It was an impromptu plan for our group. I think there were some people who personally requested to hike Jabal Nur and it became a group activity instead. :D
I am so glad and it becomes one of my best moments in Makkah.
Something I have never imagine in my entire life - to visit the hill where the first revelation was delivered to Rasulullah s.a.w.
That event was significant enough and the reason why the hill is named as Jabal Nur - nur means light / cahaya.
Alhamdulillah!
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| Beautiful, isn't it? <3 |
We left the hotel after Asar around 5 pm with a small van to accommodate 13 of us who would love to join the hiking trip. It was really pack in the van, but I still remember that was the moment I had the sweet chance to introduce myself to other group mates and got to know other people.
What is needed for you to climb?
- A small bottle of water
- A hiking stick
- Wudu' spray. :)
- Dates (kurma) for immediate energy supply
- Comfortable shoes and clothes
- Money - I recommend lots of 1 to 5 riyal notes.
You can easily buy the hiking stick at the shops at the base of the hill. A nonadjustable wooden stick costs about 5 riyal, while the adjustable one about 10 riyal. Haha, at that time my mind flashed back to a cheap hiking stick I bought in Czech for just 20kc! (approximately RM 4),
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| It was challenging to decide at first - to go hiking or not, as I just finished my umrah before Asar. Huuuu |
Arrived quite close to Maghrib, we prepared ourselves for prayer there - neither at the mosque nor musolla but simply at the shops, beside the road :) Then, we started climbing. The hill was not that high, just 640 meters plus but maybe because we hiked in the dark, it felt different.
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| I was amazed with the driver's skills to park their cars at the hilly road like this. |
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| Can you see the crescent moon? |
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| Special pose from the cat :D |
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| View of Makkah. |
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| Hiking higher... |
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| And higher... |
We had been taught that how special Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. is. Even though he was born in a place surrounded with Jahiliyah, he was well taken care and protected from those activities - like syirik etc. But, Rasulullah didn't like all Jahiliyah the people had been doing. He went to isolate himself and to find calmness in Gua Hira' by climbing Jabal Nur.
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| The hills are full with rocks like this. |
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| And this. |
Through out the pathway up the hill, we can meet a lot of people asking for sadaqah. Especially, there will be quite a number of guys who ask sadaqah to make stairs on the hill. Stairs are very helpful for people to climb and sometime the original rocks are too steep to step. It is up to you to help and I would recommend you to prepare small notes before hiking - so that you can help different people.
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| I couldn't see any toilets up there so I wonder what was this thing. T_T It was on the stairs though, I bet no one want to poop in public like this. Actually I have no other idea of what this thing is. -_-' |
Once we reached the peak, we could see some stalls (maybe around 4?) selling varieties of items from drinks, food and even clothes. Prices were a bit higher than usual, but you can expect why - attraction site and I don't think it is easy to carry all items uphill. T_T
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| Stalls. |
Walking at the peak, we could see the best view of Makkah from Jabal Nur. Of course Kaabah was out of view but it was easy to locate the qiblah based on the tall clock tower. In fact, on top of the hill, there was an area complete with carpets to pray.
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| Like this. |
Just ask around about the cave and we managed to arrive at Gua Hira'. The entrance to the cave was not that big, not easy either because the cave was behind rocks.
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| Surah Al-'Alaq - the very first Quran verse revealed to Rasulullah s.a.w. |
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| There were many people but bearable, each of us had the chance to pray at the cave. 2 people can pray at one time - one standing and one sitting. :) |
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| Some people said this is an example of vandalism T_T |
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| Some of our group mates who climbed together :) |
There are many life lessons we learned through out the hiking trip.
It is an amazing spiritual experience, reminiscing the memories when Rasulullah s.a.w. went to find peace in mind plus all strength and sacrifices Rasulullah s.a.w. and his Companions had made to make sure Islam spread to the whole world till now.
And it was really fascinating to think and imagine how Saidatina Khadijah risked herself to deliver meals to Rasulullah s.a.w. Climbing the hills twice daily... I don't think that was easy! There were no stairs back then.
MashaAllah! SubhanAllah!
SS, Perak, Malaysia
180120
