Madinah Al Munawarah

The funny thing about our trip from Turkey to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was we were supposed to go to Madinah Al Munawarah. But our flight was booked from Istanbul to Jeddah. And flight made a stop at Madinah first (but of course we all tak leh turun situ!!). Frust betul... sebab dah sampai dah.. tapi tak leh turun.. and yet kena sambung another 45 mins journey to Jeddah... and later.. kena naik bas 5 JAM to Madinah. But the best thing was... we could see Masjid Nabawi from up above when our flight left Madinah for Jeddah.... Subhanallah, it was very, very beautiful!! Once we reached Jeddah... bila beratur kat imegresen Arab tu... kena queue sekali ngan orang2 Indon yg nak kerja kat sana. Orang lain semua senang je lepas.... tapi hubby and I (who queued belakang Indon2 tu)... kena check cop jari lah (5 jari okay!) kena ambik gambar lah... bla, bla. We were the last person yg lepas la kira..... hmm... sampai2 je dah diduga eh? Tu baru Jeddah you... belum sampai tanah haram lagi tuh! :)Anyway, di Jeddah airport, kami disambut oleh Ustaz Mahmud, wakil Andalusia dari Mekah. Ustaz Mahmud ni boleh tahan kelakar... alhamdulillah, we really, really enjoyed his company. We stopped by for dinner on the way to Madinah at a local restaurant. Makan nasi dalam kotak.... tapi memandangkan dah lama tak dapat makan nasi ala2 masakan Malaysia kan... so... perghh!! Sedap aje laaa... !! :D Take note that... throughout the journey.. my batuk dari Malaysia itu hari belum elok lagi nih! So asyik batuk je lah sepanjang jalan!Madinah is as beautiful as ever!! I always love this city.... (I can understand why Rasullah saw fell in love with this beautiful city!). It's very beautiful... very civilised.. it's very peaceful to be there. Our hotel, Al Fayroz is very, very near the Masjid Nabawi, alhamdulillah.... Senang nak visit Rasullah saw and syukur alhamdulillah, I managed to go to Raudhah a few times.... They have a new system nowadays to enter Raudhah.... it's probably better kot.. I mean the new system. Diorang segregate the muslimah into their nationalities... so Malaysian and Indonesian dapat masuk Raudhah sekali lah... should be easier this way... insyaAllah.

Our hotel... Al Fayroz... very near to Masjid Nabawi... alhamdulillah :)

Our room.... very, very cozy.... alhamdulillah :)

On the first day.. walau pun kepenatan... kami sempat dibawa visiting a few places in Madinah like Tanah Ubat, Medan Magnet, Bukit Sejadah and Bukit Uhud.

Near the Medan Magnet. Kawasan Medan Magnet ni is believed to ada kuasa magnet. Kat area ni.. our van (yg dlm gambar ni) dimatikan enjinnya (tapi handbrake dilepaskan of course)... the van boleh bergerak sendiri up to 140km/hr.... amazing kan? Subhanallah...

Naik ke Bukit Sejadah... tak tinggi pun...

Believed to be bekas tapak Nabi Muhammad SAW
(kawasan yg licin sebelah kaki my hubby tu).. Wallahualam.

On the 2nd day, we had to leave Madinah for Al Ula and Madain Salleh. I was quite excited to visit Madain Salleh - tempat tinggal kaum Tsamud (kaum Nabi Salleh). When Izzaty was in standard 3, in her Sirah subject (KAFA), she learned about Kaum Tsamud yg engkar pada perintah Allah dan seruan Nabi Salleh. Kaum Tsamud ni ada kelebihan utk mengukir bukit/batu menjadi rumah/tempat tinggal. So what we saw in Madain Salleh was kesan2 tinggal.. bukit yg dah diukir oleh kaum Tsamud.... beautiful! Tido one night at Al Ula...

The next day, we visited the Al Ula Old City, the Old Railway Station, ect. After Friday prayer, balik to Madinah....

Al Ula Old City....

The Old Railway Station, Al Ula..
Been there... done that! :)

Back in Madinah, on the 4th day, we visited Masjid Quba, Masjid Qiblatain, Kilang Al Quran, Bukit Uhud (yeap... we went there 2 times!), Ladang kurma and Pasar Kurma :)

Our first destination... masjid Quba... kalau kita ambil wuduk from home (in our case, our hotel la kira ya!), and solat 2 rakaat at this mosque... pahalanya umpana membuat satu umrah! Subhanallah....

Tasting the kurma(s), and delicious coklat kurma at ladang kurma ;) Bab2 free tasting... tak leh tolak.. hahaha! :D

Free tea at ladang kurma... :) Free lagi... ahak!Kilang Al Quran at Madinah. Ladies tak rasa la masuk kilang ni... kena dok kat setakat library aje. Gambar ni hubby tolong ambilkan since I tak leh masuk! :PThe guys dapat free tafsir Al Quran sorang satu.... TAK ACIIIIII!!!!!! :P Yg jelesnya... si kecik Farhan tu pun dapat... uwaaaa!!!Bukit Uhud (2nd visit)... kali ni sempat la sopping sket2.. haha! Ada jual macam2 herbs @ ubat-ubatan kat sini. I bought ubat zuriat (teringat kat a friend - Siti Addyanirayati yg dah lama mencuba... tapi belum ada rezeki.. hope this herbs helps!), ubat asma (for MIL) and ubat athiritis (for my mom)... 3 ni for SR10 :)
Last destination... masjid Qiblatain. Masjid ni ada 2 kiblat (2 mihrab). Rasulallah SAW tengah solat di masjid ini bila diturunkan wahyu utk tukar kiblat dari Al Aqsa (Baitul Muqadis) to Kaabah (Masjidil Haram).

After Dzuhur, sempat la posing for the last time kat Masjid Nabawi.... (I'm gonna miss this place! *sob*!).

Posing before leaving Masjid Nabawi.... after doing ziarah wida...

We were supposed to get ready after that sebab nak ke Mekah dah after lunch. Tapi sampai je kat hotel I accidently met an old friend from my tkc days - Nani Rahayu. Subhanallah... banyak2 tempat, kami jumpa di tanah suci Madinah ini. Punya lah seronok dapat jumpa!! It's Nani's first umrah experience and she looked so excited. She came with his son, sister and parents. Good for her! :) Excited sangat borak... lupa lak nak bergambar... ceh! Ni kenangan ni... patut capture in a pic... betul tak?!

We later left Madinah after lunch.... singgah sat kat Masjid Bir Ali (miqat for umrah) and Mecca... here we come!Hubby and Ustaz Mahmud... all ready in ihram clothes :)

Labbaikallah hu malabai....
Labbaikala shari kala kalabaik...
Innal hamda...
Wannikmata...
Lakawal mul...
Lasharikalak..