Umrah and visit to the holy land of Madinah and Makkah

Assalamualaikum & hi.

From 7th May to 18th May, I had this greatest opportunity of all to make an umrah and ziarah Rasulullah PBUH in Saudi Arabia (Madinah Almunawwarah and Makkah Almukarramah respectively). Alhamdulillah, Allah made it easy for me and my family, and made the pre arrangements very smooth and hassle free for us. There were 7 of us: me, Mama, Abah, Pak Long, Mak Long, Mak Andak and my cousin Abang Hafiz. 

My parents, aunts and uncle and cousin made the booking with Andalusia Travel & Tours Sdn. Bhd. somewhere in January while I was still in matriculation. My parents managed to attend the umrah preparation course 3 times... But I only went for 1 time because it was really hard for me to go to Malacca because KMJ's outing only starts after 10am so by the time I reach Malacca there's only few hours till the talk ends and the hall for sure will be packed. Plus, the talk always start as early as 8am. That 1 time attendance was only because I went from home. Balik bermalam. So my Abah and Mama will tell me what they learned every time they visit me xD

Thank you for being there for us. Most of them are Paklong's children and grandchildren.

So here's the summary. Went to KLIA on 7th May at 9~10am. Got all those tickets, food and drinks and Surah Yassin at 11am. Then we listened to the briefings, doa and being introduced to our mutawwif. The briefings took only a little while but by the time we reached the departure lounge, it's Zohor already. Already ambil wuduk before masuk, then solat dalam lounge tu. Habis je solat, pakai apa yang patut-- terus je dia umumkan kami dah kena masuk kapal terbang. Nice timing! Haha.

It  took 11 hours if I'm not mistaken. I sat in the middle of my parents. They had no problem relaxing and sleeping all the way but most of time I'M SO WIDE AWAKE! Haha. Tried to sleep few times but it will only last like 15~20 minutes. So to kill the boredom, I listened to the music and watched a couple of movies.

Then we reached at King Abdul Aziz Airport in Madinah at 7pm something. When we were on our way to the hotel, our mutawwif did a pep talk and believe me: He is so talented. He knows how to win his jemaah's heart. He's like a Wikipedia and 9Gag in the same time. Besides guiding us, he likes to share stories of his working experience as a mutawwif, histories about places we visit and make jokes so that our bus ride was never a tiring and boring ride! He's known as Ustaz Amirul Fahmi.

Reached Madinah's Mawaddah Al-Waha Hotel lobby 2 hours before Subuh prayer.

This is the inside of Masjid Nabawi in Madinah. I was really fascinated with the architecture, so precise and the choice of colours was so eyes-pleasing. I love hanging out here waiting for prayer. It's fun to just sit, read Quran or Zikr, sip the Zamzam water and relax. It was very calm and relaxing. I don't know how to describe the feelings further, but I really love Masjid Nabawi, where lies our beloved Rasulullah. I actually cried when I saw the mosque's dome when we reached there. It touched me so deep in my heart to be so close to Rasulullah....

Outside of Masjid Nabawi. The sun is up, the umbrellas are there for you!

A scenery before Maghrib prayer. Umbrellas down.

The roof was opened 10~20 minutes after Zohor. Usually we stayed a lil bit longer after Zohor because the entrance gates will be very packed so we got the chance to see it.

When we went to Raudhah to pray, it took us a very long time to take turns. The ustazah who comes with us says that it was better for us to took the last turn. Because when you're in there, you can be kicked, pushed, dragged by the crowd. All of them did nothing but try to pray at the Raudhah perimeter. You have to look at the carpet. We all know that all the carpets are in red colour right? But this special place, Raudhah, where lies our beloved Rasulullah, green carpets are used. So imagine if you're going for the first or somewhere in the middle. Imagine to be sandwiched by all those tall Arabian, Pakistani, Turkish women. Nope. We're going for the last turn. But despite all of that, I felt so blessed to even touch Raudhah. No, I can't really describe those feelings. It was too much. If I ever get another chance to enter Raudhah, I won't say no. Bersyukur sangat-sangat.

We also went to Masjid  Quba', Masjid Qiblataini and dates market.

Masjid Quba'. Taken inside of the bus, kinda blurry. I don't have any other decent picture of this mosque.

A panorama of the dates market.

On our last day in Madinah, we coincidentally met this aunt with her daughter who happens to be my best friend's (Ain) neighbour! Terjumpa pulak orang sekampung. Haha. My mama is the one's wearing black telekung and to her left sides are Mak Andak and Mak Long.

 

Then, Makkah.

So Ma3a salamah, Madinah! Assalamualaika ya Rasulullah. We put on our ihrams and ready to go! I guess it took 7 hours to go to Makkah. So along the ride we have to talbiah. I really love that part. Telling Allah we're coming as His guest, hoping for His blessings. 

"Wadi kudai". Wadi kudai is a place our Prophet Muhammad pbuh used to stop to eat and bath. He asked Ummu Maaban something to eat but she had no food left. Her thin goat has no milk at all so he asked her permission to squeeze the milk from the goat. He gave a pat on the goat and promptly the goat become corpulent and it gives out so much milk! When her husband came home,he was taken by surprise as there's more than enough milk for them. He was curious so Ummu maaban described Muhammad's appearance to him. Then she herself searched for the man in Madinah and finally she embraced Islam. Yup, this story was told by our mutawwif. 

So we reached Haneen Al Firdaus Hotel around 10pm, eventually! The hotel is only like 400 meters from the mosque, I think? Alhamdulillah. Then the mutawwif gave us an hour to prepare ourselves and gather again at the lobby to do our first umrah! I'm very grateful for this moment. He guided us to tawaf around Kaabah and then sai'. Then go back to the hotel to have our night rest. 

I don't remember which gate was this one but it located right in front of the clock tower.

Another mesmerizing architecture.

A panorama outside of Masjidil  Haram.

Left: Mama, Right: Mak Andak. After Isyak or Subuh-- I can't tell.

Whenever I do tawaf, I can't get off my eyes from the Kaabah. It's just so beautiful. I always dream of coming here and touch the kaabah but, it's very impossible to go near the Kaabah with the crowds. We did our second umrah after went for ziarah at some places ie: Arafah, Muzdalifa and so on. Then the third umrah, miqat at Tana'im. It's like 15 minutes from our hotel or maybe half an hour... I don't know.

So later it was time to go back home - Malaysia. We have to take a bus to Jeddah as we all have to depart from Jeddah Airport. Ever tried doing nothing on a plane for 11 hours and realised the day has passed when you reach home?

Sehari lebih tak mandi. Dengan lenguh dia, pastu ada batuk-batuk sikit. Penat, but tak akan pernah kata serik. Penat macam mana pun, kalau boleh nak sentiasa jadi tetamu Allah. Sebab bila kat sana, rasa dekat sangat dengan Allah. Hari-hari menangis kenangkan dosa. Hari-hari nangis mintak berkat Allah. Bila kat sana, buat pahala berganda-ganda dapat. Buat dosa pun berganda-ganda dapat. So, kiranya kalau duduk sana terus.... MasyaAllah. Untunglah orang yang bergelar mutawwif. Setiap bulan boleh buat umrah!

I actually took a lot of photos where I can use to elaborate more but I choose not to and just keep it to myself because of some reasons I can't speak of. When the time comes for me to be His guest again, I'll make sure to say a thing or two about it. InsyaAllah, aamiin.

Bye.