Alhamdulillah on the first nine days of the holy month of Ramadan, I went to the two holiest cities, Madinah & Makkah. I preferred to explore these places by myself but on research it was almost impossible to get a visa unless through travel agencies. I chose to accompany my mom and dad as they had arranged with a travel agent to spend early Ramadan there. It was never the same arriving back to Malaysia.
We were only permitted to visit the two holy places within 30 days of the Umrah Visa. There were about 30 of us in the group consisting of families and young senior citizens. We arrived in Jeddah late evening and the time difference was minus five hours from Malaysia. It took sometime at the airport as they were a bit fussy on security plus many had come for Ramadan. Even the airport that we landed on was not the international airport but the airport they used for Hajj. It took us another six hours on bus to our first city, Madinah.
It was a nerve wrecking moment just accessing the Madinah Munawwarah; the illuminating lights of Masjid An-Nabawi made it the most beautiful mosque I ever gazed from a far. We reached our hotel about half an hour approaching subuh shalat and due to some miscommunication we could not check in yet, so we had to wait. I could not falter; instead I head off to the mosque for the subuh shalat.
Often called the Prophet's Mosque, as it is the final resting place of the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W, it is considered the second holiest site in Islam. It is the second mosque built in history. One of the most notable features of the site is the Green Dome over the center of the mosque, where the tomb of Prophet Muhammad S.A.W is located. Subsequent Islamic rulers greatly expanded and decorated it. Early Muslim leaders Abu Bakr and Umar are buried in an adjacent area in the mosque. The site was originally Muhammad's house; he settled there after his Hijra (migration) to Medina, later building a mosque on the grounds. He himself shared in the heavy work of construction. The original mosque was an open-air building.
After shalat my dad brought me to greet salam at Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. tomb. We had only two days in Madinah including a day of fasting. Every time the azan is called out, the people would not waste their opportunity to shalat at the mosque and even daily businesses were closed for a moment. The Madinah locals would usually supply food for the people who break their fast in the mosque.
We did a trip around Madinah on the second day. First we went to Masjid Quba which was the first mosque built by the Prophet S.A.W in Madinah when he did his hijra (migration). The trip goes on to the date (kurma) farm. There were 17 types together and the best one to break your fast with is the Rutob date. Soon after we went to the foot of Mount Uhud located at the northern side of Madinah.
Battle of Uhud; the polytheist of Makkah just went through a great defeat at Badr and decided to take revenge by attacking the Muslims in Madinah. There were 700 men against 3000 men of the polytheist. The prophet S.A.W appointed 50 archers on Mount Ramah that helped their first bout of victory and the Polytheist retreated leaving behind the spoils of war. The archers left their positions to gather the spoils despite of what Prophet S.A.W had told not to leave on whatever the scenario. At seeing this, a flank of the Polytheist army came around Mount Ramah and attacked the Muslims from behind and many were martyred, even the Prophet S.A.W was injured and his incisor tooth broken. They managed to defend themselves.
Our last destination for the trip was Masjid Qiblatain. It was known for the change of Qiblah for the first time from Jerusalam to Kaabah when Prophet S.A.W was offering his Zuhr prayer and the change of Qiblah was revealed. Besides that we visited other places like the Quran factory (but it was closed), Khandaq (Trench) and the date Market.
We left for Makkah Mukarramah at 1130am the next day supposedly at 9am but the bus driver overslept. It was sad to part Madinah but I had to move on to do my Umrah (less pilgrimage) in Makkah. We had to be in Ihram - a sacred state (a person in the state of Ihram must not tie any knots or wear any stitched items) before leaving the hotel and if we were to do Umrah from Madinah we take our Miqat (being in Ihram state) at a Bir Ali mosque just a few kilometres outside Madinah. In the Prophet S.A.W days it took about eight days & eight nights to journey from Madinah to Makkah through the desert on their camels but for us, its more a less about five hours. We checked in the hotel infront of Masjidil Haram around 5pm, and there was little time to perform Umrah before the break of the fast. So, my parents determined to do after terawih, as we did not want to miss the 20-rakaat tewarih at Masjidil Haram.
