Warning: This is going to be a series of long and boring entries. Do stop at the first sign of yawn..
KL - Jeddah - Maddinah
Every journey has its difficulty and sufferings.
Rasullulah s.a.w himself said about travel:
"Travel is a portion (of the suffering) of Hell-fire". Therefore traveling means inconvenience and difficulty. So come what may, any traveler to the Holy Places will undergo some suffering en route. But bearing in mind that this journey to the Ka'abah is a journey in search of the Beloved One, one should behave on the road like a lover seeking the beloved who in turn awaits him. So whether he hears abusive language directed at himself or whether he is being sworn at or whether stones are cast on him, no matter what difficulty he encounters the haaji should go ahead to the destination undeterred by any such obstacles. And by tolerating all suffering and hardships with patience, ones reward is increased, (in cases where such hardships are not contrary in effect to the interests of our Deen and health).
- Quoted from Virtues of Haj by Shaikhul Hadith Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhelwi.
My journey began with me vomiting in 1) the airplane's toilet - full face in the bowl (twice); 2) in the air sick bag (3 times). It must have been something I ate during breakfast at home. The gastric attack was so bad that luckily I brought along my gastric pills. After all the throwing up routine.. the pain went away in a jiffy.. *poof* just like that. It was kinda weird, but I was too drained out to dwell on it at that time.
We arrived at the Jeddah International Airport at around 9 p.m. local time and were met with our Muttawif (a.k.a tour guide). What a relief it was to be walking up and about after sitting in the plane for more than 8 hours.. But it was not long before we continued our journey to Maddinah - by bus.
The journey to Maddinah took almost 6 hours. Hence, we had to make a stop somewhere in between the destination to perform our Solat Jama' Maghrib and Isya'. At first we planned to do so in Maddinah itself. However, after almost an hour into the journey, our Arab bus driver abruptly stopped the bus at a scary-looking gas station in the middle of nowhere. Apparently there was some technical error with the bus that we needed to stop for him to fix the problem.
Hence, all 36 of us scrambled down the bus and went in search of the nearest Mussala (surau). It was the saddest looking Mussala I've ever seen. The place for ablution (tempat ambil wudu') were very errrmm.. how shall I say... sad. Me, being a person that needs a proper and clean toilet in order for me to do my "business", felt very uncomfortable relieving myself. However, I kept my opinion to myself and just shut one eye and just do it.
After praying, we were given a late supper - a packed nasi beryani, eaten the arabic style - sitting on the old wired lazy bed style chair underneath the open sky. Sound cool eh... However, the tiredness and uncomfortable surroundings caused most of us to only "jamah" the food. Plus, we were then rushed by the bus driver after he managed to fixed the bus.
We thought that the journey will continue all the way to our destination. Suddenly, an hour later, the driver decided to stop AGAIN!!! This time he was mumbling in a very harsh Arabic language, which according to our guide means that he needed a break. He said that he didn't get a chance to rest and eat while the rest of us did. Hence, he wanted to rest for at least 30 minutes before we can go on our journey.
WOW!! What a driver. He really has a mind of his own. And he was really testing our patience. Luckily all of us were too tired to argue and just continue to sleep in the very cold bus.
We finally arrived at our destination at around 3 a.m. local time. The Safir Hotel was so close to the Masjidil Nabawi that it only took us a maximum of 5 minutes to reach the entrance of the mosque. The feeling that I get when I first caught a glimpse of the beautiful mosque cannot be put into words. It's just so magnificent, brightly lit in the early dawn. One has to see it to appreciate the beauty of it.
Assalaatu wassalaamu alaika Ya Rasullulah
Abu Hurairah r.a. reports that Rasulullah s.a.w. said: "Whenever anyone greets me at my grave, Allah returns my soul to my body so that I reply to his greeting."
- Quoted from Virtues of Haj by Shaikhul Hadith Maulana Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhelwi.
the tall pillars of Masjidil Nabawi
the ladies entrance to the mosque
Alhamdulillah we reached our 1st destination in one piece. The hotel we stayed in was great, a 4-star hotel with excellent facilities (except for the small and narrow lifts). The room was very comfy, with a very 'empuk' bed, pillows, and the most important thing - clean toilet! The food served was not bad at all too. We get to actually have a taste of the mid-eastern delicacies while we were there, instead of the typical Indonesian food served to other tour groups. However, occasionally we longed for a spoon of sambal belacan to go along with our meal, especially after peeking through the bowl of sambal on the other tour group's buffet spread. Dah Melayu tuh Melayu jugak laa... *winks*
the room I shared with my sis & a cousin
Edited: more pics here
binx: cough.. cough..
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