The story continues, folks.
Madinah is about a 4-5 hour ride by bus. The temperature in Madinah is much cooler (max 25 celsius and minimum 15 celsius) and therefore it made the 5-times-daily 200-meter odd trips to the mosque more bearable. The area surrounding Masjidil Nabawi is also relatively calmer, unlike in Makkah where there full of beggars, touts, people offering "tahalul"(post-pilgrimage barber services), taxi drivers offering trips to nearby towns, etc. It is also much cleaner with less rubbish strewn around.
I wasn't feeling that well as during the last night in Makkah, I caught a bug resulting in a fever-and-flu situation. This progressively escalated to a full blown pharyngitis/laryngitis so much so that I sounded like Louis Armstrong whenever I spoke.
The first 2 days were spent in Madinah and after that we spent a night in Al-Ula. Al-Ula is a town about 370km north of Madinah and besides being a town where Prophet Muhammad passed through in 630 AD in his quest to spread the word of Allah, it is also a town of archaelogical sites and beautiful rock formations.
When we arrived, we were brought to our hotel, The Madain Saleh Hotel & Resort Al-Ula for our lunch and to check in into our rooms. After lunch and prayers, we went on our first ziarah trip in Al-Ula accompanied by our respective muttawifs and a tour guide from the local tourism office Mr Abu Sultan.
Along the way we saw numerous naked hills which had these stripes of various shades of brown, apparently laid down by many, many layers of molten lava and combined with the sand blown in by the winds which gave them their unique colour.
Our first stop was the Al-Ula Railway Station. Now defunct, this station was one of the stations of the Hejaz Railway built in the early 1900s during the last days of the Ottoman empire.
The railway station with the surrouonding chain-link fence.
Mr Abu Sultan & Mr Ahmad Zubaydi explaining to the group on the history of this railway station.
The windmill which acted as a water pump and provided power for the railway station.
Train wreckage.
Graffiti-laden train wreck.
Nice, huh?
The Al-Ula Police station & lock-up, just adjacent to the railway station, also built during the heydays of the Ottoman empire.
Bulan di siang hari.
Group photo with the tour group. This picture was taken for me by our group's jovial mutawif, Ustaz Abdul Manan who originally hails from Surabaya, Indonesia but must have been around Malaysians a lot as he is able to communicate in Bahasa using a lot of Malaysia-specific terms, rather than the Indonesian ones.
Our next stop was the Al-Ula castle. What is the Al-Ula castle? Well, read the signboard below:
Mr Abu Sultan explaining to the tour group the security system of the 6th Century AD "apartment complex" of the Al-Ula castle.
Apparently, while the husbands are away at work the wives stay at home to do housework and to take care of the kids. So, the house key is kept by the wife. Of course, those were the days before the burglar alarm was invented.
The long climb up the uneven stone stairway of the castle is a bit tiring but the view up there was definitely worth it.
See what I mean?
A view of the "apartment complex" from the top of the castle. These houses are made from bricks made from the local rock and mud was used as the mortar.
This building was a part of the castle complex but somehow was "estranged" from the rest of the buildings, and now it is located on an island near the fork in the adjacent road.
Mr Abu Sultan explaining to the tour group the security system of the 6th Century AD "apartment complex" of the Al-Ula castle.Apparently, while the husbands are away at work the wives stay at home to do housework and to take care of the kids. So, the house key is kept by the wife. Of course, those were the days before the burglar alarm was invented.The long climb up the uneven stone stairway of the castle is a bit tiring but the view up there was definitely worth it.See what I mean?A view of the "apartment complex" from the top of the castle. These houses are made from bricks made from the local rock and mud was used as the mortar.This building was a part of the castle complex but somehow was "estranged" from the rest of the buildings, and now it is located on an island near the fork in the adjacent road.
After Al-Ula Castle, we were taken around the rock formations around the dessert-oasis area of Al-Ula town.
The cool dude with his hands on his hips is me! Behind me is the famous "Elephant rock". With some imagination, you can see that the rock somewhat resembles the sillhoute of an elephant with its head bowed down and its trunk touching the ground.
I have purposely rotated this picture 90 degrees counter-clockwise so that you can make out that the clouds in the centre fo the picture resembles the word "Allah" (in Arabic script, of course).
The ladies of the Umrah group.
The cool dude with his hands on his hips is me! Behind me is the famous "Elephant rock". With some imagination, you can see that the rock somewhat resembles the sillhoute of an elephant with its head bowed down and its trunk touching the ground.
I have purposely rotated this picture 90 degrees counter-clockwise so that you can make out that the clouds in the centre fo the picture resembles the word "Allah" (in Arabic script, of course).The ladies of the Umrah group.
That night, we were taken on a tour round the small town of Al-Ula. There was a sweets shop that we were brought to.
They sold all kinds of candies, sweets, cookies, including the Middle Eastern favourite baklavah.
They sold all kinds of candies, sweets, cookies, including the Middle Eastern favourite baklavah.
After the tour, we went back to the hotel.
The facade of the Madain Saleh Hotel & Resort in Al-Ula.
Flowers at the hotel front garden.
The facade of the Madain Saleh Hotel & Resort in Al-Ula.Flowers at the hotel front garden.
