Hajj steps 2: In Madinah

Prophet ( Salla Allahu Aleihi Wa Sallam )'s grave:
While in Madinah, you may be taking this opportunity to start by visiting the Prophet ( Salla Allahu Aleihi Wa Sallam ) grave. I do not know of a specific timing where it will not be crowdy, you just have to go and attempt to make your way through, just be part of the crowd and follow the current until you reach the Rawdah.

Where is the tomb of the Prophet (Salla Allahu Aleihi Wa Sallam) located?:
The grave of the Prophet (S) is located underneath the visible green dome:

Madinah - Front esplanade: reflection of Green dome and minarets onto the shiny marble.

Madinah. Another view of the green dome. Did you notice that the left minaret is different from the other ones?

Exit from Rawdah. You cannot enter from this side, it is a one way only, you will need to get to the Rawdah from the inside of the Mosque.

Green Dome.   Under the green dome is the Tomb of our beloved Prophet Muhammed Salla Allahu Aleihi Wa Sallam.  

Where to go?

Once you locate the position of the green dome, enter the Prophet (S) mosque from the closest door to it. You will need to aim at a place called the "Rawdha" which is located right before the grave.
The way to know that you are in the "Rawdha" is by the color of the edges of the carpet, which are green. The rest of the carpet in the Mosque have red edges, so just pay attention to this detail or you may end by praying outside that area thinking you are in the right spot. In the past, the whole carpet had different color, this year, it was only the edges, making it more difficult to differentiate, especially when many people are always there praying.

1. The Prophet (peace be upon him) 2. Abu Bakr Siddique3. Umar Al Farooq In front of the sacred tomb of The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), there are three sections of brass screens and all three have holes in them. Look at the picture carefully. If you stand in front of the middle section between the pillars, you'll see a big round hole on your left. This is in front of the face of the Holy Prophet. Adjacent to it is a door that stays closed. Right after it on the right side is a round hole which is in front of the face of Hadrat Abu Bakr Siddique. On the right of it, there is another round hole which is in front of the face of Hadrat Umar Farooq. Image source: http://www.islamic-travel.ch

1. The Prophet (peace be upon him) 2. Abu Bakr Siddique3. Umar Al Farooq
In front of the sacred tomb of The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), there are three sections of brass screens and all three have holes in them. Look at the picture carefully. If you stand in front of the middle section between the pillars, you'll see a big round hole on your left. This is in front of the face of the Holy Prophet. Adjacent to it is a door that stays closed. Right after it on the right side is a round hole which is in front of the face of Hadrat Abu Bakr Siddique. On the right of it, there is another round hole which is in front of the face of Hadrat Umar Farooq. Image source: http://www.islamic-travel.ch

Image source: quranforkids.com

What about women?

According to my wife, the women are given "ziarat" time (visit time), which is after Subuh, after Dohor, and after Isha prayers.

Women have to visit the tomb of the Prophet (S) in a group according to continent/ language of the hamlah (group) you are with. If you are Asian and travelling with an Arab group (hamlah), then you will still be going with the Arab group, but you have the possibility to join a group from your same mother tongue. You will see security women holding placards of each continent right after the Prayer, you will need to search for the one holding your continent all across the women praying area. The security is known to be very strict, do not play the hero and stick with the group and stay PATIENT, you will have higher chances to enter the Rawdah by doing so.

The door to the grave/Rawdah opens at 7AM for after Subuh ziarah. From Subuh prayer until this time, you are expected to wait patiently until your turn comes. They only allow a certain number of people at a time and the queue moves forward until the previous group leaves the place. They will then allow for another batch of people to enter the Rawdah and so on.

Note: it might take up to 11:30 AM for the last group to enter Rawdah, but yet, the doors to the visit would be opened at 07:00 and closed by 08:30-09:00~ leaving you short time to be among the visitors, so plan your day accordingly.

Other places to visit:

Sunrise on the Baqee graveyard. Graveyard is behind these walls

You may go and visit the Baqee, which is the graveyard next to the the Nabawi Mosque, where a large number of Sahabah kiram (companions) including Usman, Abbas, Imam Hassan, and wives and daughters of the Holy Prophet are buried. This graveyard is close to the tomb of the Holy Prophet (Salla Allahu Aleihi wa Sallam), right after the courtyard of Masjid Nabawi.

