29 Jan 2006

Madinah

Repin and I are now in Madinah, which is the final stage of our pilgrimage. We have to perform 40 salats at the Prophet's (PBUH) mosque- Masjid Al Nabawi. The Hotel is bigger but there are more people too so its always crowded. We hve to fight to get in the lifts and every morning we go down early , just to get a place.
Here it is less demanding and we can do things more at our own pace. I love the mosque. It is so huge we can get lost in it. The building itself is islamic architecture at its best. The walls are all decorated with beautiful engravings and designs. The stone pillars inside the mosque are also engraved, in gold and gray marble. Actually I cant find the words to describe its beauty and if this is beautiful what more paradise, the abode of our holy prophets and all good believers.
The masjid is always crowded though. If we come a bit late we have to sit outside and if its the early morning prayers the cold wind will surely make you shiver. In the afternoon its the heat of the sun though since this is still January, its not as hot as it would have been otherwise.
Although we spent much of the time in prayers, we also did a lot of walking around and window shopping. The shops are bigger and perhaps more expensive though. Sometimes we are taken for visits - to some of the other masjids that the Prophet (pbuh) had prayed in. We also visited the site where the battle of Badr took place and the graveyard where the matyrs were buried. We are not allowed to stay there and pray - we can just recite a short prayer and move on.
I was supposed to pray at the prophet's (pbuh) tomb but there were so many people.I did my prayers but hurriedly, afraid I would be trampled on. The Indonesians , who were also with our group were quite rough. They'd push and elbow anybody in their way.
We were in Madinah for exactly 8 days - the required number of days for us to be here if we wanted to get the 40 prayers at Masjid Al Nabawi. Our flightback to Kl was very early in the morning on 31st January. It was a long wait at the airport. Finally at 9am in the morning we took off, back to home sweet home. I cant wait to go home.

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