For Umrah, after being in ihram state, the pilgrim performs a series of ritual acts symbolic of the lives of Ibrahim (Abraham) and his second wife Hajar, and of solidarity with Muslims worldwide. These acts of faith are: (1) perform a tawaf, which consists of circling the Kaaba seven times in an anticlockwise direction. (2) Perform a sa'i, which means rapidly walking seven times back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwah. This is a re-enactment of Hajar's frantic search for water. The baby Ishmael cried and hit the ground with his foot (some versions of the story says that an angel scraped his foot or the tip of his wing along the ground), and water miraculously sprang forth. This source of water is today called the Well of Zamzam. (3) Perform a tahallul or taqsir, meaning a cutting of the hair. A taqsir is a partial shortening of the hair, whereas a tahallul is a complete shave of the head, except for women, as they cut a little amount of hair instead.
Makkah was so developed, as there were many buildings and skyscrapers just outside the Masjidil Haram. I could feel the heat as it reached up to 43C and the thousands of people mounted up the temperature. The crowd in Masjidil Haram can be out of control at times compare to Masjidil Nabawi because Masjidil Nabawi have a front and a back but Masjidil Haram, the Kaaba is the centre of Qiblah, so everyone comes from every direction of the mosque. My dad guided me on my first Tawaf followed by Sa’ii. Getting lost with your group was considered normal. I had never felt so many people at one place with one intention, to submit to God. Alhamdulillah my mom and me managed to perform an Umrah each day within our week stay. We tried different timing each day, just to avoid the crowd. Performing an Umrah during the day were less people compare during the night but during the day we were fasting. We even tried after Zuhr when the sun was directly glaring above us but still there were so many. The duration of Umrah could be done less than two hours but sometimes it took up to four hours. There were three major test that we faced performing an Umrah during the Ramadan 1> dehydration (fasting) 2> the summer weather (can be up to 50 C) 3> the crowd (can reach more than one million people). Patient was the cure and only God knows.
Our daily routine were mostly Shalat at the mosque, sleep between two Shalat prayers or performing an Umrah, break fast (iftar), terawih and sahur. We took our Miqat by bus or minivan at At-Taneem mosque (this is for people who lives or stays in Makkah wanting to do Umrah) because we had to go outside the haram area before reentering and At-Taneem was the closest which was located just outside the border of Haram. We went for a trip around Makkah on one of the days. To my disappointment, the trip was mostly just viewing from the inside of a bus because of the Ramadan and the heat. First we went to Mount of Thowr, located 4km south of Masjidil Haram. The cave of Thowr was on the top of the mountain that was known of the spiders, which helped the Prophet S.A.W from being found from the people who wanted to kill him on his spreading of Islam just before his hijrah (migration) to Madinah. On our way to Padang Arafah, we stopped by at a little famous mountain called Jabalur Ramah. It was said that Adam and Eve met here after being sent down on earth. We went through the places that in need to complete a Hajj, from Arafaat, Mudzalifah and Mina. There were hundreds of shelters that can accommodate for about 3million Hajj Pilgrims and were sectioned on continents, regions and countries. We took our Miqat at Jaraanah this time (another alternative).
A monorail train station in Makkah was built to ease the travels of Hajj in 2009. There was a controversy when constructing the monorail station. The Chinese Railway Company had won the multi billion contract for implementing the 450km rail road linking the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah via Jeddah and Rabigh. The conflict was that the company wanted non muslim Chinese workers but non-Muslims were not allowed inside Makkah (Haram area). So, they discussed among the educated class of muslim legal scholars and authorities on this matter. One Ulama' did not allow it to happen. After much debating, they decided it was to consider an emergency case (darurat) - meaning it was allowed because they needed the train for the better good and there were no other options. So they went on with the construction and Alhamdulillah, God had other plans. Over 600 Chinese nationals working on the Haramain Rail project have embraced Islam. Their conversion took place 24 hours after getting books introducing Islam in Chinese language at their work site at Arafat, which is outside the Haram area. The workers that converted were invited to do the Hajj by Saudi Arabia last year. They also did a trial with the monorail and will be properly operated this year.
I wanted to socialize more but it seemed like everyone here, had only one motive. Every time I did my prayers in the mosque, it was always a different person from another country. Sometimes we chat or getting to know one another but only for there and then. There were so many Muslims from all around the world and different mazhabs (teachings) with only one thing in their heart, to have a place in heaven. I will go there again one day! InsyaAllah!