Entrance of the Baqee is on that ramp shown on the right hand side of the picture

Walls of the Baqee graveyard. If you exit from the front end of the Mosque, it will be located on your left hand side.

Other places:

Masjid Quba: This is the first mosque in the history of Islam whose foundation stone was laid down by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) himself on his migration to Madinah. To offer 2 raka'ats of Nafil prayer in it is equal to performing one Umrah as per authentic Hadith. It is highly recommended to visit this Masjid and pray inside it.

Masjid Qiblatain (the 2 Qiblah): This Masjid is known to have two qiblahs, as the Sahabas were praying towards Palestine when the verses on changing Qiblah was revealed, someone told them that the Qiblah had been changed to Mekkah, so the Sahabas shifted to the new Qiblah accordingly without cutting their salat

Shopping:

I personally think that the best timing to perform your shopping should be while being in Madinah. You will find the same articles than in Mekkah anyway, the price is more or less the same, you are less tired and the shops are close by. Once in Mekkah, you will have little time to perform shopping (unless you are there for a long time), and you will be tired from the hajj rituals.

Madinah - Shops by the walls for the Baqee graveyard.

I have seen people running out of money because of shopping, so make duas of the market before entering any shopping place, this will avoid you overspending on items you do not really need, it will be a good test for your nafs to be controlled.

Once you have your nafs under control, take her to the Gold Suk and give her a test:

Gold Suk in Madinah

Best medicine to apply: close your eyes and carry your way

Gold Suk in Madinah...one advise: remember that once we die, we will not take any of our wealth with us...

Food:

Madinah: a place to sit and savor a good shawarma sandwich

Madinah has many places where you could easily find food that suits your taste. All the restaurants are within close vicinity of the Masjid Nabawi, so just take the time to look around for the one you like most. Our group had open buffet for food, we did not face any issue with that, food was plentiful and of good quality al hamdulil'Allah, but I had relatives coming with other groups and their package did not include food, so be careful with whom you chose to perform hajj as this could drain your money very quickly over a short period of time.

Buffet in the hotel in Madinah: the queue could be very long 

Women and men are separated in the restaurant

Food and drinks were not an issue with this group.

<--Step 1   Step 3--->

Hajj steps 1: Travelling to Madinah

This entry will capture the main Hajj steps in pictures with some advises / lessons learnt, asking Allah's Help in this task. Hajj is a fantastic journey, I will not go through what is to be said in every step of the Hajj rituals as this could be easily found in several sites that specialises in Hajj, I will just share some comments with pictures of the event so that one would know what to expect.

Important note: the trip to Madinah has nothing to do with Hajj Rituals. Madinah is not part of the Hajj.

Hajj is the 5th Pillar of Islam
If you have been selected to go to Hajj, then remember to thank Allah before all, because He Allowed you to go there and be one of His guests. Many people take hajj for granted, but it is not, so many people have tried to be there all their lives and never managed to make it due to illness, shortage of money etc., so many are still distracted from this pillar and think they will be able to live another year to decide whether or not to go, then the years pass on, and they keep repeating this same mistake each year, until death comes and they still have not performed Hajj. Some live there in Mekkah, and they have not performed Hajj, because they are busy with business. So being able to go there and perform Hajj is a great Blessing from Allah that we should not get distracted on.

Where to land: Jeddah or Madinah?
There are 2 main Airports from where you could land while performing Hajj: Jeddah and Madinah. Remember that Madinah is not obligatory and not part of Hajj rituals, but many tours will offer the visit to the Prophet (S) mosque along with their package.

I have been in both places on separate occasions, my personal advise on this: if you have the choice, then opt for Madinah, because it is faster, simpler, easier and less stressing. Air traffic is less in Madinah, Jeddah airport is huge and during Hajj season, you can be staying inside the plane for several hours waiting for a gate to empty before they disembark you.

Madinah Airport:

Landing in Madinah Airport.

Madinah Airport. Shuttle to the arrival hall

Madinah Airport Hall:

Madinah Airport. Arrival Hall

Madinah Airport. Immigration. Officers were very polite and very friendly , Jazahum Allah Khairan for the help they provided the Pilgrims.

Madinah Airport. Arrival Hall. We will take the buses that are waiting on us outside that back covered walk.

Outside Madinah Airport. Buses getting loaded with passengers. Luggage will follow.

