the great mosque

sunset in makkah from on top of the roof of the great mosque

jabal-e-noor

mountain of light. also known as mount heera. this is where the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to go and meditate. it was on one such occasion that angel jibreel (gabriel) came to muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and said "iqra" meaning 'read'. muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) asked "read what?" three times until finally angel jibreel brought the first revelation of the quran "iqra bismi rabbikal lazi kalakh" ("read in the name of your lord who has created (all that exists)."

mina

where the hajis will stop on 1 of the days of hajj. a complete tent city, only open on days of hajj. the rest of the year it's closed and maintained in preparation for hajj, when approximately 1.5 million muslims will visit.

jabal-e-rehmat

mount of mercy, in the plain of arafat, just outside makkah. the hajis (pilgrims) will stop here on 1 of the days of hajj, youm-ul-arafat (day of arafat). stopping here and praying is farz (compulsory) for hajj. the prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did his last khutbah (sermon) from here. it's also said that the plain of arafat is where adam got reunited with hawwa (eve) after they were expelled from heaven. adam was in sri lanka and hawwa was in jeddah in arabia.

mount thawr

there is a cave at the top of the mountain in the middle of the picture. this is where the prophet (peace & blessings be upon him) hid with his best friend and companion, abu bakr, en route to medinah (hijrah) to escape the furious opposers of this new religion. they stayed here for 3 days and 3 nights before eventually the enemy left. from here the prophet (peace & blessings be upon him) and abu bakr continued their hijra (migration) journey to medinah.

the great mosque

the area surrounding the great mosque. the royal palace is on the left. to the mid-right are new and under construction apartment blocks (available as timeshare), and to the right of that is makkah towers hotel. also in the picture is a pilgrim dressed in the ihram (2 sheets that muslim males must wear when performing umrah or hajj) supplicating to allah by facing the holy kaaba. allah's throne is directly above it in heaven. it is said that the tawaaf (circling the kaaba 7 times) is being done by angels in heaven around allah's throne. in makkah it only stops for the 5 compulsory daily prayers. other than that the tawaaf has been going on for more than 1400 years and won't stop until the day of judgment.

the great mosque

i'm back in makkah and it is CRAZY! still approx 10,000 people arriving everday. this is just after salaat-ul-maghrib today.

the prophet's mosque

one of the doors. there are about 30 or so in all. you may need to save and rotate this pic 90 degrees clockwise

the prophet's mosque

inside the prophet's mosque (when the cleaners were jetwashing the automatic umbrella roof from above). routine cleaning runs like clockwork.

for the muslims...

it's pretty much self-explanatory. just sharing. cos sharing is caring :-)