It was still scorching hot but the soft wind had made it bearable to walk the short distance to the mosque. People were streaming towards the mosque giving a sign of Asr prayer is about to begin. I stopped for a while amidst the chaos with sounds that I could hardly understand. But from the gestures I knew they were hasting to close the shop and hurry to meet the calling azan. For days I have been astonished to their daily life; how everything surrounds the prayers and the holy mosque. They seemed to be here forever but everyday I came across them, they were practically running towards the mosque. It’s not like they are leaving tomorrow and need to complete everything by today, I wondered. As if everyday is not enough for them spent time in the mosque. The streets are almost deserted by now; I was still there standing where I was, kinda shocked and at the same awed by the sights and the scenes very strange to me. The streets of Madinah were always empty except for a few cars and taxis ferrying people around. I guess that area where our hotel was located, was not that populated. I remember the last time I was there we stayed at an area where people were jam-packed the streets almost every hour of the day. But then I was thinking and feeling how it was back then more than 1400 years ago. Were the streets as empty as today? Oh my God I was standing on the soil of Madinah, the place where it was all started. The syariat of Islam,the revelations,the struggles of the prophet, the life and death of sahabah. I felt so warm and awed with the opportunity that day. This very spot could be where Abu Bakr rd, Umar rd, or Ali or uthman or any of the sahabah or even the prophet saw himself used to rush towards the call for prayers.
Underneath the shadow of the sky-reaching hotel buildings, once lied the mud houses of the people of Madinah-the ansar; lined along this very street where I was standing. Were there many merpati flying on-and-off the city square in those days? I saw myself surprised with the sudden feeling of belonging to the place where I was absolute foreign. I made my move towards the mosque, the steps became faster and faster, I knew why I came to this place and who was the one to meet….my beloved prophet.
O Rasulullah
I wish I could see you to show the proper of your sunnah
Or hear your voice to listen to the revelations
Or touch your heart to feel the purity of mankind
Or look at your smile for things heavenly
O sayyideel mursaleen
How awful was it to be alone in that cave
Contemplating the call to save humanity
For the brutality of life they created
Lost amidst the ignorance
That the words from you , ya Rasulullah
Could save from the fire of tomorrow
O habibullah
I was standing outside your place
Looking up the walls and the lights
Nothing compared to your time
When nights were long and dark
So save from the danger
To say a few prayers to Allah
People were pushing and shoving
To have some space
To say their love and longing
For the one they never met
But forever indebted
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