hajj journey, explaining what each item is for.
Video Transcript:
Praise be to God. There is no other God except God. Are you planning to travel for Hajj pilgrimage during this year? If yes, let me give you a helpful checklist about what items to prepare for your travel. I titled this video my 2025 Haj travel checklist because this is my checklist for this year and some of these things might not necessarily apply to you or in another year. So, it’s not a one-sizefitsall type of video, but it’s very helpful to give you ideas about what might apply to you. Then, based on your own circumstances or depending at what time in the future you are going to Hajj or from which place you are going to Hajj, you might have to remove some things or you might have to add some things. Nevertheless, this is a good starting point to just give you a general idea about what you have to prepare for the Hajj travel. So, here is my checklist. You can take a screenshot of it to use it to doublech checkck what you might want to prepare for your Hajj. Now let’s go through all the items in the checklist one by one. Passport check. Umra visa check.
Phone check. Airplane ticket check. I saved it on my phone so that I can access it even without internet. Reserved hotel name and address. Check. I also have it saved on my phone. Very important. So that when you go to Saudi Arabia, you can tell the taxi driver where to send you. Next item, wallet, check, about $300 cash for emergency purposes and food, plus the credit card. You might need more money if you haven’t paid your hotel room or some other payment yet. Iram checkram is basically two very big white towels. Today they mostly come in similar sizes with very slight variations. I’m quite also I went for the ones which are 45 in by 90 in which is 114 cm by 228 cm. But any of the sizes on the market will probably work for anyone. I also got one which is not too thin so that the shape of my body cannot be seen through it but also not too thick because it would take too much space in my luggage. I tell you how to wear the amam in another Friday sermon video titled how to wear theam. If you are a woman, you have to wear a modest dress instead of anam. Next item belt foram. Check. Not necessary, but I wasn’t so comfortable without it last time when I went to Hajj. So, I plan to use it this time because it’s not easy to find it in the market. God willing, I am bringing one for free for each submitting man who is coming to Hajj with us during this year. When we get there, God willing, I’ll give you one. Phone charger, check. Travel adapter, check. In Saudi Arabia, they have type G sockets like this, which are the same as the ones they use in UK. I have an international one here, which includes the UK plug type. That should do the job. If you really can’t find one, you can coordinate with your hotel roommate to see if you can share one or you might have to use your phone less during Hajj to make sure that you have enough battery for emergency purposes. Underwear, check. Undershirts. Check. Three shirts or t-shirts. Check. The one which I’m wearing, of course, and two extra ones. Pants like this. Check. Just the ones which I am wearing should be enough. I wanted to get better ones which I have, but they don’t fit me comfortably anymore. I have gained some weight. So, I’m settling for these jeans. Not the best option, but they are allowed. I only need one pair by the way because most of the time I will be wearing the aam, God willing. Next item, toothbrush, check. Toothpaste, check. They don’t allow toothpaste which are bigger than 100 ml at the airport. I got one which is only 20 ml here. If you can find a small one like this, then you can take chewing gum which refreshes your breath. This is only important because we will be sitting near the other people that are at the sacred masjid and we don’t want to make it unpleasant for others if our breath smells bad. Next item, backpack check. Now I won’t need this when I and it is not recommended when I visit the sacred masjid because it takes too much space in a crowded place. So God willing I will leave it in the hotel room during the visits to the sacred masjid and Safa and Marba which are indoors environments and I will take it when we go to Arafat Musa and Mina which are outdoors environments. It will be very useful there to carry food and water and other necessary things. Next item, carry-on baggage. Check. It’s smaller than 55 cm by 40 cm by 23 cm so that it can fit in the overhead cabin in the airplane. In this way, I don’t have to pay extra at the airport for the luggage. Plus, more importantly, I do not have to wait for my luggage at the airport when I get to Jeda. Next item, sandals. Check. These are my sandals. My Crocs. They are just about within the religious requirements because they do not cover my heel and my ankle. I had these already, which is why I’m taking them. They might not be perfect for stepping on hot pavements in the desert, but I will take my chances this time in case they don’t work perfectly. I can stay more under the shades. Sun UV umbrella check. It’s hard to find this umbrella in the markets outside of the American online markets like Amazon. So for those who do not live in the US, God willing, we will bring a free umbrella for everyone when we meet you there, God willing, we’ll give every submitter an umbrella like this. And last but not least, coupon for animal sacrifice. So the way it is set up today is that I bought the coupon for the animal sacrifice online and then this authorized the agencies which are appointed by the Saudi government to sacrifice a sheep on my behalf and distribute it to the poor. They can do it anytime even before I travel for Hajj and that is fine as long as it is done before I finish Hajj. They already sent me the confirmation that they did complete the animal sacrifice. So I’m good to go in this aspect and that’s it. These are the things which I have prepared for my Hajj travel God willing. And now let me remind you about the most important one. Verse 197 in chapter 2 of the Arabic Quran tells us to take provisions for the Hajj travel which are these or others. But it also tells us that the best provision is righteousness. So righteousness is what you should truly care about when you go to Hajj. Now when I get there to Mecca, I plan to buy food, water, and the prayer mat. I don’t need the prayer mat when I visit the sacred mazjid and Safa and Marva because it is indoors, clean and nicely paved. But the prayer mat will be helpful when I go to Arafat, Musalifa, and Mina because those are outdoors environments. And there in addition to using it for the contact prayer, I can also use it to sit and rest on it to protect myself from the potentially scorching rough ground when I sit. So these were my Hajj preparations for this year and may God bless your Hajj travel if you intend to go.