In Madina

In Madina, we were blessed with lovely weather but even for me it was a bit hot and i had a slight fever, maybe because of the heat, and then running into the air conditoned hotel and getting a shower...silly of me.

The mosque was manned by security personnel who were strict - I found it sad that at a house of God you have such strict security but i suppose they did not want any bombings or scuffles. We tried our hardest to be at the front of the Rawda near where the Prophet and his companions were buried but found it hard to push against bigger sized travellers - I was stubborn though and just stood my ground and prayed at my spot , despite being stepped on, or my head pushed because i just wanted my special moment with God there.

.. For women pilgrims, the visiting time at the Rawda was between subuh (dawn) and dzuhur (noon) so with that limited time we made full use of just being in there and basking in Allah's blessings (hopefully!). The area at the Rawda was so pretty - the vibrant carpets and colours made it look so special! I wanted to stay  there forever ..!

The guide assigned to us was a young Indonesian and he was extremely patient  - it was great because my dad finally had male company!We were  brought to the dates souk where the various types of dates were mind boggling - some were really big while others almost as dry as nuts (great soaked in milk). We also saw the Prophet's favorite type of dates..small but delicious! He brought us to see famous sites, among them the site of the holy wars of Uhud and Badar and the Baqi cemetery where many Muslim warriors and dignitaries were buried.

..Looking at the hills, it was so humbling to see what the Prophet had to go through to bring Islam to the world! I just cannot imagine how he made that arduous and long journey from Makkah to Medina by camel in the blazing heat so long ago.

At other times we took walks around the hotel and found this great souk for jubahs (robes/arbayahs) at the Bahauddin Hotel, just 10 minutes from the Hilton. Imagine 2 floors of clothes - every woman's dream but it felt bad to shop when the intention of the trip was to be closer to God! Nevertheless I still bought many robes and tasbih (prayer beads/rosary) for myself and to give away...