12 Days in Mecca and Medina
A memorable experience I 've had
in my life was on 1 year ago, me and my family went to Mecca and Medina to doing Umrah trip. I was with my
mother and my brother exacly on October-November,
2018. Our trip started from Palangkaraya city to Jakarta city for 1 hour by
using Garuda Airplane, then continued from Jakarta to Jeddah for 9 hours and
from Jeddah to Medina for 4 hours by bus. Amazing experience who I get a while
12 days in Mecca and Medina, when I could come and see directly historical
places.
The journey from
Jeddah to Medina takes about 4 hours. My first day in Medina begins around 4
o'clock in the morning, we all arrived in Medina, as soon as I entered this
city and saw the lives of its inhabitants through the window of the bus I could
only say "masha Allah". then after a few minutes entering the city
center of Medina, I along with another group had arrived at our hotel called Cocorde
Dar Al-Khair which is located not
far from Nabawi Mosque. After finishing Subuh prayer and breakfast my mother
and I came out of the hotel to take a walk around the Prophet's Mosque. Many
Medina community activities are picnicking with families in city parks, playing
soccer, and so on. The activity of this city seems to be centered on the Nabawi
Mosque and its surroundings.
Our journey in the
city of Medina continued on the second, third and fourth day. on the second
day. we were invited to the Quba Mosque, which was the first mosque built by
the Prophet Muhammad SWT. On the second day around 9 am we were invited to the
Al-Quran Museum which is not far from the Prophet's Mosque, there storing
various kinds of Al-Quran manuscripts, one of which was written using blood.
The interior of this museum is very artistic on the walls decorated with lafadz
of Al-quran and some calligraphy. There we also watched a video about the
history of the mushaf of Al-Quran in the time of the Prophet Muhammad. Then on
the third day we were invited to the Qiblatain Mosque, where in the past this
mosque had 2 Qiblat directions but now there is only 1 Qiblat direction. After
from Qiblatain Mosque we were invited to the Mount Uhud and the tombs of the
syuhada because it used to be in the Mount Uhud
there was a war called the Uhud War. And at night precisely the evening
after Isya prayer we were invited to visit the tomb of the Prophet Nabi
Muhammad Saw. who was in the Prophet's Mosque there was also the tomb of
friends the Prophet Muhammad SAW namely Abu Bakar Asshidiq and Umar bin
Khattab. Then on our last day in Medina we were invited to visit the tomb of
Baqi, in this tomb there were many families and friends of the Prophet
Muhammad. after that I went with the group to go from Medina to Mecca by bus.
The journey from
Medina to Mecca takes about 2 hours. on arrival at the hotel we immediately
rested, because at 11 o'clock in the evening we will doing our first Umrah. I’m
so excited because that is my first time to doing Umrah. When I arrived at the
Ka'bah I could only stay quiet because I could not believe I could see the
Ka'bah clearly. Then we performed our Umrah that began with Thawaf around the
Ka'aba 7 times, then performed the 2 rak'ah prayers behind the Ibrahim station,
continued by Sa'i by ascending the Shofa Marwa hill and facing the qiblat 7
times beginning at Shofa hill and ending on the Marwah hill. then the last
tahallul or cut a little head hair. After doing Umrah we returned to the hotel
to rest and continue our activities the next day. thankfully my first umrah
went smoothly even though it was a little tired. on the second day I was with
my mother and brother walking to the market which is located under the Abraj Albait
tower. there are very many shops selling souvenir items from clothes, toys,
medicine, nuts, perfume, and other souvenirs. There are also many shops that
sell typical Arabic food such as kebabs, Arabic fried chicken, and certainly
rice briyani or bathing rice. there was a funny story when my mother and I
walked around the mecca, there was an arab citizen who guarded the shop saying
"Let's go Ayu Ting-Ting shopping here, let's go to Mulan Jamila go to my
shop" in Indonesian language. Me and my mother just smiled while answering
"Na`am" in Arabic language. For days 3 and 4 the same as on the first
day me and the group doing Umrah. On our last day in Mecca we doing Thawaf Wada,
this tawaf was done because it would leave the city of Mecca. then back to the
hotel to get ready for Jeddah airport to go home.
That's the story
about my Umrah trip with my mother and sister. It's sad to leave this city full
of history, but there are many experiences that have not been spared from my
Umrah trip. I hope I'm with my mother and sister can visit that noble place
again. Aamiin Allahumma Aamiin.
