Madinah Al Munawarah - City of Tranquility

After 4 days in Makkah we were ready to depart to Madinah. It’s not part of the Umrah but it’s recommended to visit city of the Prophet Muhammad. Madinah is the city of the Holy Prophet and a place of tranquility, peace and refreshment for the soul. It is from here He formed his base for spreading the Message of Islam before conquering Makkah and it is here that he laid to rest. Since the Holy Prophet gave us Islam and taught us everything, the pilgrims is expected to visit Madinah out of love and respect for him.

We were notified to be ready at 1pm after Dzuhur prayer but we had waited 2 hours for the coaches to depart. Exactly 4.02 pm the coaches moved with me and Sattar at the front seat of the front coach. We stopped 3 times on the journey for pray and refreshment. Something wrong with the bus front door so we’ve changed coach when the tour operator realized unexpected thing would came up. The rear coach moved too slowly. We were far behind the front coach but finally arrived in Madinah at 10.30 pm. My first impression of Madinah was true .It is peace and tranquil city. We both checked- in quintuple room on the 5th floor. The room with a view. Panoramic view towards Masjidil Nabawi. Sattar my Umrah roommate in Makkah was sharing in the room together with the other 3 brothers that had arrived on different dates. Khalid, Balal and Tasawar were from the same city as Sattar - Ashton UK but were flying to Saudi through different route via Istanbul. They were in Makkah before too but stayed in different hotel.

They wanted to go together to Masjidil Nabawi right after we sort things out at the Hotel but it took them too long to get ready. I left and a kid showed me the direction, it was not difficult to find since everyone was heading on the same direction. Masjidil Nabawi was big as big as Masjidil Haram in Makkah. It’s majestic with the minarets and domes. The grave of Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAW) is located within Masjidil Nabawi in the southeast corner of the masjid. I prayed 2 rakaat prayer as I got in at Riyad al-Jannah ( literally Jannah: that is the part of al-Jannah is), an area between the mimbar(pulpit) and the grave of Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW)represented by the green patterned carpet. I entered Masjidil Nabawi at the southeast entrance and then proceeded along the corridor passing the Holy Prophet Muhammad grave on my left hand side, recited salams. I sent Du’a to Hazrat Abu Bakar Siddique and Umar ibn Al-Khattab whos also buried alongside him. Then I passed an empty grave reserved for Prophet Isa (Jesus Christ) in the future after his second return and death.
The original part of Masjidil Nabawi is the part where the green and silver dome together with the minaret. Later It has gone through massive expansion with large open praying area around it to cater large amount of visitors.


Day 2
Soon on return to the hotel, I saw notice on the wall requesting us to get ready at 7am for ziarah(visiting) other places of interest around Madinah. As usual and I was kind of getting used to the delayed, the coaches left the hotel at 8.30 am. First destination was Jabal Uhud( Mount Uhud). 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.

We left Jabal Uhud proceeded to Quran factory. It is here the biggest factory that also produces the Noble Quran’s translations into different languages- English, Urdhu,Bangladesh, Malay, Indonesian, Chinese etc. The visit with tour inside completes each one of us with Quran’s translation. I requested for the English translation where the rest prefer in their mother tongue language.

After that we were heading to Masjid Qiblataini. In the early days Jerusalem was the Qiblat. Later Makkah became the Qiblat. It is here that the Divine Order came to pray towards Makkah. It was during Zuhur prayer that the first 2 Rakaats were read facing Jerusalem and the last 2 Rakaats were facing Makkah. The original qiblat still clearly maintained. I performed 2 rakaat sunnah prayer inside.

The last venue was Masjid Quba. This mosque is 4 miles from Madinah and is the first Masjid built by Prophet Muhammad (SAW).We had our Dzuhur(second prayer of the day) prayer inside.