Medina Off The Beaten Path

i've seen such an unsual yet, sweet way of celebration as much as making the noise of 'lolouloy'! i've been many times to the Prophet's Mosque to pay him a Ziyara or a visit. The Visit is kind of a religious habit, than a ritual, of leaving home in pursuit of seeing the Beloved, ie, the Prophet. it's specially common among saudi sufi as opposed to saudi wahhabism which forbids the habit per se. you just get close to the grave of the Prophet and his two companions, say salam, perform two rakahs and make your prayers or wishes, and inshallah they'll be granted or so as it is widely compellingly believed. however, non-saudi pilgrims, esepecially those who come from abroad, they celebrate this Visit in the most unsual sweet way ever. They actually celebrate as if they are attending a wedding Arabian reception instead of showing respect to a holy place as such. They cover their mouths with their hands and start making a very loud noise, lolouloooooooooyyyy--literally speaking. usually this is carried out by women as it's not considered so manly! i just laugh my head off when i see senior ladies doing it while the women guards of the Mosque struggle to shut them up,lol.
so don't be overwhelmed or freaked out; it's common to see and hear such a celebrative Ziyara. don't try to indulge it as the guards get very strict about this to the point of pushing or yelling at the visitors. just nod and smile:^)

4 more images

Pilgrims visit the holy sites from the early days of Islam. The site of the battle between the Muslims and Meccans at Mt Uhud when the archers - the Rumat deserted their post despite instructions from the Prophet, Over seventy Muslims were killed and the site of their burial is a must -the Baqqiya.

The mosques from the early days are also visited :Qubba, Qibblatain and Bilal.

2 more images

When the prophet Mohamed and his followers left Mecca they settled by jebel Uhud. On 23 March 625, the second battle of Islam took place between the followers of the Prophet and a Meccan force. It was a great setback for the Muslim army, who had been let down by their archers [ramat] who deserted their position on a small hill, now called Jebel Ramat. Seventy five followers were killed and are buried nearby at el baqqia . The Meccan army, however, did not take advantage of their victory and left.

This mosque is the only mosque to have two minbars or qiblas. The early Muslims used to face Jerusalem to pray [qibla], but once during prayers the Prophet Mohamed received a command to turn right round and face the position of the kaaba in Mecca.His followers followed him, and thereafter the qibla has been the Kaaba at Mecca, and the mosque has two qiblas to remind believers of the first Muslims, and the change.

1 more image

After the prophet Mohamed made the move from Mecca to Medina [the Hijra], he settled at the foot of mount Taleb. He built the mosque before entering the town of Medina.
It is one of the holy sites people visit while doing the umrah.
The present mosque is built on the site of the original mosque.

There are many smaller and historical mosques spread out across Madinah. Among the notable ones are a group of several small mosques, each one named fora different companion of Muhammed (ie Ali, Fatima, Umar, Suleyman). Hiring a taxi and asking them to give you a tour of different mosques is a good deal, as many drivers will take you to different sites and allow you to get out and look about, and not at a bad price, usually about 30-40 dollars.

This mount of UHAD has an historical attraction for all pilgrims. It is three kilometer away from Masjid-e-Nabvi. The grave of Syedna Hamza (RA) remains crowded during daytime as it is most important point of UHAD. Now the historical 'pass' of UHAD is very much demolished.
'UHAD Loves us, we love UHAD. You all ,must visit UHAD.
You must eat something from here. It may be dry bushes/leaves etc'.