Silent Is GOLD: .::. FINALLY MADE IT TO HOLY CITY-PART 1 .::.

.::. FINALLY MADE IT TO HOLY CITY-PART 1 .::.

Posted by AdikRose at 8:28 AM

30 May 2009
Day-1 : KL-DOHA-Jeddah-Madinah

Eight of us departed from KLIA at 00.55 am. Transited in Dubai for 4 hours.
Arrived at Jeddah airport at 02.00 pm and I was tired flying up and down from Malaysia to Doha, Qatar to Jeddah in 12 hours.

Soon exiting the arrival gate our passports were pulled together by the Umrah officer. The officer just glanced slightly towards me and asks for my Muhram so our passport was processed together. They took hubby's photo and fingerprints. That was normal procedure that Saudi immigration needed to copy the entire passport. It took nearly an hour to do that.

Everyone was asked to handover their passport after we leave the immigration area so

we were wondering if that's the right procedure. Our travel agent representatives met us

and say it's OK they'll handle everything..

The journey from Jeddah to Madinah by an air-condtioned bus took about 5 hours.

Ustaz Najamuddin, from Adalusia Travel was already waiting for us. Took a bus to Madinah and Something wrong with the bus front door so we’ve changed bus when the tour operator realized unexpected thing would came up. The rear bus moved too slowly.

We stopped on the way to perform asar prayer. The landmark is Lulu supermarket.

Our coordinator prepared a packed meal so everyone just sit or stand to eat

around the supermarket area. I don't feel like eating anyway so I put it back and just

take a bottle of mineral water. We continue our journey after that and most

of us fell asleep in the bus.

We arrived at our hotel in Madinah at 09.30 pm. Checked-in at Fairuz Al Satar Hotel. We gather at the hotel for taklimat and handling of keys while the hotel staff handles our luggage. We rest for a while, clean up and head to the mosque for prayer. Masjid Nabawi is only a short walking distance from our hotel. My first impression of Madinah was true. It is peace and tranquil city. The Hotel was right outside Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (which was also massive, 600,000 capacity). But the inside was amazing! The ceilings, chandeliers, the artwork, the pillars, everything was simply amazing.

My kid and my nephew at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Transit for 4 hour At Doha, Qatar International Airport.

At Jetplane, Qatar Airways going to Jeddah.

Beautiful view as we're landing at Jeddah airport

I've changed some money the day before at quite a good rate.

View of the mosque at night

Giant umbrella

Inside Al-Masjid al-Nabawi

31 May 2009
Day-2: Madinah al-Munawwarah

After the Subuh prayer and take nasi lemak for breakfast and gather at the hotel lobby

by 07:00 a.m. for ziarah around the masjid area. It's a very short ziarah. The ladies were

advice to try to get to Raudhah after that since it's opening time for ladies.Once inside the mosque, we were segregated based on country. The lady guards would roughly know where you're from and would call "Ibu, Ibu, sini..." to Malaysians and Indonesians. The lady guards looked intimidating in their black abaya but if you look closer, they are very slim and young. Probably one of the criteria to be accepted to work there is they must have a loud voice. The Turks and Iranians were not the least bit intimidated by them. They would try to get around the guards but to no avail.

We were the second last group to be allowed to enter the Raudhah. I'm very thankful and managed to perform solat sunat and do'a while in there.

We visited makam Rasulullah to say Salam from family and friends.
"Salaam upon you Ya Rasulullah
From me and from the one who has requested me?
To convey Salaams to you."

At the Raudhah recited the dua'.

"Ya Allah,
Fulfill our needs,
And make our affairs easy,
And open our hearts
And accept our visit
And remove the fears
And grant us safety
And conceal our faults
And forgive our sins
And remove our difficulties
And let our end be with our good actions
And count us with your pious servants
Who do not fear or grieve by your mercy

I have no idea what happen to the male in our group so I walked back to the hotel and called our room. Hubby's and my kids reached our room already. It's already past 11 a.m. when I reached our hotel.
We went to the mosque for Isya'. I managed to get inside, iktikaf before prayer.
We return to hotel for dinner and went out again to walk around and do some shopping. Other than the shops, there's also open market so we were spoilt for choices. In one of the shop, the shopkeeper said Malaysia... Turkey... while pointing to hubby and me.
I smile and said," La! Malizia" In other shops, they would say Malaysia... Arab...while pointing to hubby and me :)I said the same thing. MasyaAllah they would say to hubby hehehe...
My Arabic vocabulary is very limited. Interestingly, some of the words I know, came to me one by one from memory. And as I was walking around, I can understand some of the road signs. We return to hotel at about 11 p.m. and fell asleep around 11:45 p.m.

Thank Allah for that.

Here's the original mosque with the green dome enclosed within the grand new mosque building. From our hotel, we couldn't see this dome. We have to walk to the front of the mosque to see it. We can enter the mosque through so many entrance and there are entrance at all sides of the mosque. We were told last time the mosque were closed from midnite to 3 a.m. but now it's open for 24 hours. We can see people in and around the mosque all the time either praying, reading the Qur'an or just hanging around with their family members inside the mosque compound spending their time together, even having their meals there.

Ar-Raudah An-Nabawiyah-The heart of the mosque, which extends from the house of the prophet to His pulpit.

Grave of Prophet Muhammad(SAW)

01 April 2009
Day-3: Madinah al-Munawwarah

We woke up at 04:00 a.m. That's considered late here. Azan is at 04:46 a.m. and we normally have to be at the mosque at least 10-15 minutes before the azan to get inside the mosque peacefully. So we reached the mosque quite late and by the time I reached the female praying area, there's no doubt I have to pray outside.

After the Subuh prayer and breakfast, got ready for ziarah at historical places around Madinah. Visited Masjid Quba’, Masjid Qiblatain, Masjid 7, Jabal Uhud and the Tamar Souk.

All along the journey, we were enlightened with interesting stories and tazkirah by

Ustaz Najamuddin.

As usual and I was kind of getting used to the delayed, the bus left the hotel at 08:30 am.

First destination was Jabal Uhud (Mount Uhud) and also to the ‘Perkuburan Shuhada’’.

The battle of Uhud took place here when the enemies of Holy Prophet (SAW)

tried to destroy Islam.

Three thousand soldiers from Makkah faced 700 followers of Holy Prophet SAW). It is here that the Holy Prophet (SAW) wounded and His uncle Hamzah was martyred. At the foothill is where he and the other Muslims are buried. There a lot of local street retailers were selling souvenirs and religious items.

After that we were heading to Masjid Qiblatain.

In the early days Jerusalem was the Qiblat.It is here that the Divine Order came to

pray towards Makkah. The original qiblat still clearly maintained.

I performed 2 rakaat Sunnah prayers inside.

Next we went to the Masjid Quba. This mosque is 4 miles from Madinah and is the

first Masjid built by Prophet Muhammad (SAW). I performed 2 raka’at Sunnah

prayers inside.

The last venue, we went to the Dates Field… “everyone’s crazy buying dates and chocolates made from dates” berebut-rebut ok”.. At noon…we make our last stop at the

Dates Market before heading back to the hotel…

Below are some pictures.