Umrah Trip 2007: Madina
Posted by hatim
(Gumbede Khizra as seen from my camera)
(more photos here)
After a six day trip in Mecca, it was time for us to embark to a trip to Madina. We did a Tawaf of farewell. It was an emotional moment for all of us. A sense of pride and happiness for we had accomplished our Umrah, a bitter sweet sadness that we are leaving this holiest of place and a sense of hope and pray that we shall all try to visit it again.
My mom made me promise in Bait-ul-Allah that I will accompany her to Hajj in coming years (Insha Allah)
We then boarded on to the same 14 seater van driven by our Pakistani driver from Pakistan house. We were enroute to Mecca by 10 am. We chose to go via the historical battle grounds of Badar. Country side Saudi Arabia is a sharp contrast from the bustling metroplis of Macca, Jeddah. It is as barren as it can be. We also saw the tree line for the under construction city by Emmar on the shores of Red Sea.
We reached Medina around 4:00 and went straight to Pakistan House No 2 (In Medina there are two Pakistan houses and are considerably farther from the Harem as compared to in Mecca).
In Medina Pakistan house had arranged a daily bus, which would pick up people from both houses and drop them off to Masjide-Nabvi (mosque of the prophet). Since Medina is in a plain area as compared to hilly region of Mecca, the overall construction of the city is a bit spacious.
Masjide-Nabvi is one masterpiece. It has a very good system of underground parking and ablution. Around the mosque there are scores of shopping malls and food courts. We found a nice Turkish place just around the corner to Pakistan house.
During our stay we went to see the place where battle of Uhad and Khandaq were fought. We also saw Janat-ul-Baqi, Hazrat Salman Farsis’s gardens and many other historical places in Medina.
In Medina I also found a nice internet café to post initial drafts of this blog entry.
On the morning of 8th we went to Medina International airport for our flight back to Islamabad. Overall the whole trip was without any major hassle. This experience has brought me to a place where I am beginning to re evaluate my life in general. I would like to do more conscious effort to become a better Muslim and a better human being from now onwards. And I look forward to a similar religious experience in the coming years.
