During our stay at Mecca on 28 June 2005 my wife and my self planned a visit to some holy sites around Mecca and for the same purpose we left hotel with our son, at around 8: 00 AM. Even at 8 :00 in the morning it was quite hot and one could feel the heat effects while walking. We hired a taxi and visited following places:
Al Taneem (Masjid-e-Ayesha)
A beautiful mosque located in "Al Hil", and it is about four miles away from the Holy Kabba between Mecca and Medina, and it is the Miqat for Mecca people and those coming to Mecca whether for Hajj, Umrah or residency. This is quite a big mosque with superb facilities for bath, ablution and changing, available for pilgrims and those who come to offer regular prayers. Once we went there
our taxi driver charged as 25 royals for a round trip and waiting for us outside the mosque.
Arafat
It is a very large yard outside the boundaries of Al Haram Mosque, and is situated about 25 kilometers from Mecca. The pilgrims go there on the 9th day of Zil-Hajj until the sunset, and then they go to Muzdalefah. Standing in Arafat is one of the main pillars of Hajj, and it is considered that those who do not stand in Arafat did not do Hajj. Several mountains from east, north and south surround Arafat, and the most famous of them is Al-Rahmat Mountain, on its foothill, the Holy Prophet, may the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him, stayed in his farewell Hajj. Here in this yard we found a lot of people selling low quality cheap priced merchandise, mostly these people were Africans and Pakistanis. We also found camels and horses available for riding, mostly foreigners were found riding these animals and price for a single ride was quite high.
Mina
A valley between two mountains east of Mecca, it is situated about five kilometers from Al Haram Mosque, where the Satan showed up three times to misguide Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH) from sacrificing his son. Here in Mina the Prophet Ibrahim (PBUH) threw stones at him, thus starting the obligation and ritual of stoning the three Jamrahs (stone pillars indicating places where Satan appeared). Muslims go to Mina to throw stones at these Jamrahs, slaughter animals, and stay there during the Hajj.
Al Muzdalefah
It is a place between Mina and Arafat where people come to, after standing in Arafat. It has a small mountain called Qazah that is shaped like a horn, where the Imam of the Hajj stands and speaks to the people as the Prophet did, and it is called Al Masha'r Al Haram, and a mosque has also been built here.
Masjid-e-Masha'r Al Haram
This Al Masha'r Al Haram mosque is also called Qazeh, and is the place where the Prophet (PBUH), gave his sermon, which became a must follow practice after that. The Imam of Hajj stands in the Masha'r and gives the Hajj sermon.
Birthplace Of The Holy Prophet (PBUH)
The house in which Holy Prophet (PBUH) was born is situated very near the Al Haram Mosque towards Marva gate. It is almost at a walking distance of 5 to 6 minutes from the main mosque and one can easily reach there. At present the house is not there but a public library has been established there. On the front door of the library a signboard has been erected indicated the name of the library as “Maktab Al Mecca Tul Mukarrama”.
Jannat Ul Mua'lla
It is the cemetery of the people of Mecca, and it is on the way to Mina, The grave of Um-Al-Momeneen Bibi Khadija (the first wife of Holy Prophet) and that of,Prophets's son Qasim, Asma Bint AbuBaker, Abu-Talib, Abdullah Bin Zubair, and other members of the Holy Prophet's family, may Allah be pleased with them all, are located in this cemetery. This cemetery is located near the Al Haram Mosque and one can easily go there to pay homage and respect to the people buried there. There are two sections of this cemetery. One section contains old graves while the other contains new graves and these are the graves of ordinary citizens. This cemetery is also known as Al-Hajun. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) used to visit it frequently. It is the 2nd holiest graveyard of Islam after Jannat-ul-Baqi (Baqi Graveyard).
After visiting Jannat ul Mualla we came back to our hotel and had rest, our trip was over in just above two hours time. We had also planned to visit the old graveyard of Mecca where daughters, young and new born, were buried alive in old ages but we both were not able to find enough courage to go there, therefore we cut our visit short and came back.
