Travelog: Baraqah Medina

Assalamualaikum, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

All praise to Him, the Supreme Ruler of the world, and salawah upon our Great Prophet Muhammad S.A.W.

Pernah sekali dalam tahun 2008, kawan2 sebatch aku mengajak aku ke tanah suci, tika itu hati tidak pernah terfikir, boleh ke aku pergi? Bagaimana beribadah di sana? Syok ke?

Mereka pergi dan balik, dengan penuh gembira, dapat melihat Baitullah, bukan melalui kaca televisyen, tetapi dengan retina mata mereka sendiri. Terserlah kepuasan dalam diri mereka, dan bersemaraklah perasaan cemburu dalam diri ini, dan menyalahkan diri, "kenapa aku tolak pelawaan mereka dahulu?"

Then, in the year 2011, my mom asked me, whether I have the intention to go to Arab Saudi, to perform Omra. I was exaggerated, and obviously excited. Inside me, I planted to perform the ibadah from my deepest desire, which I long ever since. However, from the question of intention, it changed to, do I have the courage to go alone, as my mom didn't has any extra leave for the year. Frust, despair accumulated within, as I knew, my innermost desire had to be postponed to when I never should knew.

A few months past, around February 2012, my mom took me to her office, where a Tabung Haji office lay a couple blocks away. That particular moment, I realized, never did Allah put me aside from inviting me to His holy land, just a little bit delay with of course blessing in disguise. Alhamdulillah. All praise upon Him.

Aku fikir, tarikh2 yg dihamparkan kepada aku oleh Puan Mama, amatlah sempit. Aku mempunyai kira2 3 bulan cuti selepas tamatnya pengajian ijazah tahun pertama aku. Aku khuatir, jika pada tarikh aku pergi, bagaimana kalau Mara hantar surat pelbagai ke rumah? bagaimana jika ada briefing dari universiti? bagaimana kalau ade offer letter sampai ke rumah? Aku fikir, syaitan sengaja mahu meletakkan keraguan dalam diriku, membina satu dinding agar aku fikir aku tidak mampu melepasinya.

"Ah, tawakkal jelah! Bukan mudah nak diundang ke tanah suci. Bukankah semuanya Allah yang rancang? Yakin itu juga satu bentuk iman, membentuk kepercayaan kepada Allah!"

Mom withdrew a few thousands ringgit from my bank account, and I just prayed to Allah to have me on His Holy Cities. I told very few close friends of mine about my holiday planning, for I was afraid that I might over exaggerated and accumulating riak along the waiting time. Some people act as the devils, asking me what would happen if there are something like offer letter or briefing meeting during my leave. I don't care, I just believe in Allah. What I most afraid is, what if Allah ask me why I don't have the intentions to perform my obligation in the Holy Cities, instead of having focus to pursue my study in oversea? Irony isn't it?

Tarikh yang ditunggu2 akhirnya tiba, alhamdulillah, syukur tiada apa2 kekangan yang berlaku, dalam hatiku, aku biarkan sahaja apa yang akan terjadi, redah je lah. Allah kan ada, dah cukup dah. Awal pagi 2 Julai aku berangkat ke tanah suci. Perjalanan selama hampir 9 jam ke Madinah sangat2 melesukan badan, yelah dah la duduk je, nak jalan2 dalam flight pun bukan ade ape sangat pun. Tapi yang bestnye makan nak dekat 3 kali sepanjang penerbangan, wah, alhamdulillah kenyang perut!

Setibanya di sana, melalui kastam selama sejam lebih, dan tiba di hotel, makan lagi. Aiseh, hidup untuk makan je nih. Haha. Bermalam di Anwar Movenpick selama 4 hari 3 malam ternyata membentuk kepuasan tak terhingga. Ditambah2 lagi kedudukan strategik hotel, bersebelahan dengan Masjid An-Nabawi, 5 minit turun sampai lah.