After spending a night at this hotel, we headed on to Madain Saleh the next morning.
Madain Saleh (a.k.a. Al-Hijr archaeological site) is a Unesco World Heritage Site located approximately 20km from Al-Ula town.
This tomb is markedly simpler in design compared to the rest. This simply means that the family in this tomb were poorer than the rest. The richer one family was, the more ornate their tombs were.
Madain Saleh (a.k.a. Al-Hijr archaeological site) is a Unesco World Heritage Site located approximately 20km from Al-Ula town.
This place is mentioned in the Al-Quran in Surah Al-Hijr. In this town were a tribe called the Thamoudians. Prophet Saleh was sent to this people to spread the word of Allah. They refused to believe in Prophet Saleh and challenged him to perform a miracle. With the grace of Allah, Prophet Saleh made a she-camel appear from the rocks. Prophet Saleh told this people that they can drink the milk from the she-camel but they cannot slaughter it.
Despite performing the miracle, the Thamoudians refused to believe in Allah and conspired to slaughter the she-camel. They refused to believe in the message from Allah that Prophet Saleh brought to them. Allah then condemned the entire race to death by a loud thunderclap in the wee hours of the morning.
The place is now considered "cursed by Allah" and there is currently no one living within its area. There are however local and foreign archaeological experts who are doing research on this site.
Madain Saleh (Dedan) was also the second capital for the Nabbatean race, a pre-Islamic tribe of early Arabs who were also responsible for Petra in Jordan. (Petra was the main capital for the Nabbateans). Therefore, there is a lot of the similar rock-sculptured tombs which can also be found in Petra.
This tomb is markedly simpler in design compared to the rest. This simply means that the family in this tomb were poorer than the rest. The richer one family was, the more ornate their tombs were.
There is also a railway station within Madain Saleh. Just like the one in Al-Ula town, this one was also part of the Hejaz railway built by the Ottoman empire and was operational in the early 1900s.
Mr Abu Sultan and Ustaz Abdul Rahman kidding around in a locomotive engine.
Mr Abu Sultan and Ustaz Abdul Rahman kidding around in a locomotive engine.
After visiting the railway station, we went to explore more of Madain Saleh.
The assembly hall of the ancient Nabbateans.
This is Burger King.
This is Subway- you know, the sandwich outlet.
Starbucks Cafe.
Jabal Uhud, where the famous Battle of Uhud took place.
This is the Quba Mosque, the first mosque ever to be built in Saudi Arabia. It was built when Prophet Muhammad first migrated to Madinah from Makkah. A two-rakaah prayer in this mosque is equivalent to performing an Umrah.
Masjid Qiblatain (The mosque with the two qiblahs). This is the mosque in which while performing a four rakaah prayer, Prophet Muhammad performed the first two rakaah facing Baitul Maqdis (Jerusalem) after which he received a decree from Allah to do an 180-degree turn to face Kaabah in Makkah. The remainder two of the four-rakaah prayer was performed facing Kaaba and since then the mosque got its name.
The main prayer hall of Masjid Qiblatain. When I went there in 1984, there used to be a mihrab in the mosque indicating the old qiblah facing Jerusalem. It's gone now and the mosque is much bigger, too.
The assembly hall of the ancient Nabbateans.
After touring Madain Saleh headed back to Madinah.
Madinah has changed a lot since I last went in 1984. There are now a lot of commercial centres, modern buildings, etc. There are also a lot of American fast-food joints and restaurant chains. This is also true for Makkah, Jeddah and I guess practically most of the big cities in Saudi Arabia as well.
This is Burger King.This is Subway- you know, the sandwich outlet.Starbucks Cafe.
Our last day in Madinah was spent visiting sites around Madinah town.
Jabal Uhud, where the famous Battle of Uhud took place.
This is the Quba Mosque, the first mosque ever to be built in Saudi Arabia. It was built when Prophet Muhammad first migrated to Madinah from Makkah. A two-rakaah prayer in this mosque is equivalent to performing an Umrah.Masjid Qiblatain (The mosque with the two qiblahs). This is the mosque in which while performing a four rakaah prayer, Prophet Muhammad performed the first two rakaah facing Baitul Maqdis (Jerusalem) after which he received a decree from Allah to do an 180-degree turn to face Kaabah in Makkah. The remainder two of the four-rakaah prayer was performed facing Kaaba and since then the mosque got its name.The main prayer hall of Masjid Qiblatain. When I went there in 1984, there used to be a mihrab in the mosque indicating the old qiblah facing Jerusalem. It's gone now and the mosque is much bigger, too.
After a few days in Madinah, we took a coach back to Jeddah. We stopped for prayers
at this beautiful mosque which is called "The Floating Mosque" as it was built just beside the Red Sea with a portion of it on stilts on the water.
After that we proceeded on to Grand Saha Hotel for a sumptious buffet lunch before we were off to Jeddah Airport for our flight back to KL.
This was a really nice trip. I pray that Allah grants me longevity as I sincerely hope that this will not be my last visit to the holy lands of Makkah and Madinah. I plan to be back someday for another Umrah and also my Hajj.
Ciao!
Amir Fuad
amirfuadh.blogspot.