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Thursday, April 20, 2006
It's been days since returning from the Makkah/Jeddah Trip. Things definitely didn't go as planned. It was a great trip though. No we didn't go Red Sea Snorkeling, but we did catch a Red Sea Sunset. Al-hamdu Lillah (Praise be to Allah).

This is how it went:

Thursday (Afternoon)
  • We didn't leave before `Asr Salah (Prayer). We left way after, on our way to Makkah Directly.

Thursday (Evening)
  • We didn't get to Makkah to visit Shaikh Rabee' before `Isha' Salah (Prayer).
  • We went directly to Shaikh Muhammad al-Banna's house in the Iskan Housing Project in Makkah.
  • We had dinner with the Shaikh and left from his house around a little before 12 Midnight. The Shaikh is a GREAT host and most welcoming. Also, for some reason EVERYBODY loves the rice dish that his family makes with almonds and raisins in it. Bon apetit...
  • We got to Jeddah late and basically knew there was gonna be no Red Sea Snorkeling in the early morning as we had kinda planned.

Friday (Morning)
  • I met up with a family friend from back home in the early morning. He was staying at the Jeddah Intercontinental Hotel on the Corniche. It was quite a hassle trying to find the place, but I managed.
  • Then, I thought I'd take him out to breakfast, being a kind of a host, I guess, but to no avail. It was Friday morning and most restaurants close early cuz of Jumu`ah (Friday Sermon and Prayer).
  • So we came back to the hotel and had some food there. I don't have to mention what we ate do I? He's working on a project with Motorola in Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah. They're basically installing something very similar to Nextel back home in America.

Friday (Afternoon)
  • We (my host and I) prayed Jumu`ah Salah (Prayer) at a local Jeddah Masjid (Mosque).
  • Then we came home and prepared to go down to Makkah with our families to attend Shaikh Rabee's weekly dars (lesson).
  • Then we stayed there after the dars (lesson) with the Shaikh, upstairs.
  • After discussing recent matters with the Shaikh as well as downing a few liters of Ginger Qahwah (Arabic Coffee) and some tea, we decided it was time to head back over to Jeddah for a dinner invitation that we had to answer.

Friday (Evening)
  • We prayed `Isha' Salah (Prayer) in Makkah and headed out to Jeddah.
  • We reached Jeddah late, like 10:30, and headed straight to our dinner arrangement.
  • We left there at 120 something, and once again I was convinced that even though we planned to go snorkeling in the early morning hours, that we might not be able to.

Saturday (Morning)

  • We had planned to go out to Khalid's (my host) mini-farm-kinda-place out near `Usfan (North of Jeddah). That didn't happen.
  • Instead we went around running errands till Dhuhr Salah (Prayer).
  • We came back to Khalid's house and I picked up the family to take them to Khalid's dad's Istirahah (Chill Spot). Now, Istirahah's differ from place to place and taste to taste, but this place was PHAT! It had lots of date palms and coconut palms. It had a phat Arabic Majlis (traditional sitting place) outside in the shade of the date palms. It had a pool, a few bedrooms, a kitchen and a huge living room. It also had a big trampoline (?) for their kids. It was a DELIGHT.
  • We had lunch there, and I took a little swim until `Asr Prayer (Salah).
  • After `Asr prayer, we took a little cruise down the Corniche Road, and basically killed some time till Maghrib (Sunset).

Saturday (Evening)
  • After killing some time by cruising the Corniche Road and taking pictures of weird roundabouts and sunken ships, we headed over to the South Obhur area right accross from Chuck E. Cheese's and I parked along the road so that we could find a spot to sit and watch the Red Sea Sunset that I was looking so forward to...
  • We got some refreshments, unfolded an old sleeping bag, and sat down to watch the Sunset.
  • After Sunset, we headed southbound on the Corniche to go to the legendary Jeddah Fountain in the Sea.
  • After all that, we were supposed to head out to Madinah, we even packed our bags, but I was so pooped that I couldn't drive four hours back to Madinah, so we did the next best thing, we slumbered.

Sunday (Morning)
  • We started loading the van after Fajr Salah (Prayer) and headed out. We caught a nice little glimpse of a Jeddah Sunrise peeking over the buildings in the outskirts of Jeddah, near Madinah Road.
  • It had rianed, Al-Hamdu Lillah (Praise be to Allah), and there were minature lakes strewn all over the desert. We caught some amazing sights of valleys filled with water, as well as some roadside trenches.
  • We almost ran out of Gas on the way back and had to stop by a Bedouin Village called Wadi al-Fura'.
  • As fate might have it, that is the original hometown of Shaikh `Ubaid, we got some gas and saw some amazing sights and pulled back onto the highway. "Madinah or Bust" (We kinda almost did bust, huh?)
  • We reached Madinah at about 10:00 and were quite tired. We did the best thing anybody could do, we SLEPT!

That's it, that's the trip. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I'll try to edit and upload the pics taken and make them available in bigger sizes, perhps 640 x 480 pixels in size. Any further details about the Duroos (lessons) or activities that we took part in will probably be discussed at the Madinah blog, since it's more knowledge-related.
 
posted by Abu Miftah at 3:38 PM | Permalink | 2 comments
It's about that time!

