My husband was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. After immigrating to America in the mid 90s, he hasn’t been back until we got married and went together, twice — in 2014 and 2016! My in-laws were living in the Kingdom again so it made our visits very simple, alhamdulilah (hallelujah ?)! We had family time in Riyadh and then traveled to Makkah and Madinah — the two holiest cities in Islam. The photos in this post are from Madinah in November of 2016, and are especially special. While its a massive blessing to be able to make this journey at any time in any circumstance, I was a few weeks pregnant with Iya here and didn’t even know! I found out a couple days later after we finished our religious pilgrimage in Makkah and decided to take a pregnancy test – so surreal! You can hear about that in more detail in my birth story on my channel haha.
In the heart of Madinah you’ll find The Prophet’s Mosque, the second holiest site in Islam: Al Masjid an Nabawi. I’d snap a photo from our hotel window randomly throughout the day and I never realized just how great the photos were until I organized them just now. You can really see the transformation from day to night as the umbrellas fold up and lights turn on. The mosque is so peaceful we made it a point to extend our stay during our 2016 trip instead of splitting our time evenly. It is such a special place.
My in laws were amazing guides through the holy cities as they’ve been more times than they can count mA. Madinah is home to the three oldest mosques and we got to spend time at them all. Below is Quba Mosque, the very first mosque from the Prophet’s time and he even laid the first stones. Another is Masjid al-Qiblatayn, the mosque of two qiblas, but I have no photos! I also have no photos from Makkah at all. Contrary to what some thought because of my (one & only) photo from Madinah, photos weren’t on my priority list at all. I was happy to get a few of the architecture in Madinah since we extended our stay – Waseem and I would stroll and talk while the city was literally napping. Notice how no one’s in my pic except a couple janitors? 😉 I hate having to explain but non-objective thinkers were really up in arms when I posted that on the gram! No one cared about Waseem’s though.. because, well… he’s a man lol
I believe we stayed at the Movenpick btw in case you’re wondering! in 2014 we stayed at the Intercontinental. xo
Stunning pics! Brought tears to my eyes as I was there this past March.
I loved my stay in Medina, always felt at home. Always kept thinking how close we are to the prophet and the sahaba, they have walked the streets. Seen the same mountains. In shaa allah soon one day I want to return. May Allah accept our duas and hold us steadfast in our prayers.
Wow gorgeous pictures! I loved reading and learning about places I don’t know much about. I definetly need to see them for myself one day.