Penyucian jiwa di Tanah Suci part 2

Ziarah Luar was as usual the visit to various historical places around the holy city of Madinah.

 Masjid Quba was unusually busy and crowded when we visited. A big crowd to the usually quiet place

Dates Orchard (Ladang Khurma) was unkept and in shoddy state. Very dusty and wonder why it was left in such deplorable conditions.

 Farah at the Dates orchards

UHUD BATTLE GROUND

The Battle of Uhud  was fought on March 19, 625 (3Shawwal 3 AH in the Islamic calendar) at the valley located in front of Mount Uhud, in what is now northwestern Arabia.^[1] It occurred between a force from the Muslim community ofMedina led by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and a force led by Abu Sufyan ibn Harb fromMecca, the town from which many of the Muslims had previously emigrated. The Battle of Uḥud was the second military encounter between the Meccans and the Muslims, preceded by the Battle of Badr in 624, where a small Muslim army had defeated a larger Meccan army.

Marching out from Mecca towards Medina on March 11, 625 AD, the Meccans desired to avenge their losses at Badr and strike back at Muhammad and his followers. The Muslims readied for war soon afterwards and the two armies fought on the slopes and plains of Mount ‘Uḥud.

Whilst outnumbered, the Muslims gained the early initiative and forced the Meccan lines back, thus leaving much of the Meccan camp unprotected. When the battle looked to be only one step away from a decisive Muslim victory, a serious mistake was committed by a part of the Muslim army, which altered the outcome of the battle. A breach of Muhammad's orders by the Muslim archers, who left their assigned posts to despoil the Meccan camp, allowed a surprise attack from the Meccan cavalry, led by Meccan war veteranKhalid ibn al-Walid, which brought chaos to the Muslim ranks. Many Muslims were killed, and even Muhammad himself was badly injured. The Muslims had to withdraw up the slopes of ‘Uḥud. The Meccans did not pursue the Muslims further, but marched back to Mecca declaring victory.

For the Muslims, the battle was a significant setback: although they had been close to routing the Meccans a second time, their breach of Muhammad's orders in favor of collecting Meccan spoils reaped severe consequences. The two armies would meet again in 627 AD at the Battle of the Trench

Jabal UHUD

Penyucian jiwa di Tanah Suci Part 1

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim .28th Mei 2013. @ KLIA

About getting ready to board Saudi Airlines to Madinah for our Umrah trip. After such a long lapse of about 6 years, I am returning to the two holy land of madinatul Munawwarah and Makkatul Mukarramah with Umi and Farah.

We were on a direct flight to Madinah. We embarked on Andalusia as our tour agent. Why Andalusia? Dont have the answer actually.Probably ...coz of the past experience when we were satisfied with their service.

Farah enjoying the in flight dinner of this specially chartered Saudi Airline which departed smoothly on time @ 1655 pm. The check in was also very smoothly done for the tour agent.

oblivious to the masses in the airport, Farah...lost in her own world. Allah knows what she is thinking about. This was just moments before we departed....

.....probably feeling sad to leave her siblings back home....

Nasi Arab was served as meal for dinner. I was hungry and all these these dishes disappeared almost immidiety.The journey ws to take about 8 hours before we landed in Madinah about 10 pm local time.

Ustaz Yusuf was our mutawwif and he has been assigned to be with us from the beginning till the end. He hails from Kuantan, studid Usuluddin in Yemen and has been with Andalusia for six months. Together in our group, code named , HILTON group were 91 people.

                                                Ustaz Yusuf Halib @ Andalusia

The immigration process and luggage collection at Madinah Airport were smooth. Alhamdulillah. All went well. A good in flight sleep still taxed us though. Although it was just 10 pm in Madinah it was 3 am back in Malaysia. Sleepy faces were every where. Ustaz Yusof delivered a short tazkirah before we entered the holy city of Madinah and recited the doa soon after we crossed the border. He we are....coming to the home of our great leader...Rasulullah SAW.

We were checked in into a three bedded room at MUBARAK SILVER HOTEL about 50 m from Al Haram. Since it past midnite by the time we settled down, Umi and Farah did their prayers in the room. I proceeded to the Grand mosque...only to pray at the outskirt as all entrances were now locked!

By the time we settled down it was almost 2 am. Fajr was about 3++ am and we really didnt have much sleep.
We rose early long before Fajr and joined the crowed for the morning prayer. Immidietly after prayer I proceeded to the front most and visited the grave of Rasulullah SAW.

"Assalamualaikum wmbk hi wabarokah tuh ya Rasulullah SAW"

As expected , the crowed was always there and every one , in an orderly manner gave respect to Rasulullah SAW, Abu Bakar R.A and Omar R.A

The next four days in Madinah was spent on prayers at the holy mosque and visits to the historical places in and around Madinah which signifies the glory of Islam since the last 1400 years.

Mubarak Silver....I would rate as a 3.5 or 4.0 star hotel.Accomodation and distance from Masjid Nabawi were superb.However the meals were much to be desired. Andalusia, known for tasty, like home cooked food really need to look into this. The dining area was cramped. Too small for the big crowed. This resulted in many people queueing for food or places to sit

The meals....catered to Ahmeid Caterers who are actually a group of Indonesians! after three days we couldnt take the overcooked vegetables and tasteless curry any more. we began to scout for outside food and we enjoyed the change of taste!

                                                     Mubarak Silver Hotel

                                               Farah..posing in front of Mubarak Silver Hotel

                                                                  Enjoying arabic meals

Manjo (Manggo Juice)

                                       prayer times...please observe the long days and short nights

                                         

                                                      self potrait @ Masjidil Nabawi

                                                     giant shades...keep the heat away

                                                            ..after asr prayer

                                          a group of Egyptians who requested to have photo with me

Mubarak Siver Hotel is directly behind the mosque via entrance number 25. The irony part was....as we exited the mosque we were greeted with noisy street traders who sell almost everything on earth.

I am back! Phuuuh!!! I never realize that it was more than a year since I last posted my posting! Not that I have lost passion in writing. Not at all. It was due to several reasons. Time....is always the culprit. To blame time....is not appropriate as every creature on earth is granted nothing more than 24 hrs/day. Myself? yes! Procastinating? yes! Poor time management?Yes! and Yes! and yesssssss!!!!!

Other reason is : i was trying to complete the posting on EGYPT Turmoi;l which was half completed. I have to abondon it though. I was already a history.

Hence....i am now back....hopefully the persistence is there!

see ya!