Umrah

I have the intention to perform Umrah this year within the next 2 months. I felt very excited initially to go, more so that I would be going alone. Going alone would perhaps make me feel peace within myself without having the distraction of another. Taking someone with more experience would be beneficial most definitely, taking someone else who perhaps has not done Umrah would be a good experience too. I pray that the Umrah is accepted for all brothers and sisters performing it.

There are so many guides to performing Umrah, video's, book's, sites and blogs etc and Alhamdulillah its great. Much research needs to be done for myself within this space of time and I feel the pressure of learning but I am starting to understand more.

There is a guide which I like and although I read it half way I will continue it and iterate over this. A few more sources will be used to help confirm the information and make sure I can learn it without looking at paper.

http://dunyatodeen.wordpress.com/islam/fiqh/fiqh-of-umrah

There are so many questions I have to do research on:

• Can I drink zam zam water without doing a Tawaf
• Can I have a look at the prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) without doing a Tawaf
• How many umrahs can I do, I asked someone and he said I could as long as I go out of the bounds of Makkah. So the question is if I did go out in my normal clothes and change into Ihram where do I put my clothes and bags, can I come back to the hotel to put the things there
• There is much history to learn, so I will need to see more articles, but what are the main thing to see from a historical point of view. Of course there is so much reward I have heard in praying the Jamaat in the Makkah mosque that it is vital to be there.