Ziarah to Madinah Al-Munawwarah

30th April 2012

9 days lapsed in Makkah Al Muqarramah with so many unforgettable memories . And it was time for us to bid farewell to the Kaaba. *sobs*

After having our last lunch at the Thawrat Al Monsia Hotel, we started our journey to Medina for another six hours in the bus, while listening to the preach from our young mutawwif, Ustaz Harist. 

 

The journey stopped briefly for Asr prayer and dinner in the middle of desert with a very little settlements around. The musolla was in the midst of renovation, thus we didn`t have options other than performing prayer on the ground, with the sky as the roof. Not to mention the hardship that we faced during performing the ablution while covering ourselves from the men at the open area. It was a sweet hardship in the end, tho.

And when our obligations was fulfilled,  it was time to eat- again~

                                                                        Nasi Yaman- a plate for five

We reached the Medina Al Munawwarah city at 8pm  and decided to call it a day in the hotel.

1st May 2012

It was the first 'ziarah dalam' to Raudhah,which is located in Masjid Nabawi. We were brought by our musyidah into the mosque and spent almost half of the day to get into the Raudhah. 

Raudhah is said as Garden of the Eden, and it will be lifted to the heaven on the Judgement Day. The Raudhah area is physically covered with green carpet while the rest of the floor is covered with red carpet. It has area of 144 square meter and more often than not, is rushed with hundreds of jemaah at one time. By logic, it is hard to get a space for prayer, let alone to sujud. But when Allah s.w.t allows it, the space will be enough for us to perform proper prayer in the dense area. So basically it depends to one's rezeki. At this point, all we had to do were to keep praying for smoothing our efforts and tawakaltuallallah~

The female guards were everywhere around the waiting area to closely monitor the behaviours of incoming jemaah. We were told that strict monitoring to all jemaah is a control measure taken to ensure that the purity of the makam from all khurafat and other sinful rituals.

 All jemaah were divided into clusters. As for Indonesians, Singaporeans, and us, the Malaysians, we were grouped into the Malay cluster.Oh yeahh.. the crowd of women jemaah to get inside the area were soooo big and compact, that even the Arabic female security guards were seen instructing in Malay when they screamed to us "ibu, thuthuk! thuthuk! (duduk)"  in order to ensure the queuing crowd was under control. And most importantly, every single of us who patiently waited there will get the equal chance to enter the Raudhah, for it is a mustajab spot for our du'a. 

 

Raudhah is situated between the mimbar of the mosque and the  makam of Rasulullah and sahabah (Abu Bakar As-Siddiq and Umar Al-Khattab), thus it is highly advisable for us to wish salam to Rasulullah, and sahabah before proceeding to perform prayer -or as the matter of fact, before the guards screamed and shoved us out to give way for the next crowd. Pfftt!~

And again, after the hardship to get into the Raudhah area, lies the sweetness of it at the end of the day. Alhamdulillah, Allah granted us the chance to be there longer than we were allowed.

                                                                          Masjid Nabawi night view
2nd May 2012

The second day in Medina was arranged with 'ziarah luar'. Most of this visit were to historical mosques. Firstly, we were brought to Masjid Quba, which is the first mosque built on piety by Rasulullah s.a.w as soon as he reached Medina for Hijra.  It was narrated that Rasulullah has once said that who left their home to this mosque in wudhu', thus they will  be rewarded  like that of umrah. And for that reason, our mutawif even called us in the room to ensure that we did perform the ablution before leaving our room that morning.

                                                                   Zera and Masjid Quba

The next mosque that we perfomed tahiyatul masjid prayer was in Masjid Qiblatain. According to the story from our mutawwif, the direction for prayer (qiblah)  for this mosque historically facing to Masjid Al- Aqsa, Palestine. And it was commanded by Allah s.w.t in His revelation to Rasulullah s.aw. when He granted the wish of our Rasulullah s.a.w to face the same qiblah with Nabi Ibrahim a.s, that is Kaaba in Masjidil Haram.

Indeed We see the turning of your face to heaven, so We shall surely turn you to a qiblah which you shall like; turn then your face towards the Sacred Mosque, and whenever you are, turn your face towards it, and those who have been given the Book most surely know that it is the truth from their Lord; and Allah is not at all heedless of what they do 

                                                                                               Surah Al Baqarah :144

The ziarah took us to the Jabal Uhud, where Perang Badr took place. It is where the grave of Saidina Hamzah r.a and other syuhada is situated. Some of us managed to go closer to the little cracked wall of the graveyard, and when the wind blew, they could smell nice scent coming from the area. Subhanallah..

Afterwards we went to the dates farm. 

But most of the time there was spent in the shop rather than the farm itself. Hehe. So this is the place  to get the freshest and finest quality from various types of dates-according to Ustaz Harist.

The last visit was to the Pasar Kurma. When it was mentioned as 'pasar', my mind started to wildly imagine it as a crowded market like we do have in Pasar Payang, Pasar Selayang or Pasar Siti Khadijah for that matter. But I was totally wrong, for the said 'market' was only a few shop lots which sell almost similar items that are dates, raisins, nuts and many more.

 Oh wait, let`s not jump into conclusion that quick. Perhaps they are varies in term of the quality of the selling items. Ok2 .:p

No matter how small the pasar was, the shopping excitement was never being any lesser. We spent hundreds of riyals to get all the munchies for the guests back at home later.

 

The shopping spree wrapped up the ziarah of the day and for the trip itenerary per se. And to my surprise, my cash meter  reached almost empty by this point. Nevertheless, we were more than satisfied with what we bought for the trip to the relatives and friends. Yippi!~

Most importantly the ziarah throughout the trip has opened our eyes and heart  to see and understand better  the Islamic revolutions from Rasullullah s.a.w period via its treasures which still stand strong before our eyes.

 And yes, likewise the rest of jemaah who reached here, I pray that I will come back again,  as a much better muslim, sooner or later. Amiinn~