Hajj Trip: October 10

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Posted on a later day, 10.28.13, I chose to keep the dates in mark with their corresponding dates from our Hajj trip for convenience. You can see a link of all the post-trip posts by clicking here and scrolling down. Click here to see the previous day's post and click here to see the next day's post.
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Thursday October 10.

Leaving the hotel, it is incredibly hard to breathe-- the smog, the pollution... I don't know what to call it. But breathing is not fun and masks are necessary outside for this reason as well-- not just to protect yourself from the germs from the oh so many people from all walks of life. Why is it not common courtesy everywhere to cover your mouth when coughing? But somehow, alhumdulillah, you don't feel the smog/dust/pollution in the courtyard of masjid al-nabawi. Its like yet another reason to spend more time there anytime you leave the hotel.

Today, we went on a mazarat tour [tour of holy places] around Madinah. Qari Basit arranged for us group to have a tour guide, Amir, a student studying here so he was able to give us a lot of insight. Along the way, Amir talked about some of the virtues of Madinah, including:

• Whoever dies in Madinah, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) will be an intercessor for them [he will stand up for them].
• Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) made dua that Allah SWT put double the blessing in Madinah than what he put in Makkah. Makkah is THE most holiest city, so you can imagine its significance.

Another thing he noted was that we should constantly make dua in Madinah that "Allah you let me see/pray in this piece of jannat, so please also let me enter jannat". This is in reference to the Rawdah, the green carpet portion inside masjid Al-Nabawi that is believed to be a "jannat ka tukra"-- piece of heaven-- that we pray on. Amir also informed us that in the Prophet's masjid, masjid Al-Nabawi, some tile is different because that's where his well was.

The first place we visited on the tour was Masjid Quba: which is the first masjid to be built. Praying any salat in this masjid gets you a reward for umrah (it's significance, of course, is that sins are forgiven between any two umrahs performed). Every week, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would come here to pray from his house--walking most of the time.

On the way to our our next stop, we passed by Masjid al-Juma, where the first jummah prayers were prayed!

Second place we went to was a mountain... but not just any moutain: Mount Uhud. Some tidbits about it:

• Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) referred to it as it was living. 
• It's also where the Battle of Uhud took place. 
• There is a small mountain in front of Mount Uhud, and that's where the 50 archers in the battle stood during the Battle of Uhud. 
• During the Battle of Uhud, many sahabas were killed. 
• On this mountain, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said that "this mountain loves us and we love it".

Another interesting fact, that Amir discussed was that even though Dajjal can't come into Madinah and Makkah [because angels are blocking it from entering], what will happen is that he will climb the Uhud and look down at masjid al-nabawi and say to his followers: "you see that white palace?" This gave me the chills. If you haven't seen this masjid, you should know that after all the renovations it is indeed one large white palace from the outside.

Third place: the well of Uthman/Usman.
He was married to two daughters of the prophet. The well originally belonged to a Jew and he used to apparently charge large amounts of money from Muslims for the water during a time of great water shortage, but Usman made it free for everyone. There is still water in the well and supports the surrounding area for water.

Fourth place: masjid Qiblatain [mosque of the two qiblas]. In one salat, prayer was done towards two different kiblas. In this mosque, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) received the revelation to change the direction of the qibla from Bait-al-Maqdis in Jerusalem to the Ka’aba in Makkah while leading a jamaat. Mid-prayer, he changed directions and started praying towards the Ka'aba and everyone else followed.

Fifth place: where the battle of trench took place. It happened in the winter after the battle of Uhud. Don't remember much else about this, so will update later if I can.

Side notes:

• interesting tidbit about Saudi Arabia: water is more expensive here then oil. It's a oil producing country.
• Honking wise, I feel like I am back in New York. Its just the bus drivers here instead of taxi drivers.

I can't believe tonight is our last night in Madinah. Tomorrow, inshallah, after asr prayers we leave for Makkah in our ihram. First thing on the agenda? Umrah, inshallah.

THIS just got real.

Click here to read the next day's post, from October 11.

Posted on 10.28.13