6th April 2012: Journey to Beirut, Lebanon
Our main delegation, which comprised of 7 members departed from London Heathrow at 12:40pm, while 3 members of the delegation departed from Cairo, Egypt.
The main delegation’s journey was halted suddenly when thick fog covered Beirut’s sky, preventing any flights from landing in Beirut. Therefore, our flight was diverted to Cyprus.
After 2 hours of waiting, Alhamdulillah, our flight resumed its journey and we arrived in Beirut at 10:00 at night. Despite arriving later than our plan, we took the opportunity to refresh and purify our intentions.
Meanwhile, the delegation from Cairo faced similar problems. Their flight was initially delayed for a few hours. At 9:00pm, however, the crew announced that the aeroplane would only fly tomorrow and passengers were to sleep at a nearby hotel.
They arrived at the hotel at around 11:30pm, only to be woken up at 1:00am, as the flight was scheduled for 3:00am. Alas, the flight only departed at about 4:00am. But Alhamdulillah, they finally arrived in Beirut at 7:00am just in time to join the rest of the team.
This experience taught all of us patience, and was a good opportunity to remind ourselves of Allah’s power, as He mentions in Surah Ali-Imraan, verse 54:
“And they planned and Allah (also) planned, and Allah is the best of planners.”