It's a little bit overdue, but continuing where
I left off..
Madinah (12 - 15 Jun)
By the time we left Makkah, I was already slightly sick. There was a day in Makkah where my phlegm was green (apologies for the tmi), but I prayed to God to hilangkan my sickness and it did went away for a full day (over night it turned white guys - with God's power!) and then by the time I was about to leave it started coming back.
On my way to Madinah I slept - what else does Aisya do in a moving vehicle right? Hehe. We stopped for prayers at this mosque (imagine that, here we have rest stops and over there they just have lots of mosques for buses to stop and people would be selling around it) and for the first time, I felt the heat of Saudi Arabian summer. It was unbelievably hot!!!! 40+ degrees all the while I was in Makkah, and it really didn't feel like much (other than it is just so glaring because the mosque is covered with white marble) but the moment you're no longer in Tanah Haram/ "blessed land" - BAM! It hits you. This is all to prove God's power, he can make 40 degrees feel like it's just really sunny but still cool or he can make 40 degrees feel like you're near a burning bonfire.
When we were about to arrive, Daddy woke me up and on our way to the hotel we caught a glimpse of the Prophet's Mosque (Masjid Nabawi) and as usual (it was a very emotional trip guys) - I cried. Not only that the mosque is so grand with all it's beauty but also the thought of knowing who is inside the mosque is - subhanAllah.
Mummy: There, that's the mosque. You cakaplah, "Assalamualaikum Ya Rasulullah, Aisya dah sampai!"
Our beloved Prophet (p.b.u.h), the most selfless, loving, kind (and all the good things you can think about) man ever, there he rest in peace in the mosque - subhanAllah :') Plus I am now in his favourite place ever. Because of his doa, Madinah is blessed as another Tanah Haram and apparently when it's Judgement Day, the people who died in Madinah will be woken up first before anyone else in this world. (Upon knowing this, I changed my doa to die in Madinah instead of Makkah, lol. People ask, "You nak buat apa bangun dulu?" but I'm sure only chosen people gets to die in the two holy cities. I wanna be chosen!)
Anyways, upon reaching the hotel that's when my sickness got worse. I have an allergy towards pollen right (they give super bad sinus - the kind where bau jer and I can feel my veins in my nose towards my brain restricting), and guess what's at the lobby guys?!?!?!
Pretty as they were (Farm thought I hate them - I love flowers okay! I just can't stand them for long w/o anti-histamines and lilies, which are my favourite, are the worse for me), but passing by it to go to the mosque was a challenge every time. I really hope I didn't offend anyone when I cover my nose as I walk thru the lobby..
So the entire time in Madinah, I was not in my best health - but still, ask and you shall receive so anytime I feel weak, I will just ask God for physical strength.
Anyways, since we jamak Zuhur and Asar prayers on the way to Madinah, I didn't manage to perform my Asar prayer in Masjid Nabawi upon arrival. So instead the first time I entered Masjid Nabawi was for break fast and Maghrib - such a lively time for any mosque during Ramadhan, I'm sure.
This was at the environment at gate number 25.
Oh and also since came like idk 15 minutes before buka(? - see, there's no Madinah Amazing Race :p), I didn't get to see the umbrellas closing. Mummy said I should go and wait after Subuh for the umbrellas to open and come earlier for Maghrib to see it close. So I thought, okay I will and insyAllah I'll get to see it.
See, the spirit of Madinah and the spirit of Makkah is very different. In Makkah you're always rushing whereas in Madinah it is very chill (for this reason is why my parents always prefer to go and settle their umrah first in Makkah before coming to Madinah). I didn't have to rush to go to the mosque, in fact dah azan pun and if I'm still in the hotel, insyAllah I'll still get a place in the mosque.
Volunteers will come and greet you and ajak you come to their place for them to give you food for buka puasa, but my parents being the gung-ho parents they are insist on buka-ing in the masjid (tak kira lah Masjid Nabawi or Masjidil Haram), so we (Mummy and I) always had to decline them. But this is what it looks like outside!! Told you, lively!
When you buka outside you get such elaborate dishes but inside you're only allowed to bring dry food (like bread, kurma, etc.) and no meat (the guard actually asked me when I wanted to enter the mosque for Isyak if I had meat in my bag when I accidentally forgot to take out the bread in my bag that I got during Maghrib).
Anyways, for my first buka in Madinah, I decided to wear a telekung (because it is most comfortable and don't need to worry about hair terkeluar time sembahyang or anything) but since Mummy wanted to bring me to Raudhah that night, she made sure that I wore all black for Isyak.