The one which I need to adapt most was the wheather, temperature possibility up to 50 celcius was a little bit too much for me. My mom had her headeache upon arrival and me had mine on the next day, due to the degree of hotness in Medina. Subhanallah, what a pain it is to suffer such a small illness when you were abroad, different 180 in almost everything. But alhamdulillah we overcame it with patience and virtue.

this is outside Masjid Nabawi. Beauty isn't it? Taken with D3100. A. Razak, please jeles :P

Masjid Nabawi is huge and wide. Taking a circumference walk around it would spend you for about 20-30 minutes fast walk. What magnificent for me is the mechanical means like umbrella it used to shade the place when the sun is rising. Do watch the following clips:

Kalau nak cerita pasal lawatan tu, memang banyaklah tempat kat madinah ni. Kami pergi ladang kurma, jabal nur, bukit uhud, Masjid Quba', Masjid Qiblatain dan sebagainya. Tapi apa yang paling best sekali ialah perasaan ketika menjejakkan kaki pertama kali ke Masjid Nabawi. Tika itu, aku bermonologue, "ya Rasulullah, saat ini aku hampir kepadamu, berilah peluang aku untuk bertemu denganmu dan keseronokan beribadah." Mungkin orang kata habis macho kalau jatuhnya permata2 kristal dari mata, tapi aku tak kisah, sebab perasaan itu hadir tanpa aku sedari, sebab aku hamba yang hina ni boleh sampai jejakkan kaki di mana Rasulullah pernah jejak suatu ketika dahulu. Masya-Allah rindunya perasaan itu. ;/

umbrella like shade

Arabians di hadapan salah satu pintu Masjid an-Nabawi.

Anwar Movenpick sebelah kanan gambar ni.

Selain itu, sepanjang kat Madinah ni, aku tak berpeluh sangat, mungkin disgusting skit, tapi aku pakai satu jubah dan 2 baju dalam je sepanjang berada kat Madinah ni. So, korang tak payah nak bawak baju banyak sangat kalau ke Madinah. Basuh je. Cepat je kering. Cuaca yes panas ceng2, tapi udara dia kering, so air banyak gila minum, dan bayangkan sampai2 je kat sana, bibir aku nak pecah sana sini. Alhamdulillah, bekalan air zam2 diangkut dari Mekah setiap hari, dan itulah air feveret aku, and then mulut aku cam tak jadi nak pecah! Magik kan? Taklah, kuasa Allah semuanya. :)

What amazed me was how they (the arabs) solah. If about 5 minutes more to azan, all shops will be closed, prior. And the iqamah is about 20 minutes after, giving everyone ample time to walk towards the Masjid. You can solah wherever you want inside the Masjid, and when the 5 prayers, there will be saff automatically, no need to mark with line like Masjid in Malaysia. If you don't straighten the saff, the arabs will scold you. If you wish to visit Rasulullah, you have to be patient as hundreds of people, non-stop have the same intentions as yours, walk along the flow, and be humble along the path. I saw various people, crying, praying in front of Makam Rasulullah, restricting the flow. Without my notice, clear stream of liquid flowed across my cheeks. Allah, how I missed those sensations! T_T

There were various challenges I have faced during my stay in Madinah, although not quite as hard in Mekah (to be told later). First thing is, how you control your emotion, either angry, patient or sad. We tend to be impatient when everything went without our planning and consciousness. From that, anger will take its part, and it might cost your day and mood. Everything will interrelated and has its toll. If you ever done a bad things in Madinah, you will have these bad feeling and Allah's anger will fall upon you.

"When a man embarks upon a crime, he is morally guilty of any other crime which may spring from it." Sherlock Holmes

That's why, patience is needed to prevent things from bad to worst. I saw old people, mak cik pak cik having their hard time to move and adapt to the hot whether due to their weak immunity and age. So I advised all the readers, to plan early and pray to go over there, in your youth. Don't take your busy issue upon this, because if you don't plan now, how Allah will help you? Just tawakkaltu alallah. 

"Daripada Ibnu Umar r.a., dia berkata,"Rasulullah s.a.w. memegang bahuku, lalu beliau bersabda, 'jadilah engkau di dunia ini seolah-olah orang asing atau pengembara.' Ibnu Umar r.a. pernah berkata, 'jika engkau berada pada waktu petang, maka janganlah engkau menunggu pagi dan jika engkau berada pada waktu pagi, maka janganlah menunggu petang. Gunakanlah waktu sihatmu sebelum datang masa sakitmu dan waktu hidupmu sebelum datang masa matimu." (Hadith Riwayat Bukhari (6414), Tirmizi (2333) dan Ibnu Majah (4114))

I believe, that's all the summary I learnt in Madinah, and for Mekah, insya-Allah on the next post. Illaliqa'. Wassalam. :)