a trip to the Holy Land : Madinah Al- Munawwara (Part 1)

this time around, the trip to the Holy Land is something that i really2 look forward to because it's something that i NEEDED to do. unlike previous times, masa kecik2 dulu, i dont think masa tu i ada rasa apa2 sgt masa pegi Tanah Suci..maklumla, budak kecik bukan tau apa2..pegi sana pun sbb parents bawak kan..lainla skrg dah besar ni..pegi pon dgn hajat, balik pun dgn hajat. semoga dimakbulkan hajat2ku itu , amin ya rabbal alamin :)

so finally, on August 12th, we left Malaysia for Jeddah - on a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight.

kitorg pegi under UTAS travel & tours. okla kot..my mom took this travel agent because they're able to get us hotels which are near to Masjid Nabawi in Madinah and also in Masjidil Haram in Mekah. unlike Tabung Haji, mmg service they provide sgt2 bagus (in fact sesiapa yg baru 1st time nak pegi Umrah, i mmg highly recommend pegi under Tabung Haji Travels because they look out for you very well) - but the minus point is that dorg tak sediakan hotel yg dekat dgn masjid. takla jauh sgt actually, utk org muda2 bole je jalan..my mom lak mmg nak hotel yg less than 100 metres drp pintu masuk masjid tu because of her knee Osteoarthritis - tak larat dia nak jalan jauh2 kan. kali ni, jemaah yg pegi Umrah under UTAS travel ada 23 org in total, tak ramai sgt.

ni view i amik drp dlm plane otw to Jeddah. nampak desert terbentang luas kat bawah tu.





sampai2 je kat airport Jeddah, it was almost dusk. tgh2 beratur kat immigration tu, azan maghrib berkumandang plak. pak2 arab customs tu plak awal2 lagi dah cabut pegi berbuka. penyudahnye kitorg sume terus duduk atas lantai kat depan immigration tu, and broke our fast with some food that we managed to tapau from the flight.


as soon as we were done with immigration + stuff (which took us almost an hour!) - we wheeled our trolleys out to where our bus had been waiting to take us to Madinah on that same night. usually, sesiapa yg pegi Umrah/Haji ni, mmg akan mendarat kat Jeddah. and from there, sama ada they take a bus or a flight to Madinah pulak. kalau naik bus mcm we all, it took about 6 hours in total. mmg sgt penat..dgn lenguh kaki dlm 8-hour flight tu pun tak lega lagi, ni kene naik bus pulak kan.

nak dipendekkan cerita, smpai2 je kat Madinah dah hampir subuh. lepas turunkan beg dr bus + checked into the hotel, kitorg freshen up a bit and went for subuh in Masjid Nabawi.

ni la Masjid Nabawi drp luar. gmbr ni tak nmpak kubah hijau yg terletak betul2 atas makam Nabi Muhammad (pbuh). now masjid ni dah byk improvement. u all nmpak tak benda mcm tiang tercacak2 tu? believe it or not, tu sebenarnye 'retractable umbrella' tau (if that's what they call it la. that's what I called it anyways ;P).

haa..ni gmbr lebih jelas lagi tunjuk payung tu tgh mengembang at the back of this picture, ade jugak yg tgh kuncup kat bhgn depan tu. gunanye payung ni, bila tghari panas terik (mcm time zuhur or asar), dorg akan 'inflate' these so called umbrellas so that takla panas sgt. they helped a lot really. kalau tak tu, masa 5 years back i igt lg, mase tu takde retractable payung ni tau..mmg panas sgt2..bila jalan je atas lantai marmar putih tu, smpai mata tak boleh bukak sbb terlalu terik, plus white kan reflects light. sgt la silau jadinye. kali ni sejak ada retractable payung ni, it's been a lot better dah. my mom kata sebiji payung tu mahal gila2..yela..teknologi die power tu..i rase tak penah ade lg kot masjid lain dlm dunia ni yg ade retractable payung kan? mesti berjuta2 kos die tu..nasibbaik Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ni mmg kaya ek. hehee

ni masa Zuhur - panas sgt2 sbnrnye. tp disebabkan ade payung tu, jadi redup je.

