UMRAH 2012: MADINAH AL MUNAWARRAH

Alhamdulillah ya Allah, for the journey to and fro for my Umrah this year were all smooth sailing. And yes, a big thank you too, for I manage to perform the ever-anticipated event in my life, when I have the opportunitity to do so.

In brief, all I can say is that the experience I had was beyond magical. There were ups and downs during the whole trip. But yes, that was Allah, testing me throughout my pilgrimage. And, with that, I am still ever thankful. :)

We took a flight to Changi, and then transferred to Abu Dhabi, then to Jeddah. The first four days of my trip, we headed to Madinah where my family and me stayed at a very comfortable place not far from Masjid An-Nabawi. All the hotels are usually of walking distance to the mosque, which makes it easier for everyone to perform solah at the mosque as much as possible as one can.

The weather was beautiful too. It almost felt like spring. The moment I first laid my eyes on the Masjid An-Nabawi from afar, the architecture of the building blew me away! And as soon as I reached inside, it felt like I was visiting a close friend’s home. Indeed, it was our dearest Prophet Muhammad’s (s.a.w) masjid.

After performing Solat Tahiyatul Masjid every time entering the mosque, I would allocate a bit of my time observing the interior, the people, the calmness of how everything is inside the mosque. Until sometimes I had to snap myself out of my stance to remind me to continue my ibadah. HEHE.

So, day-by-day went with how my family and me continued to perform solah, dzikr, and recite the Quran in the mosque. One could not really have enough of devoting oneself to Allah in that mosque, y’know? Oh, and one more thing, I found myself really easy to wake up so very early to head to the mosque for Subuh prayers when I was in Madinah. Being a non-early riser such as me(bad shea!), that was incredibly amazing! Cause we had to be at the mosque one hour before athan to get to the front-most saff as possible as we could. It's definitely a practice for me hee.. Thank you Allah, for making it easy for me. :)

The most emotional experience for me was when I was in Raudhah (Paradise Garden). To visit the sacred Muhammad's (s.a.w) tomb, was the highlight of everyone's visit there I must say. But I was a bit sad that there was a time frame, and limited areas for the women to come visit and pay our respects. But, determined me and mommy decided that we would regret it later if we don't visit the tomb. So, we did. SubhanAllah..I really don't know how to describe it to ya'll. We went after performing our Isya' prayers, and later waited for the gate to open. When it did, everyone went running towards the tomb like how people would usually run away from a bomb explosion. It was a stampede! When we almost reached Raudhah, that's when the space became a little bit more smaller. Ya Allah, it was so packed! Like how you place two cans of sardines into one can. (Gosh I'm bad at comparisons). I held my mom so tight, while reciting the dua out loud from the book I brought so that my mom could amen it. It was hard as people kept pushing and pushing to reach to the front. Most of the time, me and mommy were crushed. These ladies are determined!! With a bit more effort, we pushed ourselves further upfront, making us succeed in reaching the front-most area of the tomb. When all of this happened, I was crying profusely thinking of all the past sins I've done :'( I really don't know how to describe what I felt. It was just too emotional.

It was definitely like visiting a long lost friend. Whom I miss so much. They say that Rasulullah (s.a.w) watches you and replies when you give salaam to him at the tomb, and insyaAllah will bless you with syafaah in the hereafter. What makes it more sad is that, here I am, a human being who frequently forgets bout him, while he (Rasulullah s.a.w), was always there for us, his ummah. :'(

Now that I've experience such an remarkable experience in Raudhah, and in Masjid An-Nabawi, I know how important it is, for us, to acknowledge our dear Prophet Muhammad (s.aw) by saying the selawat daily as much as we can. It's the selawat that we continuously dedicate it to him now, is what saves that one little tiny more step to Jannah. InsyaAllah.