Most hotels in Madinah are just a short distance from Masjid Nabawi
My husband and I joined a travel package by Syaza Travel & Tours (based in Ampang, recommended!) and spent 3 nights in Madinah and 7 nights in Makkah respectively. As this was my first time, I really did not expect there to be such a large crowd at every prayer time. So my first experience praying in Masjid Nabawi had me praying in the compounds (entrance) of the mosque instead of inside. One, I was not allowed to go in because I brought a camera & secondly, there sure were a loooott of people in the masjid already. I came to the conclusion that Madinah & Madinah especially, are the cities that never sleep. At every hour of the day, there were so many people performing the tawaf. I was suprised that the peak 'tawaf' time was actually before Subuh prayer. The residents of Makkah (and fellow jemaah) would come and perform their prayers & tawaf before starting their day. The energy that you get from being in a large crowd of people worshipping was amazing. I had my reservations about my own ability to perform the saie well & fit considering that I rarely exercise or walk such a distance here in KL (and not forgetting the fact that I am a little on the heavy side). But the energy there, the enthusiasm of the crowd performing the saie was a source of motivation. :)
To be honest, one of the criterias in determining the package we took, was the distance of the hotels to the respective masjids. But I was quite ashamed to realise that the distance of the hotels shouldn't be a matter because ideally, we shouldn't be spending time in the hotel anyway. Jemaah's went to the mosque from subuh and stayed on till after isyak. In between prayer times, they would just sit at the steps leading to the Kaabah and pray. What an amazing view it was. To be able to just sit there and look at Kaabah any time of the day.
Just another evening in Masjidil Haram
Day or night..the crowd just keeps getting bigger & bigger
There are the instances where I encountered with jemaah's who were a bit more 'aggressive' when performing the tawaf or when they try to kiss Hajarul Aswad or even to line up in prayer. Someone kindly pointed out to me that of course people would be aggressive. Some of them have been putting aside savings their whole life, just for the chance to be in Makkah & Madinah. They wouldn't want anything to get in the way between them and the opportunities to line up in prayer at the most front row or to be able to kiss Hajarul Aswad. Because eventually, the chance to go to Makkah & Madinah can be considered very rare for some people so we cannot blame them for being more bersungguh2 while they are there.
I must say I enjoyed myself very much the whole time I was there. The calm feeling that you get with your mind free from worldly worries, how I wish I could experience that here as well. Daily activities revolved around prayer times alone. The abundant supply of fresh air zamzam which I honestly believe helped me feel so healthy the whole time I was there. No headaches, no backaches, no tired eyes or crampings, it was pretty awesome. This all despite the little amount of sleep I got when I was there. The cold breeze and peace as I just sat down on the compounds of Masjid Nabawi, under the sky. Here in KL, we go to parks or compounds of malls (think KLCC) to hang around. But there, we had a huuuuggee masjid compound for us to literally chill at (sambil beribadat of course).
Upon arriving in Kuala Lumpur, most of us teared a little because of the thought of having to leave Makkah & Madinah to get back to reality. To this day it keeps bugging me, shouldn't my reality be as how it was there...where affairs of the dunya are secondary to matters of the hereafter?
Wallahualam.
Sincerely,
Azreen Syaheeda
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