So I got back from my trip to Saudi Arabia for Umrah and yes it was an AMAZING experience like words cannot describe, ask anyone who has ever been. I mean how do you explain the feeling of walking in the footsteps of the prophets pbut and their companions, how do you put into words seeing the things you have read about in the Quran and seerah of the Prophet pbuh? It is the ultimate get away/holiday/spiritual break/once in a lifetime journey/ historical venture/ spiritually, physically and mentally cleansing trip that Muslim men and women from all over the world and all walks of life make or strive to make.
I thought I would upload the pictures from each area and tell you a little bit about it.
Heathrow to Jeddah international
These are just pictures at heathrow airport and on the plane journey there...
Clouds over Europe
Makkah
Masjid-Al-Haram
View from our hotel room...construction work -__-
The beautiful house of Allah built by Ibrahim AS and his son Ismail AS
My little bro overlooking the ka'aba
Stunning architecture
And again
My little bro LOVED getting zamzam water
Mmmm the sweetness of ZamZam
My little bro and cousins inside the Haram
Lol little munchkins praying mashaAllah
Again the amazing architecture of Masjid-al-Haram
Jabal-an-Noor (Mount Noor)- Housing Cave Hira, where the Quran was revealed to the Prophet pbuh
This mountain is astonishingly high, takes your breath away just looking at how tall it is, and to imagine Khadijah RA would take food up to the top of this mountain for the prophet pbuh is just extraordinary =O
Great respect for the beloved wife of the Prophet pbuh and the people of that time, we can't even compare our major struggles to theirs.
Jabal-e-Soor (Mount Soor)
This is the mountain the Prophet pbuh and Abu Bakr AsSiddique RA hid in as they fled to Madinah
As they hid Abu Bakr kept telling the Prophet pbuh "Oh Rasoolullah, they are coming I can see them, they will find us" and the Prophet pbuh would reply "Oh Abu Bakr, have faith in Allah" they found a small cave and went inside as the Quraysh and their army came a spider spun a web at it's entrance and a bird made a nest, the Quraysh cam and thought to themselves they cannot be in there because obviously it would take time for a spider to spin a web and a bird to make a nest and lay eggs in it, and it didn't look like it had been disrupted. The Quraysh gave up their search and the Prophet pbuh and Abu Bakr RA made their way to Madinah.
Jabal-ar-Rahma (Mount Rahma) & the plains of Arafat
This is the mountain on which every person will be judged on, on the day of Judgement.
Masjid in Arafat, only opens during Ramadhan.
The view from the top of mount Rahma, there is a boundry outlined by yellow signs which show the extent of the plains of Arafat, during Hajj all the pilgrims must be within those boundaries at a certain time for their Hajj to be accepted. At the end of time (day of judgement) all the people past, present and future will gather on the plains of Arafat to be judged by Allah. It seems impossible but Allah is the Greatest, and when He says 'Be' it simply 'is'
My dad and little brother on a camel in Arafat, yes they have made every place a pilgrim may visit into a market place and tourist attraction, which is disappointing.
House of the Prophet pbuh (supposedly)
Somewhere among these Mountains of Makkah behind Masjid-Al-Haram lived the Prophet pbuh, his family and some of his companions RA
Mina -Stoning of the 3 shaytaans (during Hajj only)
In the distance you can see the walls which represent the big, middle & little shaytaans from left to right. During hajj all pilgrims must throw a certain number of stones over a certain number of days at these walls to represent stoning the devils.
The wall under the white canopy represents the shaytaan
Makkah to Madinah
My little brother spotting camels in the desert on the way to Madinah
Madinah
Masjid-an-Nabawi
At Fajr time this dome opens up to reveal the sky above, simply beuatiful mashaAllah!
Beautiful arcitechture of the Masjid, seriously could not get enough
Mount Uhud
On this mountain the battle of Uhud took place- one of the biggest battles the Muslims fought.
This is a smaller mountain opposite mount Uhud. There were a few of the sahaba's RA on this mountain during the battle, they were instructed not to leave their positions and stay alert until the battle was over and only when declared by the Prophet pbuh. A rumour spread that the battle had ended as they saw the Makkans leaving their wealth and property, the mujahideen on this mountain assumed the battle was over and left their positions to claim victory and the spoils of the war, just then the enemy ambushed them from behind and many of the sahaba's were martyred. Near here are their graves.
Qiblatain Masjid
At this mosque the revelation came to change the Qibla (direction of prayer for all Muslims) from Masjid-Al-Aqsa in Palestine to the Ka'aba in Makkah, hence the name 'Qiblatain' meaning 2 qibla's.
Battle of the Trench & the 7 mosques
I think the battle of the trench took place near here. There were also 7 mosques here, one called 'Fatimah az Zahra masjid' and others which I can't remember, these have now been merged.
Quba Masjid
This is the first Masjid the Prophet pbuh prayed in when he migrated to Madinah.
SubhanAllah the reward for praying at this masjid is equivalent to Umrah, felt so privaliged to be there.
Shopping in Madinah
The shopping centres in Madinah are soooooo cool! Everything is so cheap compared to the UK, we bought abaya's for around £20 which are being sold here for over double that price. Will try do a Saudi haul on the things I bought soon iA.
Leaving Saudi )'=
Sky over Madinah, felt so sad.
Abu Dhabi
My brother on a metal camel at our 5 hour stop over in Abu Dhabi
So that's it really, my journey came to an end and I came back to dull, grey, rainy old London )'= Now I feel so depressed. Yes, I made du'a for all iHijabi readers and those who asked for specific du'as aswell, please make du'a for my Umrah to be accepted and for all my du'as to be accepted too.
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