See, Raudhah is this area in the mosque where the Prophet (p.b.u.h.) has said:
"In between my house and the mosque (original Masjid Nabawi) is one of the garden of paradise/ heaven".
Can you believe it guys, if you get in there, it's like you got into heaven!!! It is also where the Prophet's (p.b.u.h.) tomb is at, along with his two best friends Abu Bakar and Umar Al-Khattab.
There is a hadis that said if you perform your Umrah and then come visit the Prophet's tomb at Masjid Nabawi, it is as if they've come and visited him while he is still alive. And if you do not visit him, it is as if you've forgotten him (nauzubillah).
So of course there'd be an amazing race for this (literally). And how the systemised it is they segregate you by countries and the Arabs gets to go in first whereas the Malaysians and Indonesians go in later.
Mother insisted that we go in with the Arabs cause she didn't wanna wait for long.
My attempt of blending in...
See how much I stood out otherwise amongst the Arabs during Maghrib?
This is what Raudhah looks like:
This is the inner of the
Green Dome (only accessible by the males, so I can only take live stream TV pic)
The Green Dome from the outside.
Right underneath the Green Dome is the Prophet's (p.b.u.h.) grave (along with his two best friends).
And right next to the Prophet's (p.b.u.h.) grave is reserved for Nabi Isa/ a.k.a Jesus. I didn't know this but this blew my mind away! Eventhough Nabi Muhammad's (s.a.w.) grave was nearby Aishah's place, and actually Umar's (r.a) grave was inside Aishah's house, even Aishah wasn't burried next to the Prophet because she gave it up for her father and Umar..
Oh Aishah - eventhough I was named after you but I am nothing compared to you.
She was such a modest lady that when Umar was burried in her house (& the Prophet's of course), she covered her bedroom with curtains and would still jaga her aurat.
From the ladies' side (it is relatively smaller compared to males' side) not to mentioned you're actually not supposed to take pictures, but I sneaked to hehe.
Anyways probably worth mentioning that an experience in Raudhah is very unique.
As soon as the doors opened people would actually run. Mummy said I should be "faster" so I ran too and while running I thought, "Omg this is so fun!!!!" lol. Dear God, I am sorry if my running displeased you as it is probably not so Muslimah-ish.
By the time I got inside I was in the second saf to pray solat sunat (after giving my salam to the Prophet p.b.u.h.). but Mummy wanted me to pray at the first saf, so that was a whole new battle - literally. These ladies are no joke man! But alhamdulillah, I managed to perform my Solat Hajat there and then quickly went out to give way to other people.
When I got back to the hotel, Daddy was already asleep but we woke him up and asked him to buy shawarma & briyani for us hehe. Then I told him my first Raudhah experience and he laughed, because for guys it is very different as they have bigger space. In fact Daddy managed to stay in Raudhah for a good two hours when he went for the second time.. So lucky! Mummy said if I come during off-peak season (right after Haji season), it'll be calmer in Raudhah - so insyaAllah one day I'll get to sit in there longer.
Now on to the other beauty of the mosque: its umbrella!
I like to imagine that these umbrellas were inspired by the angels' wings - they say when Gabriel spread his wings it will be very redup, so I thought that's how the architect got his idea..
And another cool thing about this mosque (I swear I am very jakun about Masjid Nabawi, I was amazed with lots of its aspects - both interior and exterior. It is easily my favourite mosque in the entire world) is some of it's dome.. It slideeeeeeeeeeeessssss!!!!!!
This was my view before Maghrib.
During this time Mummy already told me that the dome will open later at night and I thought "uuuuu I really wanna see that!!"
And to my surprise right after I finished Maghrib, it opened and what greet me was the moon (I have really high affinity towards the moon) :') It was so beautiful!!
We also went to Masjid Quba' - the first mosque Nabi Muhammad (s.a.w.) ever built and if you take wudhu' at home and come to this mosque and perform two rakaat of solat, the pahala is equivalent to one umrah.
Not long after it was time to leave Madinah, and on my way to the airport I saw this and thought it's the coolest thing ever!
It's the word "Allah" on
Bukit Uhud. I find it much cooler than the "Hollywood" or the "Desa Park City" sign eventhough it's quite small actually.
Mummy & I at Madinah's Airport, we decided to take a selfie because of the umbrella-like architecture, they really like their angels wings!!
Anyways, post-Umrah reflection and resolution will come afterwards, I have other things to attend to now.
Thank you for reading guys, hopefully you enjoyed reading about Makkah & Madinah and it opened your heart to visit them. I pray that whoever wishes to visit these two cities will get the opportunity to.