Time to visit the only place in the world where it is allowed to make Tawaaf (Circumambulation) of anything (the Ka`bah). The only place that is Holier (?) than Madinah. The first Masjid on Earth...

We're goin' to Makkah! (Insha Allah...)

And then perhaps after that we can go to Jeddah so I can go snorkeling in the beautiful Red Sea!

For details on the Makkah trip, and pics, check the Madinah Blog

Peace.
 
posted by Abu Miftah at 12:26 AM | Permalink | 0 comments
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
We tried... we really did.

But we left Madinah about an hour before Maghrib so we knew it would be pointless trying to catch Sunset in Yanbu. So we drove down the Old Yanbu Road and I got some nice pics on the way. Some of the better ones didn't totally come through though, the digital camera didn't recognize my tap on the flick trigger thing or something.

Anyhow, I'll be posting the pics of the Psuedo Trip (half way) to Yanbu, insha Allah
 
posted by Abu Miftah at 2:28 AM | Permalink | 0 comments
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Al-Hamdulillaah, we never ended up going out on our little trip...

Due to reasons known to every married man, sometimes women can take a bit of time to get prepared to get in the car and drive for an hour to see the Red Sea Sunset...
Oh well, it was a good idea, we might still go tomorrow but I have like three reports to do for school so Allah knows best.
 
posted by Abu Miftah at 3:52 AM | Permalink | 2 comments
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
It seems we are gonna take a surprise trip to Yanbu to see the Red Sea.
I dunno if any of you have ever been snorkeling before, but snorkeling in Red Sea HAS to be the most BEAUTIFUL underwater experience that I have ever had. Being that I'm originally from Miami, I've gone snorkeling in the Bahamas and in the Florida Keys. But the Red Sea has absolutely AMAZING coral reef formations.
This trip is not exactly for snorkeling, rather I've rented a car since I recently sold my car and am waiting for the new used car that I had shipped here (cargo) from Miami. Where was I?
Oh yeah, I've rented a car here in Madinah, in wait for the other car to come so I decided, "Why not treat the wife and use up all the free 150km that I get per day for the car?"

So there you go, a trip to see Sea. And being the fact that we are leaving now, at a quarter to six in the evening, we're prolly only gonna get there by Maghrib time (Sunset)...

But that means we get to watch a beautiful Red Sea Sunset, since I could never get to see a Sunset in Miami*... it should be worthwhile

*
Miami is on the Eastern coast of Florida, so all you can see (at the ocean) is a Sunrise...
 
posted by Abu Miftah at 5:39 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Monday, April 10, 2006
It seems the first heat waves of Summer are already here.
It's getting pretty hot these days and I think this is gonna affect my migraines quite a bit.
In the next few days, insha Allah, I'll give some tips that I've found, to keeping cool when living in this type of dry, hot, desert climatein Saudi Arabia. Madinah can get pretty hot, but like the Prophet said, "Whoever perseveres the harsh conditions (heat, cold, sickness, poverty, famine) of Madinah, then for him is Paradise."
 
posted by Abu Miftah at 11:45 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Saturday, April 08, 2006

It seems more and more people are being found to suffer from Migraines
I wonder is the same amount of people (in percentage) suffered from these excrutiating pains int he past, back when there were no such things as:

CatScans
Diabetes
IndoMie
Mesothelioma
Panic/Anxiety Attacks
Modern Media

… anyhow, May Allaah cure all those who suffer from this illness and guide them to the right way.

Check out my Migraine Blog

 
posted by Abu Miftah at 10:03 PM | Permalink | 0 comments

It seems boycotts are pretty lame

Who invented them?
What are the goals of such boycotts?
Why bother?

If you read Minhaj as-Sunnah by Shaikh al-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah you find that boycotting first came about int he time of the Umawy Empire, the Rawafidh brought it about due to their extreme hate of Yazeed bin Mu`awiyah, they used to boycott the wells he dug for the masses, as well as boycotting some good that would come from the Shaam region (Modernday Jordan/Syria/Lebanon/Palestine) of Arabia, since the people of Shaam showed open alliegence to Yazeed.

It seems these boycotters think that the Kuffar will stop bothering Muslims because the Muslims will not by their products. But if one was to investigate, they’de find that it’s Muslim Businessmen that lose large amounts of money due to the fact that they have binding contracts as agents of the Boycotted Company in their country. So, essentially, the Muslim Businessmen lose tons and tons of lost sales, while the Original Boycotted Company just decreases production or diverts products to another Consumer Country… who’s the winner… who’s the loser?

Why bother? I haven’t the slightest clue, perhaps it’s so all these lame people who are SO far from their Religion can experience a temporary High, while they think they are helping Islam by not eating a certain type of Cheese or Drink, rather than practising the tennets of their Beautiful Religion (?)

 
posted by Abu Miftah at 9:59 PM | Permalink | 1 comments
I am gonna REALLY start blogging from this day forward, insha Allaah
 
posted by Abu Miftah at 9:46 PM | Permalink | 0 comments