A journey of a thousand miles…

This time it was different.

One of the greatest ni'mah of being a resident of Saudi Arabia is the occasional visits to Makkah and Madinah.Dad always loves to drive us there to give us the comfort of being in our own car and granting us the flexibility of stopping on the highway when and how we wanted. may Allah bless him for that.

Visits to the holy land is always filled with sooo much fun and warmth..specially cuz of having sisters who are more like friends..so the journey of more than 9 hours would fall short for entertainment all along. Right from jubail days till the time we shifted to Riyadh, this is one journey that is always fondly looked for by me and my sisters.

We would make special food and snacks and pack them neatly to have our picnic in the dessert highways.Just the thought of it brings soo much excitement! This time, it was sam’s fried rice & chicken, mom’s shrimp masala and chotti’s sinfully delicious choc brownies. And my exclusive Indian masala chai :P (since, as usual, I was busy washing clothes in the last minute to take them for the journey, just had time to make the tea) Oh, and I did ask dad to buy some gulab jamuns since I sorely missed Sarah baji’s home made gulabs. Gotta try out her recipe soon inshaAllah!

It was the last day of Ramadan and the excitement was building up already.Soo many duas to make and soo much to ask for before the holy month ends..as we started off from Riyadh, the sun began to settle down and we continued our dhikr..it was beautiful to see many people stopping their cars by on the side of the deserts to have their iftar. As we had ours, I realised I forgot to fry the samosas :D khair, the brownies, gulabs and some biscuits did the job well.

Then comes the best part—star gazing!! Love love LOVE to stare  outta the window and search for constellations! And this time around, it was a beautiful star studded night! Amazing how these stars twinkle sooo beautifully, they are soo near yet soooo far! Can’t seem to get enough of them!

As we arrive at the beautiful radiant city of Madina, we could feel the festiveness all around…people selling fitra rice on the streets, buses line up and get to the hotels, people scurrying everywhere, children playing and then of cuz the MOST awaited sight of all—the Holy Masjid of our beloved prophet SAWS..just sighting the minarah is enough for one to have tears, subhan'Allah…how so beautiful and perfect in every way! The heart can't wait to be there already!

So we finally get to our hotel, leave our stuffs, freshen up and walk towards the masjid for Fajr..the air is sooo gentle this morn and the beauty of the nabi’s masjid can never be described in words.It can only be felt, subhana'Allah!

May Allah SWT grant all muslims the blessing of being there.Aameen.

Dad had to rest after that long long driving..so we are back to our hotel to catch some sleep before dhuhr. Mom went for some shopping after that. There are lovely things here and just looking at the beautiful people, you would want to buy everything from them. It’s something about their simplicity and their hard work.masha’Allah.

Our last iftar in the courtyards of our Nabi’s masjid..

Mom , Dad, Sam & Me

was soo beautiful to see people from different parts of the globe, assemble together to break their fast.

And the workers, kudos to them! Their team work is something sooo outta this world! Imagine how they lay the mat to place the food for millions of people in just few hours! subhan'Allah!

Me and siddi went inside the masjid to get some cool fresh air, hehe. People inside also started distributing food! Generosity everywhere! SubhanAllah!

As the beautiful magrib azan roze in the air, people celebrated their joy of having the last iftar for this month! Could see joy-lit radiant faces everywhere in anticipation for Eid. Couldn't ask for more. Felt so much at peace here.

We had our tea, prayed isha, had dinner and headed back hotel to rest well before Eid.

Eid prayers was awesome, Alhamdulilaah. Had the beautiful blessing of saying salam to our beloved Prophet SAWS on the day of Eid and even got the chance to pray on the green carpet! Alhamdulillah.

As I started walking back, I noticed how people wrote their names on one of the walls..just for the sake of leaving some memories of being there...

so I had my share too =) 

Meanwhile, didn’t know there was a lady silently watching me as I was inscribing my name..after I was done and turned back to walk, she called out and said—“I saw what you did”
It was cute to get that remark from that aunty, so I greeted  her salam and Eid mubrak and she talked to me for while and for some reason she gave me this advice —“ Donot let anyone cow you in your life. Do what you want and Live your dreams as long as it is in the path of Quran and the Sunnah” also –she said—“Look for a life partner who will grow with you..someone who has religion and will walk your journey of dreams together”…subhan’Allah…I thought this could be from Allah alone…as I was in a situation where decisions had to be made and answers had to be sought…at times like these,  advices like these just hit you right on the spot!

The teary eyed aunty then lifted up her hands and asked me—“ Tell me what dua you want me to make for you?”
I said—“ I want to be close to Allah and earn HIS Jannah.”

She cried as she sincerely made this Dua for me. I was soo touched, I hugged her tightly.May Allah grant her relief from all her tests and accept her duas.Aameen. Aunty Sharidah definitely left a deep spot in my heart and I wish I had taken a pic of hers to share with you. Insha'Allah will meet her in Jannah.

As I walked back, I pondered on why Allah just brought this specific incident to happen in my life.Why would a stranger lift her hands and cry as she made dua’s for me…I still don’t know the answer but I definitely know that her words of advice are some sign for me to contemplate upon.

I forgot to ask her to make dua' for me, my sis and my friends to get a righteous husband lol…for  a moment I wanted to race back and ask her..but then I realised, I had already asked her the Highest dua..the blessing of being close to HIM alone..and when I'm close to HIM, everything else is taken care of =)
So the calm heart walked off to the courtyards of the Masjid where her parents had been waiting for her  patiently for nearly an hour :D

Sam, dad and me came to fetch some Zamzam water during Dhuhr. And a peculiar thing happened then too. As we were taking turns to fill the bottle with Zamzam, I lost my niqab somehow..and I was scared that my mom would be upset since it was a new niqab…but as I looked eevrywhere, I couldn’t find it..so I sat down and remembered the words of a dear friend of mine, my adik, Anis Ishak. She once told me that anytime she lost something, she would look around but then in the end, if she didnt find it, with a peaceful heart, she would invoke Allah sincerely for HIM to bring it back to her if there was khayr.And be calm afterward. Subhana'Allah, I love her soo much for Allah's sake and she is soo close to my heart..So I tried her beautiful advice...and... SubhanAllah! The next moment, Sam came running with a “Tadaaaa” and there was my niqab. She found it lying somewhere near the gates.

I know this is a very simple story but then it teaches us to rely on HIM alone. Everything else is just a means. Every sincere dua should be followed with conviction and a calm heart, cuz Allah loves to answer us. Its just that we don’t know how to ask HIM.

Me in sam's niqab :P

I was sooo happy that Allah gave me what I wanted, but more than that I felt confidence in my duas..and that really cheered me up =)

It was time to take some farewell pics in the holy masjid, then rush back, pack things, visit the Quba masjid, ice creams and finally hit the road back to Riyadh.

Quba Masjid

This beautiful journey taught me sooo many beautiful lessons, most of all,  the gift of being at peace with yourself, no matter where you are, Allah is with you.

Ma’assalam!