Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine June 2018 | Page 110

108
Travel | Medina
Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina,
Saudi Arabia, captured through
the mosque’s ornate iron gates.
Medina is different to Makkah. It always has been. “They say
even if you drop money here, no one will pick it up. They will
just leave it so that you can come back and find it exactly where
it was dropped,” says Saeed Anwar, smiling as we sit together
staring up at the geometric patterns that adorn the white
‘palm tree’ pillars in the courtyard of the Prophet’s Mosque.
1
The sky above is cloudless, revealing
thousands of stars. The evening air is
cool, as it has been all week. Even the
temperature is merciful in Medina.
Saeed is visiting Islam’s second holiest
city after performing his umrah in
Makkah. He is from India. Like Muslims
who come to Saudi Arabia from all over
the world for hajj and umrah, we have
both combined our ‘lesser hajj’ with
a visit to Medina.
Two cities so central to Islam’s genesis
story, yet they feel a world apart. Whereas
Makkah is loud and noisy, Medina appears
quiet and placid. Whereas Makkah feels busy,
Medina feels relaxed. It is as if Medina is the
yin to Makkah’s yang.
Sitting nearly 500km north of his birthplace,
Medina is where the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) migrated to in the year 622 ce.
The residents of Yathrib – as Medina was
known then – joyfully received the religious
refugees, greeting them with songs and
drums, and clamouring for the honour to
host Muhammad (PBUH) in their homes.
Wanting to avoid offending anyone, Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH) let his favourite camel,
al-Kaswa, decide. Wherever she would stop,
that would be where he lived, and where he
would build his mosque.
The spot where al-Kaswa knelt down –
originally palm groves owned by two orphans
– is where the Prophet’s Mosque stands
today, right in the centre of Medina.
Beginning as a humble structure made of
unbaked bricks, date trunks and palm fronds,
the Prophet’s Mosque can now hold a million
worshippers during peak hajj season.
It was in this city that the Prophet really
established his new community, and it was
here that many of the significant moments
that defined the new faith took place. This is