Ramadan in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [Part II] - Touching Madinah

And YAASSS finally arrived to our hotel in Madinah. We stayed at Al Eiman Royal Hotel, Madinah. The hotel is 3 blocks away to Masjid an-Nabawi. It was 2am and we were so tired with 2 days trip but we were asked to have our sahur (meal at dawn before fasting). Not so in a good mood to eat since all we needed that time was a proper and nice sleep.

The view from our hotel room, 14th floor

Ok, well we need to be ready and finished our meal because 4am local time subuh/dawn prayer is already started and we had to be ready at the greatest mosque of Madinah, Al Masjid An-Nabawi, at at least 3.30am. Why? We didn't want to missed the prayer and we needed to get a comfortable place to pray so we should come earlier. If you're late, no place to pray or you might pray on the yard or even the asphalt road! Here they always have thousand and even hundred thousand pilgrims everyday.

First impression when i finally entered the mosque... Amazing! All people from around the world were there. Tidy, ordered well, furnished beautifully (especially the lamps) and UNLIMITED WATER! Just bring your bottle and fill it as much as you want!

There’s several rules inside Masjid An-Nabawi, and so far I only know for woman area. First, women are actually not allowed to bring cameras (DSLR/Pocket Camera/Digital Camera etc) but men are allowed. Dunno why. But you may bring your mobile phone, which you better have a nice camera on it if you intended to take some pictures.

At the Gate, after we take off our shoes/sandals, we will meet some women in burqa that will take a look inside our bag (if we bring any). These women are organized well and they could speak English well. Some of them also speak a little Melayu or Bahasa. So if you need help, you may ask them. Tbh I still kinda feel quite strange with burqa but I swear to God that these women are so friendly. Greet them with Salam. Or just simply ask “How are you” with smiling. Be humble and speak softly (don’t rise your voice). I believe there’s hidden big smile behind their burqa too.

So far I never saw any of these women staff take away any pilgrim’s belonging forcibly. I only know that they’ll only warn pilgrim to not taking any picture inside and not to use camera. My tour guide said “If the staff was friendly, they will only warn you when they get you taking picture inside the mosque. But if the staff was quite mean, they’ll format your camera/phone”.

.....OK I broke the rule *God forgive me

but anyway, Here's my next journey. Still in Madinah [Part III]

Previous story [Part I]