Sometimes just hearing the name “Mecca” is enough to make something collapse inside my chest. It feels as though my heart has remained beside the Kaaba while my body lingers far away in this earthly distance. The thought of that first gaze upon the Sacred House, that heavy silence between tears and supplication, that sea of lovers whispering one Name… how can anyone witness such a scene and ever feel settled again?

The obligatory Hajj is not merely a journey; it is a return to one’s origin. A place where you remove the colorful garments of the world and stand before God in two simple white cloths, saying: I have come, without title or status. Longing for Hajj is longing to become simple again—to reach that moment when nothing stands between you and the sky.