25th October 2010

• Paid last visit to the Prophet after Dhuha prayers.

• Had a last walk around the mosque after that.

• Prior to the Zuhur prayers, wore the ihram. Prayed the last prayer at the mosque.

• After lunch, every one of us prepared and boarded the buses. Onwards to Mecca.

23rd October 2010

• In the morning after breakfast, Tarmizi gave a briefing regarding our upcoming travel and trip to Mecca ( which will be on Monday 25th).

• The Yaskin group left for Mecca today.

22nd October 2010

• Main activity of the day was of course the Friday prayers.

21st October 2010

• This day my father and I visited the Baqi’ cemetery after Subuh prayers.We prayed inside but near the entrance. There were many people.
  We went around the area near our hotel after that and bought some kebabs for breakfast.

20th October 2010

• Today was mainly a day about visiting some of the historical sites pertaining to the history of Islam in the city of Madinah. We left for the tour activities after breakfast.

• We visited the Quba mosque, but due to shortage of time unable to visit the Qiblatain mosque and the 7 mosques (we only pass through those mosques). Beside that, we passed by Jabal Uhud and the Archer’s mountain of the War of Uhud. Again due to time unavailability we did not visited on our foot.

• The other main activity of the day was visiting the date farm & shop. Everybody bought plenty of dates. Myself I bought a Turkish olive oil.

• Later in the day I bought some jubah pants outside the mosque area.

18th October 2010

• Today was the day we visited the Prophet’s grave inside the Nabawi Mosque.

• The UTAS group had a meeting in the morning, after the Subuh prayers and breakfast.
  We left to the mosque as a group, wearing our yellow UTAS caps and went there. Besides the main aim of visiting the Prophet, it was also a group tour around the Nabawi mosque.

• My father and I left the group halfway and made our own way inside the mosque, on the way to the Prophet’s resting place. The Raudhah area was completely crowded, I was unable to pray inside there, only manage to stand in a small place just offering prayers before I had to get out.
  The line in front of the Prophet’s grave was completely packed too, and everybody had to move forward swiftly as the Arabian police guarding there commanded everyone to do so.

• After we visited Ben Dawood, the local supermarket in this country.

• Later on after Zuhur, my parents and I went around the hotel area, and did some shopping. I ended up buying a new jubah and scarf.

17th October 2010

• Arrived in Madinah at around 9am, Saudi Arabia time. Upon arrival we waited in the airport area, prior to going through the customary customs check. had our passports checked, including having our thumbprints and fingers scanned, and also had our hajj healthbook checked by doctors who were waiting and they wore face masks.

• After leaving the airport area, each of us pilgrim received several stuffs from Arabs that were Hajj introductary items.
  We then boarded a bus to our hotel. The bus driver was a Palestinian.

• On the way to the hotel, we went past Jabal Uhud as well as the grave of Sayidina Hamzah, uncle of the Prophet. 

• We arrived at our hotel, the Dyar International amidst some traffic jam around the area there. The bus parked in front of the hotel, and on board came the main representative of UTAS who will be handling our Hajj stay and traveling, Ustaz Tarmizi. He greeted us and briefly briefed us on our stay in Madinah.

• After getting our room keys and keeping our bags and luggage in our respective hotel rooms, we went to the Nabawi mosque for the Zuhur prayer that came shortly after 12pm.

• Later on in the day, we changed some our Malaysian Ringgits to the Saudi Arabian currency, the Saudi Riyals.

• On another note, our Utas group shared the hotel with another Malaysian Hajj travel tour company, Yaskin.

Introduction

My name is Amir. This will be blog on my travel to Saudi Arabia, when I will be performing the Hajj, the pilgrimage in Islam (from 17th October - 2nd December 2010).