cantik kan payung2 ni?

this is a typical scene of how a bazaar looks like just beside our hotel. kat Madinah ni, diorg lebih rancak berjual berbanding dgn kat Mekah i rasa. sbbnye, right after subuh je (dlm kol 5am plus), dorg dah bkak kedai dah..kalau kat Mekah, kol 8am lebih baru most of the shops bukak i rasa. hotel kitorg sgt2 dekat dgn masjid nabawi tu, tak smpai 40 langkah kot. so everytime pegi or balik masjid mmg lalu la bazaar ni..ada mcm2 jual: baju, jubah, fruits, wangi2an, tasbih, bags, u name it. semua ada.

ni pulak..haaa..jgn terkejut. this is a picture showing an Indonesian food outlet just in front of my hotel. tgkla gmbr2 makanan yg die jual tu: ade jual bakso, goyang lidah (ataupun known as goreng pisang according to my sister), and also 'sup buntut' (aka sup ekor. Indonesians kat sini mmg suke kot masak sup ekor ni..merata2 i pegi kalau ade Indonesian restaurant, mesti ade menu 'sup buntut' ni. nama die..adeh..takleh lg obscene ke? hehee)

actually kan, dekat tanah suci ni (either Madinah or Mekah), mmg sgt2 ramai Indonesians yg dah menetap kat sana. ramai yg bukak business, ramai jugak yg keje jadi tukang bawak jemaah from Msia, and ramai jugak yg jadi maid kpd mak2 arab yg kaya raya tu. kiranye kat sini u all mmg gerenti akan terserempak la dgn Indonesians ni. so takla rasa mcm out of place sgt kan :)

on day 3 in Madinah, we went on a visit organised by UTAS - tempat2 yg dilawati termasukla tanah perkuburan Baqi', Masjid Quba', pasar kurma, bukit Uhud & sepatutnye kitorg pegi melawat kilang al-Quran jugak, tp kilang tu belum bukak lagi masa ktrg smpai.

ni gmbr Masjid Quba' dari luar. masjid ni masjid pertama yg dibina oleh Nabi Muhammad (pbuh) masa baginda mula2 berhijrah ke Madinah. sbb tu, pahala bersembahyang dlm masjid ni diumpamakan mcm pahala if u buat satu kali umrah. besar pahla tu kan. jadi kalau dtg ke Madinah ni, sila la pegi masjid Quba, atleast utk solat sunat tahiyatul masjid & solat Dhuha. dpt la pahala buat umrah kan :)

next stop was pasar kurma:

tgkla betapa ramainye manusia kat pasar kurma ni. semua pakat borong kurma. kat sini ada mcm2 jenis & grades kurma yg dijual. ada kurma Nabi/kurma Ajwa', kurma Ambar etc. besides kurma, ada jugak jual nuts eg cashew nuts & pistachios.

ni namanya kurma Nabi aka kurma Ajwa'. kalau dtg Madinah mmg tak sah if we all tak beli kurma ni. kalau makan kurma ni, u either eat 1 piece, 3 pieces or 5 pieces or 7 pieces at one go (nombor2 ganjil). sbbnye sunnah Nabi mcm tu. harganya mmg mahal sikit, 1kg = 80 riyal (lebih kurang RM 80 sekilo). kurma ni ada byk gred sbnrnye, ada yg lagi mahal drp ni, and obviously those tastes better la kan. tp kat pasar ni yg paling elok yg 80 riyal sekilo ni. i asked mom to buy 1 kilo, sbbnye kurma Nabi ni i nak buat stock masa i jadi houseman nanti. dah siap pack2 dah in small plastic bags dah, utk letak dlm poket whitecoat i nanti. mane la tau kot2 mase tagging nanti tak sempat nak makan kan..hahaha..mcm2 kan i pk utk dibuat stock masa housemanship ni. lepas ni ape pulak i nak buat stock ek...heehe ;P

ni chocolates - Arab mali. ada kurma salut with chocolates jugak.

