Rara is an engineer by profession, a traveler by heart, a marathon runner by dreams and a certified scuba diver. She also blogs at http://muncity.blogspot.com
Continuation from
here ..
We arrived at the hotel about 9.30pm. Settling this and that, it was a bit late already to join terawih prayer so my sisters and I just rested in the room after check-in, and prayed inside the room.
The prayer time in Madinah is earlier than Kuala Lumpur, except for Isyak.
Subuh was at 4.03am during that time. So right after terawih, I went to sleep. Gotta wake up early tomorrow!
Woke up at 3am, bathed, got ready and off we went.
I was in awe the whole time walking towards the mosque. The waves of people at 3 in the morning. All heading to one direction, the mosque. A scenario you'll never see back home.
The nearest gate from my hotel is Gate 13. As I passed the gate, in front of me, standing so majestic is the beautiful Masjid Nabawi. So much love and affection for it. Subhanallah! Can't believe I am here!
17 Ramadan 1437. My first time visiting Masjid Nabawi and prayed inside the holy mosque.
that very first time in Masjid Nabawi…
We reached the mosque at 3.30am and waddayaknow, the mosque was already full! I thought I was early hahaha.. Next time, come 1 hour early to get a good spot in the mosque. Luckily we managed to menyelit and got some space to perform the prayer. No words can really described my feelings at that moment, performing my first Subuh in the holy mosque. Alhamdulillah. I thanked Allah everyday for the opportunity, for being invited to this amazing place.
Done subuh and doing some sunat prayers and reading the Quran, we went back to the hotel to get ready for Ziarah Dalam.
before sunrise
Ziarah Dalam is basically visiting Raudhah, the tomb of Rasulullah and Jannat al-Baqi'.
We were walking to the mosque, passing Gate 13 again when my sister spotted familiar faces walking towards our direction.
It's Datin Lara Alana uols!!! (excite jumpa Lara je hahaha) together with her father, Awal Ashaari. Didn't see Scha Al-Yahya though, perhaps she's still in the mosque.
So happy I got to meet the cutie pie cos I've been stalking her IG haha. I knew they were here as well but I didn't expect to see them, cos you know, there's just soooo many people.
No proper photo cos Awal said Lara is afraid of ladies in black jubah hahaha..
We gathered and sit in front of ladies entrance at Gate 25. Our Ustazah told us we need to wait as we came in rather huge group. While waiting for the heads up from the guards, she told us some stories and historical facts about Masjid Nabawi, Raudhah, Jannat al-Baqi' and of course about our beloved Prophet, Muhammad SAW.
Some interesting infos on Masjid Nabawi.
It was originally built by our prophet, Muhammad SAW, next to the house where he settled after his Hijrah from Mecca to Medina in 622. It has now become the final resting place of him and his two beloved companions, caliphs Abu Bakar and Umar.
From a small mosque, it underwent many phases of renovations to expand its capacity. Masjid Nabawi is now one of the largest mosque in the world, accommodating over 1.5 millions of worshipers. The mosque has rectangular plan on two floors. I've never been to the upper floor though.
Despite being enlarged, the shiny new mosque still contains the older mosque within it. The two sections can be easily distinguished; the older section has many colorful decorations and numerous small pillars while the new section has gleaming white marble.
At the heart of the mosque is a small area called Raudhah, which extends from his tomb to his pulpit. It is every worshipers' wish to visit and pray there as according to a hadith, any doa made in Raudhah is never rejected, insyaAllah.
Visiting Raudhah and the tomb of Rasulullah deserves a post on its own so I'll write about it later.
As for Jannat al-Baqi', this cemetery area is adjacent to Masjid Nabawi on the Southeast and regarded as an important landmark cos it is where most of Rasulullah's close family, relatives and companions were buried. Among them are all his wives except Khadijah, his daughters Umi Kalthom, Ruqiyah and Zainab, his foster mom Halimah, his uncle Abbas and Saidina Uthman bin Affan. But ladies cannot enter the cemetery area. We can only see it from outside the fences.
Let's see photos of the mosque.
The Inside.
beautiful interior architecture
This dome will slide to open at certain times, transforming a domed chamber into an open courtyard. There are 27 of these.
inner courtyard
inner courtyard nearby Raudhah
inside Raudhah
spacious area, worshipers sleep in the mosque while waiting for Zohor prayers
The Outside.
ladies entrance, Gate 25
below the green dome lies the tomb of our beloved Prophet, Muhammad SAW
And then, there's the famous giant umbrellas.
These convertible umbrellas provide protection from the blaring, hot sun. They open in the morning for daytime shading, and retract in the evening, allowing residual heat absorbed by the stone floors to escape back into the atmosphere, in less than 3 minutes.
I heard the process is reversed in winter though. It is closed during the day to allow winter sun to warm the site, and opened at night to retain heat near ground level.
I took this video before sunrise, at about 5.20am.
Miss this place so muchhhh!!!
