Alhamdulillah, I'm back :)
A journey to the land of Prophet (may peace be upon him) brought many magical experiences. Seeing with my very own eyes that our Prophet (peace be upon him) did exist, makes me believe in different perspective. Subhanallah. Thank you Allah for letting me be there :)
1st day: with my family at Soekarno-Hatta Jakarta.
Indonesia and Saudi have 4 hours time difference. We arrived at Jeddah at 6 pm (but it's 10 pm at Jakarta), and continued our road to Madinah.
Actually, going to Madinah has no relation with umrah. Muslims went there for ziarah. There's a super beautiful mosque: Nabawi. It's the mosque of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), he participated in the construction, and became imam there.
From hajjumrahguide.com: According to Hazrat Anas, the Prophet (peace be upon him) has also said:
"The person who offers 40 prayers consecutively in my Mosque, without missing a prayer in between, will secure immunity from the fire of Hell and other torments and also from hypocrisy." (Musnad Ahmad)Subhanallah. Salat in the Prophet's mosque is better than a thousand salats at any other place (except at Masjidil Haraam).
At Masjid Nabawi, we can also visit our beloved Prophet's tomb. Allahumma shallii 'alaa Muhammad...
Pict 1 (source: wikipedia): Outside Masjid Nabawi. Pict 2 (source: abusaid): Lighting of the mosque at night . Pict 3 (source: muhammadassad): The giant umbrellas are closing! Pict 4 (source: muhammadassad): Inside Nabawi, golds everywhere. Pict 5 (source: my camera :p): Before leaving Madinah. Look at the beautiful giant umbrellas. They are automated!
You'll be amazed at the architecture of Nabawi. The dome (kubah) will open discreetly after fajr, and close again when the sun gets hotter. We are not allowed to bring camera to the mosque, and however, let us just pray and dzikr to Allah inside the mosque without being interrupted by camera-things :) Outside the mosque many many many giant umbrellas are beautifully built, and automatically open when the sun rises and close automatically at sunset.
Before or after salat, there are many sellers selling unique things such as pashmina, muslim cap (peci), tasbih, etc etc. Outside the mosque also many Arabic restaurants where you can find kebabs and rice, even ice cream. We can eat at the park near the mosque, a beautiful small green park.
We also visit masjid Quba, which has been said, that 2 rakaats of salat sunnah there, equals to one Umrah.
Pict 1: Outside Masjid Nabawi, beautiful city of Madinah. Pict 2: Sellers and buyers on action outside Nabawi. Pict 3 below pict 1: Park near Nabawi. Pict 4 & 5: Masjid Quba.
Dates Market also available for shopping many kinds of dates (kurma), nuts, and chocolates filled with dates. Here we can try whatever we want. Yes, for free. But if you want to bring them home you should buy minimum half a kilogram.
Dates Market
Spend great times at Madinah, but the best moment is always at Masjid Nabawi. Wanna be there again... Feel close to Allah and Muhammad the Prophet (peace be upon him), salat with thousands of muslims, drinking zamzam water, reading Qur'an... Subhanallah alhamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illallah allaahu akbar!
to be continued