Madinah through the lens

Madinah, the second most important city for the moslem, known for its generous people back then, ever since the prophet (PBUH) hijrah or travelling from makkah to this town. Madinah, one of the land of haram (meaning that the non-moslem are forbidden to enter this place) located far from makkah (about 400 km away) have a lot of sacred places for moslem, one of them is the grave of the prophet and his closest friend, abu bakar and umar. The grave itself located inside of the nabawi mosque, a super large mosque with its magnificent architecture.

entering the city

local supermarkets (man only)

Decorated with italian tiles that always cold even when the weather is so hot and the most famous wide-canopies on the outside that let the moslems can do their prayer on the outside even when it's noon.

Madinah canopies

Surrounded by hundreds of hotels, thousands of shops, and amazingly, also hundreds of mosques, nabawi mosque really never sleep. 24 hours a day with people around the world, all races, all ages, all with the same destination.

To pray.
To seek help, to pray for their lovely one, to pray for the prophet.

The moment when you arrive and step inside the nabawi mosque, it was a moment that you'll never forget. For its magnificent scenery, for its weird warm longing feeling.

You'll see a lot of people. Specially, the malaysian and indonesian, the turkish, the pakistanis, the arabians. The malaysian and indonesian are easily recognized with their mukenah and their travel id card. Indonesians takes a lot of selfies, and their veil and clothes are fashionable one and meanwhile, the malaysian use the simple one. The south east asian people are probably one of the nicest people in there, they are polite and they like to smile even to strangers. The turkish, easily recognized by their european-asian faces, and a lot of them use red turkiye flag scarf. The turkish are one of the most generous people you'll meet in here (speaking generally) they like to give free foods and snacks, and they like to help each other, they're also amazingly polite. The paskitanian, recognized by their colourful sari, and their scarf are not fully close their heads and the interesting fact is, you'll find  them easily outside the nabawi mosque (sometimes around 9am-12am) sunbathing. The arabians, known a lot for their all black clothes from head to toe and use their khimar, Meanwhile, the african, are also one of the interesting people you'll get to meet, and they're generally known for their kind of scar-line-tattoo in their hand and face. And there are also the american and the european, which is more casually attractive.

 

The interesting fact about the arabians clothes is, when you look again and experience it by yourself, it's not only because of the obligation but also for protection. The local guys back then are known that they like to tease people (so yeah, if you're woman you're really recommended to wear something that's not physically looked attractive) and the weather are just too extreme sometimes. At noon, the highest will be 29 c but at night and dawn, it will down to even 8 c and the air is so dry it makes your skin gets scaly and your nose hurts (it is really recommended to use a really strong handbody like crema 21 and just bring mask at night or dawn to keep your nose warm or just use khimar) . So whenever people said that it limits to their freedom of clothing, i don't think that it's true. Because they're necessary.

The highest peak of the visitor will be at ashr, maghrib and isha. The woman allowed to visit the rawdah (the famous place to get your wish granted) around 7 am (after dhuha) and after isha. The rawdah itself located near the prophet and his bestfriend grave, and the place is so small (about 62.5 m x 2 m wide) it's so hard to get a proper shalah in there. But amazingly, it's proven that even with such small places, a million even billion people are praying there.

Beside the nabawi mosque, there are also museums located on the south gate. The prophet and the asmaul husna (the 99 names of Allah) museum. There is also bin dawood mall near the 16 & 17 gate, who provide hundred of shops. And also, dates farm, the uhud mountain (where the prophet lose his 70 friends including his most beloved uncle in the battle), and also the famous magnet mountain.

Some pretty souvenirs

magnet mountain

My personal favourite dish in madinah is KFC's spicy crispy rice chicken, just because it's really new to me to eat kfc chicken with basmathi rice and their amazingly tasty-eastern-style spicy tomato sauce in top of them. And also, it's only cost 22 SAR but i guarantee that whenever you choose food that cost around 20 SAR, it really makes you full through one day (because the portion is so big). There are also a good tuna and chicken shawarma inside bin dawood and they are tastes good than the one they sell  on the outside and you can get them for only 4 SAR.

The spicy rice chicken

The important thing when you buy foods and goods in there are you need to ask first how much the price, specially when you buy foods in local shops, sometimes the seller will added you extra price just because they need to be given sadaqah (i know, it's a funny reason) so it's best to buy at the supermarket which have their price tags already on it. There are also a lot of seller outside the nabawi mosque, the cheapest one is the one they sell on the field, usually you'll get 5-10 SAR for veils, clothes, purse. They have so much different and colourful things that is pretty and good for your love one back home.

I spent about 4 days in Madinah, and the experiences is just too good to be true it definitely makes me want to get to that place again and to get closer to God.

Anyway, have a blessed Ramadhan everyone!
May Allah grant our wishes and may Allah protect us.