Ali Shahalom

The crowd has swallowed them.

I can't see them anywhere.

My wife's lying there unconscious, my parents are missing, and some random woman has been sick in my banana bag.

Everything goes from 100 miles per hour to super slow motion.

For the first time on this entire journey, I'm truly feeling hopeless.

Alhamdulillah, mum and dad appear through the back door of the bus and give me a huge hug.

I'm overcome with relief.

Everything's going to be okay.

I sit them down just as my wife starts to regain consciousness.

I gently brush the hair from her face and smile.

She then looks up and says a phrase I'll never forget.

Ali, I'm going to be sick.

Where's that banana bag?

Somehow we've made it to the final stage of our Hajj, Jamarat, where thousands of pebbles shower down on these enormous rock structures.

We're pelting the devil firm.

When Prophet Abraham was on his way to sacrifice his son upon Allah's command, Satan tried to stop him.

Not once, not twice, but three times, cuz.

Satan basically invented pop-up ads.

Each time, Prophet Ibrahim rejected the devil by throwing stones at him.

Now, we reenact that moment by casting stones at the three pillars in Jamarat.