Madinah's rich history

Madinah (Medina) and Mecca can be both said to be the cradle of Islam civilisation. That is why the land is regarded as holy to many. The Prophet had once said that the soil and water from Madinah can cure any diseases. With its mystical charm and religious significance, its not surprising to learn of the many colourful and even bloody history of some of the areas in the city.

For example, did you know that the city of Madinah was (and still is) surrounded by ranges of natural black volcanic rock? It was hard for invaders to enter the city through all but one opening in the north. Therefore, most of the battles (and the most ferocious battle of them all, the 'Battle of Uhud') were fought there.

'Battle of Uhud' is an important battle as it was here when the Muslims suffered their first defeat. Story goes that after the Muslim forces had successfully stopped the invading forces from entering the city, the Muslim archers on top a strategic hill defied the Prophet's orders and came down to collect the treasures of the dead and wounded. This caused the hill to be lost to the invaders who had then swooped in from behind the Muslims. The Muslim army was defeated and the Prophet was injured; he was then brought into hiding by some of those who survived into the neighbouring mountain ranges (see below).

Muslim pilgrims who come to the site are reminded of the battle; the foolishness and greed of several Muslims who defied the Prophet's orders, which then resulted in the Muslims' first defeat.
This is the strategic hill where the archers came down from...

Later, we went to a museum where we learnt more about the battle and 'saw' for ourselves the transformation of the city of Madinah from the Prophet's time to present (with the aid of models of course...). See the smaller group of white figures (above), these are the archers, the other group is the rest of the Muslim troops and the red figures are the enemies.
We also saw the huge site model of the city and the original size of the Prophet's mosque in relation to the rest of the ancient city.
This is a rendering of the Prophet's house and mosque (the open courtyard) many centuries ago before the Prophet's mosque was recontructed.
They say that the best gift from Madinah is a bag of dates (korma). We went to the dates market after that. Bet you didn't know that there are a lot of varieties of dates. I was happily munching on a lot of the 'samples'...

After a few days in the ancient city, it was now time to perform the umrah.

We wore umrah clothings and headed down to Bir Ali to start the pilgrimage.

On the way to the Mecca, we were wearing the ihram clothing. And this is my last picture with hair...
The beautiful architecture of the Bir Ali Mosque.

It is an hour drive from Madinah. And 6 hours drive to Mecca. This is where umrah starts.

More pictures can be found here.