Outside Madinah Airport. Buses and Passengers ready to move to their respective hotels.

Landing in Madinah will also certainly present an advantage if you are traveling with elderly people, because the distance to the hotel from Madinah Airport is certainly going to be shorter than having to make the trip from Jeddah airport to Mekkah.

Some useful timing data:

We landed in Madinah airport at 15:00
We were outside the airport inside our buses at 16:30, thus it only took 1.5 hrs to be outside with the luggage etc. It then took 1 hr to reach the hotel.
Important note: although our group was fortunate enough to have made the trip in such short time, we have friends who flew from US to Jeddah, then connected to another plane from Jeddah to Madinah. Once over Madinah, their plane had to circle the airport for 2hrs before being able to land, so be PATIENT from the minute you leave your home, the journey will be full of unexpected events.

In Madinah:
The Salat in Nabawi Masjid is equivalent to 1,000 prayers, so strive to make a lot of salat inside the Prophet's Masjid.

Masjid Nabawi, front esplanade with fully opened umbrellas -  We can distinguish at the very back the walls of Al Baquee graveyard. The blue sky is just so "blue"

Masjid Nabawi, front esplanade, waiting on the Dohor Azan.

Masjid Nabawi. View of the front entrances and esplanade.

Step 2--->

Anyone paying heed?

Today, I received a phone call from a friend; his neighbor died last night and he asked me to join him for the funeral at Dohor time..

The deceased was only 18, my friend had a dinner with him and his family yesterday, the young brother went to bed, but he did not wake up.

He did not suffer from any illness, a young and strong brother just died during his sleep...24hrs ago, this young brother was eating and laughing and talking on his plans to start his first job in life, not knowing that he will not see the sun rise again, not knowing that it was his last dinner and that the clock was ticking the last seconds of his life...

We prayed on him after Dohor prayer, then took him to the graveyard which was about 300m away from the mosque. I stood close to the grave and looked inside,,,wallahi it seemed soo narrow, this is where we will all end, not in large palaces, not in large flats/houses/apartments, no luxurious hotel room, no!!...it would be just a hole, 50cm wide x 180cm long,,just enough to put your body laying on one side, facing Qiblah..

They lowered him inside his tomb, put him on his side facing Qiblah, opened the sheet on his face and started to cover the grave with a series of stone blocks (so that the body is protected in that space from the sand above it) then we filled the grave with soil. The following are a sequence of steps that take place for burial. Note that there are 2 types of graves for Mulsims: Shaqq (middle trench) and Lahad (side trench). In Oman/Algeria/Malaysia/Mekkah, they use Shaqq, in Madinah they use Lahad (which is the way the Prophet (S) got buried). The Shaqq and Lahad can have variants.

Digging Shaqq grave (middle trench)

Body lowered inside the grave, he/she rests on the right hand side, facing Qiblah

Trench is covered with block stones/ wood so that the space where the body is will be protected from soil above.

Interstices carefully plugged to avoid sand falling inside the trench

Grave is filled with Soil/Sand

After we buried the young brother, the Imam made us sit on the ground and he made a small reminder. In his reminder, he said that Allah created us for a sole purpose: to Worship Him...how many of us are so distracted by dunya that we forget where we will all go one day. We take heed for 5 minutes, then after that, we just forget and keep running here and there just like we will not die one day. He reminded the audience that the young brother was only 18, healthy and no disease, yet, he was in a grave. We are standing around the grave, not being questioned, yet the person in the grave is being questioned.

We kept silent after that and made duas for the young brother, then we presented the condolences to the family who stood in a small line, then we left the graveyard, leaving behind us the young brother facing his future all alone.

May Allah Awake us from our distraction, and Help us Work for such day and Cover us with His Blessings on the day He Would Take our souls. It is certainly a great blessing that we are still alive, and still be able to read one more line of Quran, or make one more tasbeeh, so many of us have now been deprived of this.

Today is work and no questioning, but tomorrow it will be questioning, and no more work. The brother is now spending his first night in this grave, may Allah Forgive him, and Forgive all of us when we will reach that time. Certainly, in this life, this dunya, we are taking care of our houses and make sure to have good A/C during summer and good heaters during winter, but our real homes, our real houses, our graves, how many of us are really taking care of these real houses to make them a garden of Paradise?...may Allah Have Mercy on all of us...