Amongst the tombs and mosques we visited were that of Imam Shafiee in which we were also shown the footstep (imprint) of Prophet Mohammad, Imam Jalaluddin as-Sayuti, the author of well known books on hadith and the interpretation of the quran, Imam ibn Atoillah as-Sakandari, Saiyidina Hussein Ali the grandson of the Prophet, Saiyidah Nafisah Imam Hassan al-Anwar, 
a well known religious lady who continued to fast for 30 years consecutively, and went for haj 30 times and known to have walked from Mecca to Medina every time, and that was in the 10th century!! We also visited Al-Azhar mosque and the tomb of a warrior within, amongst many others.There was a late afternoon free time to visit the local bazaar, khan khalili but Ram decided to forego shopping at the bazaar as she was just too tired. Phew!…. you don’t know how relieved I was when she decided not to visit the bazaar. Those who went came back with loads of stuff, adding on to their luggage. Some managed to coax a few people in our group who visits Egypt only and returned home without going for the umrah, to take home their shoppings. With that they did not have to lug all their shopping stuff to Medina and Mecca, but then they loaded those people who were returning home!!
The roads in Egypt do not seem to have improved when compared to the time I visited in 1984. They have built new highways and by-ways but the quality of the roads are still wanting. Perhaps the volume of traffic being so huge, making control chaotic, left the roads surfaces in that condition. 1984, 2006, the traffic condition remained the same. Honking of their car horns seems to be part of their driving ritual. There was so much honking that after a while you are immune to the sound!! And people, people everywhere. The places we visited, just any of them, were just crowded with people doing their own thing or on their own way somewhere.
This time though I noticed clear differentiation between the old Cairo and the new Cairo by the different design of buildings and structures, with the old really looking very old. However, the building may look old on the outside but the inside are usually cozily done up. The hotel we stayed in was a very old hotel of French design, with clip-locked and cobblestone road frontage, and cast iron roadside pillars and chains, but the rooms are comfortably done up and fixtures modern. No grouses there. One interesting fixture though was the vintage elevator, the one with exposed sides where you can see the walls rushing by as you go up or down in the elevator. I think the elevators were specially preserved by the hotel. It must be costly to maintain them.
Our flight out of Cairo was rescheduled to 1.00 am 22nd. September but due to a mix up we were not accommodated on that flight but was rescheduled to the early morning flight. We left Cairo at about 8.00am heading for Jeddah. From Jeddah we were taken by bus to Medina arriving in Medina at just after the dusk prayers. We found out that Ramadhan was to start the next day, a day earlier than we anticipated. But that was no big deal. In fact we were looking forward to it. A day earlier was just great. We spent four nights in Medina and then proceeded to Mecca where we spent seven nights.
The weather was hot, 42 Celsius at midday. It was not too bad in Medina as the new extension of the holy mosque was fully air-conditioned, pleasant for us. We only have to endure the heat when going and coming from the mosque. Our hotel was just 5 minutes walk to the mosque. But in Mecca it was different. There was only one section of the mosque that had air-conditioning while 80% of it without. There were wall and ceiling fans everywhere though and at full swing all the time. So there was air flow but hot air circulating!! We just gave full concentration to our prayers and before long we forget about the heat.
It is normal for umrah tour packages to include visits to interesting historical sites in Mecca and Medina. We went for such visits. This time however our guru, through his contacts with locals gurus like him, managed to arrange additional visits around the great mosques and their vicinity, to identify sites of importance in the history of Islam like the original Bani Hashim village, the house where Prophet Mohamad was born, the places where the Prophet received messages from Angel Gibrail,
the site where the Prophet met and negotiated with Jins who later became Muslims in droves, the site where a dates fruit tree paid homage to the Prophet, and many more. We also managed to visit a museum of the Holy Kaabah, whose entry is quite restricted requiring pre-arranged appointments and other formalities. These additional visits made our trip there really worthwhile. The only regret I have is I did not take enough pictures. I was so engrossed with the historical facts that I forget to record them for posterity!! I will just have to put them in words somewhere then. Before leaving Mecca, and as we usually practiced whenever we were there, we made our final prayers in the holy mosque and then prayed in front of the Kaaba in full supplication to Him with the hope that He will grant us the opportunity to return to this Holy site in the near future. May Allah be pleased, Amin Ya Rabbul Al Amin…….
MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Petaling Jaya
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