BAITULMAQDIS UMRAH CHAPTER 16: Mekah, here I am
16, 17, 18 December 2016
We are leaving Madinah today and I can’t help but feel sad about it. This place is so peaceful and if I can speak arabic I would definitely consider moving here permanently. Can’t really explain why this place is so attractive. Perhaps it is the peace that one instantly feels when they stepped into this place. Perhaps it is the beauty of the Nabawi Mosque that helps us gravitates to it. Or perhaps all of us, in one way or another, feels connected to this place.
Last morning in Madinah. Spot the moon.
Trying to capture ourselves here, not sure when we can be back here but inshaAllah I really hope to be back here for my haj trip one day.
Taking a slower walk back to our hotel so that I can capture this moment in my mind.
Getting ready to depart to Mekah in our ihram. Heading to our final destination of this trip.
We are here! Quickly checked into our rooms to park our luggages. Love the rooms but of course I had to sleep on the temporarily spring bed. #thirdparty
We performed our umrah (sa-i and tawaf) soon. It was exhausting and my legs were aching badly but I was just so thrilled to be there. Our happy faces when we completed it alhamdulilah. The best feeling in the world is being able to perform our solat right in front of the Kaabah. MashaAllah, not everyone gets to experience this so alhamdulilah for this opportunity.
Quick photo before being chased away. We try not to take too near the Kaabah as there are people doing the tawaf we do not want to be in the way. I think this is basic common sense and respect.
Walking back to our hotel to rest. So glad to be back here at Masjidil Haram.
We were given a ‘free and easy’ schedule for the next 4 days. We did not really do much, we basically sleep, eat and perform prayers all day and night. We would depart from the hotel an hour or an hour and the half before azan so that we would get good spots to do prayers. We also spent time in the mosque reading the quran and doing sunnah prayers. Our days revolves around the prayer times. There was no need to do anything else because we are here to do ibadah and deeds.
There were no distractions like work or chores to be done. We are back to doing what we are created to do. To praise Allah swt and do our obligation. I did not even take many photos except these few.
Bought a few Quran and left it at the mosque so that when others read it, we benefit from it too. I highly recommend you to do this when you are there.
I love to do the Subuh prayers at the roof of the Masjidil Haram because the air is cooling and we get to see this skyline.
Our random selfies can’t show how ecstatic we were to be there.
I managed to capture the beautiful architecture of the mosque. They had extended the mosque and what you see in this background is the new extension of the mosque!
I love capturing photos of my dad in candid moments.
There were so many stray cats outside the mosque. They are pretty well fed from kind patrons of the mosque.
A typical view from the inside of the mosque. There were constructions going on so if you end up at the back, you would not be able to see the Kaabah when you do your prayers. This was also why we would turn up early at the mosque. There are others who stay at the mosque the entire day, just so that they can get a good spot.
Alhamdulilah for all the experiences. I could not have asked for more.