ni pulak rupa kurma yg mentah ie fresh dari pokok. boleh dimakan dah ni..infact ade je org2 Arab tu sedekah kat masjid kurma fresh ni. rasa dia juicy & manis jugak, tp pahit at the same time. tak mcm kurma yg kite slalu makan tu, those are all dried dates.

ni gmbr pokok kurma utk sesape yg tak penah tgk. hehee. yg terjuntai2 tu buah kurma la :)

hari ke 4, we all dah bersiap2 utk bertolak ke Mekah pulak. sedih sbb tak boleh spend more than 3 days kat Madinah. besar pahalanya solat kat Masjid Nabi Muhammad saw ni. masa kat Masjid Nabi ni jugak, tak sah kalau tak ziarah Raudhah (ie sebahagian drp Masjid Nabi yg merupakan taman2 syurga. kalau berdoa kat Raudhah ni, Allah janjikan doa2 yg makbul insya allah.) cumanya, nak ke Raudhah ni, ade time2 die. utk wanita usually lepas subuh smpai sebelum zohor, dan jugak lepas terawih. selalunya dekat Raudhah ni ramai pengawal2 wanita Arab yg akan jaga, sbbnye terlalu ramai manusia nak masuk ke Raudhah, sedangkan kawasan tu kecik sj sebenarnye. berpusu2 org akan berebut2, tp kali ni dorg dah buat sistem baru - diorg akan kumpulkan sesiapa yg nak masuk ke Raudhah ni ikut negeri asal masing2. contohnye, org2 Malaysia & Indonesia akan dikumpulkan kat satu bhgn, org2 dr negeri Syams or Syria akan dikumpulkan satu tempat lain, mak2 Turki plak akan dikumpulkan satu tempat lain, dan dorg2 ni akan dilepaskan masuk ke Raudhah mengikut time masing2. biasanya jemaah dr Malaysia/Indonesia akan dilepaskan masuk ke Raudhah last sekali. bayangkan la hari tu my mom and i pegi kol 7 pagi, we all had to wait smpai kol 10pg baru la dorg lepaskan kitorg2 dr Asia ni masuk ke Raudhah. bygkan la kitorg kene tunggu 3 jam.mmg menguji kesabaran..tp pengawal Arab tu sendiri ckp, dorg lepaskan kitorg last sbb die tahu kitorg penyabar & tak aggressive berbanding dgn mak2 arab yg lain..saiz badan pun kebanyakan nye petite2 je kan org2 Asia ni, lainla kalau nak dibandingkan ngan Mak arab or mak2 turki..mmg boleh pengsan kalau kene tolak ngan dorg. so all in all, i think sistem dorg yg baru ni agak efficient jugak, although jemaah Msia/Indonesia la yg paling teruji kesabaran skali :D

ni la die gmbr Raudhah, salah satu dr taman2 syurga. (gmbr ni amek dr internet je, of course i takde mase nak snap picture masa tgh 'berperang' dgn manusia kat dlm Raudhah tu. sgt sesak ok).

Dari Madinah nak ke Mekah kene naik bas jugak, perjalanan dlm 4 hours plus mcm tu. kitorg bertolak tghari lepas zuhur, berbuka pun dlm bas je. UTAS sediakan packed food, tp on the way tu ade jugak ktorg berhenti kat tempat2 makan utk solat, kebetulan ade pak Arab yg sedekahkan 'Nasi Sabil' ie Nasi Arab. nasi arab cam biasa la, ayam dgn nasi die yg panjang2 tu. kenapa dipanggil Nasi Sabil tu mungkin sbb org yg sedekah ni kan selalunye 'Fi Sabilillah' (semata2 kerana Allah), tu yg jadinye Nasi Sabil nama die kot? hehee pandai2 je i ni ek. ;P

fuh panjang la pulak entry kali ni. i think i'll stop here first for part 1, utk part 2 (Mekah), i'll upload later ok? :)