I’m back! Sorry to keep you waiting..

So, after the Dead Sea visit, our tour bus brought us to Prophet Musa A.S mosque and shrine, which is situated nearby. It’s a small an old mosque on top of a hill, in a middle of a desert. This is the picture of the inside of the mosque but outside of the pray area.

We performed jama’ solat for Maghrib and Isya’ there..

This is the praying area for women..

And this is the maqam of Prophet Musa A.S. inside the mosque. This tomb is almost 15 feet long, MasyaAllah.. He must be really really tall..

The next day, we visited Al-Aqsa mosque for the first time!! But we didn’t go straight to the mosque. Our tour guide brought us around Jerusalem town.

This picture was taken from the Mount of Olives. Can you see the grayish-almost-black dome behind us, that is the Al-Aqsa Mosque dome. The Dome of Rock Mosque’s dome is gold in colour, is actually behind Bella. (Sorry!)

And this is a donkey :)

And finally we are here! That is the Dome of Rock Mosque.

Both Dome of Rock Mosque and Al-Aqsa Mosque is situated in the same compound, called Al-Aqsa. They are about less that a kilometer in distance, and they share the same compound.

This is the inner view of the golden dome of Dome of Rock. It’s under construction. Just imagine the beauty of the calligraphy of these ayat. MasyaAllah.. And the golden dome (as seen from outside) was built exactly above the hanging rock where Prophet Muhammad S.A.W travelled from earth during Isra’ Mikraj.

This is a picture of inside the mosque, it’s almost like a hexagon in shape to my eyes. And the ladies will pray inside this mosque for Friday prayer while the men will pray in Al-Aqsa, sharing the same imam from Al-Aqsa mosque. At other times, both men and women can pray in this mosque at any time.

This is a small corner in the mosque (I don’t know what it’s called) where you can put your hands inside the hole in the window to touch the hanging rock that Rasullullah S.A.W stepped on his way to Isra’ Mikraj.

In that small hole, you can touch the part of the hanging rock..

This area is build right underneath the hanging rock in the middle of the mosque. It’s a very small area where you can sit and pray, maybe for about 30 people at a time. Do you see the rock behind me that serves a the roof of the underground area? That is part of the hanging rock. MasyaAllah.My husband is standing right in the middle of pray area underneath the rock. I put up a picture without flash so you can imagine the real environment there.

Outside the Dome of Rock mosque, there’s a place where according to local people, that is the place where Prophet Khaidir A.S always performed his prayers as shown in the photo above. Wallahualam..

Abu Dharr RA reported that he asked the Prophet SAW, “O Messenger of Allah, which Masjid was built first on earth”? The Prophet SAW replied, “The Sacred Masjid of Makkah”. Abu Dharr RA again asked, “Which was next”? The Prophet SAW said, “Masjid Al-Aqsa”. Abu Dharr RA further asked, “How long was the period between the building of the two Masjids”? The Prophet SAW said, “Forty years”. Apart from these, offer your prayer anywhere when it is time to pray, although excellence is in praying in these Masjids”. (Bukhari)

Another hadith on Al-Aqsa Mosque..

Abu Hurairah RA relates that the Prophet SAW said, “You should not undertake a special journey to visit any place other than the following three Masjids with the expectations of getting greater reward: the Sacred Masjid of Makkah (Ka’bah), this Masjid of mine (the Prophet’s Masjid in Madinah), and Masjid Al-Aqsa (of Jerusalem)”. (Muslim, Bukhari, Abu Dawud)

Anas Ibn Malik RA relates that the Prophet SAW said, ” The prayer of a person in his house is a single prayer; his prayer in the Masjid of his people has the reward of 27 prayers; his prayer in the Masjid in which the Friday prayer is observed has the reward of 500; his prayer in Masjid Al-Aqsa has a reward of 5,000 prayers; his prayer in my Masjid (the Prophet’s Masjid in Madinah) has a reward of 50,000 prayers, and the prayer in the Sacred Masjid (Ka’bah) has the reward of 100,000 prayers”. (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah)

Do you know Al-Aqsa Mosque was our first kiblat for 17 months before Allah ordered Prophet Muhammad SAW to turn his kiblat to Kaabah while he was performing solat at Qiblateen Mosque in Madinah.

Now let see the Al-Aqsa mosque..

Can you see the grey blackish dome behind us? That is the Al-Aqsa mosque, we were standing at the Dome of Rock compound still. You just have to go down a few more steps and you are already at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Here’s the main entrance of the mosque..

This is the wudhu’ area exactly in front of the mosque..

And again here’s the compound facing Dome of Rock Mosque. Can you see the golden dome?

That is Bella and Tasha playing with the Palestinian girls at the compound of Al-Aqsa while waiting for Maghrib prayer.

Here’s the inside of the mosque..

Alhamdulillah we managed to performed solat in Al-Aqsa every time we got the chance to, even for Subuh. We just dragged Bella and Tasha along with us. Bella with daddy and Tasha stayed with me. I just put Tasha on the floor while performing my prayers. And to my surprise, she didn’t cry!! Of course I make sure I changed her diapers and feed her before solat! Haha.. She just golek-golek on the floor next to the pillars.

Glad I get to share some of the mosques’ pictures with all of you. I hope with these picture, at least you can imagine how it’s look like inside both mosques. I have a few more pictures from our trip. InsyaAllah there will be Part III coming soon..

X

Hi all!

We’ve arrived safely from our Jerusalem trip yesterday. Both my girls are sleeping, my husband is already in JB for an event and here I am, blogging while doing my laundry! Haha..

Over all, it was an amazing trip. I heard a lot of stories about Muslim people and Muslim tourists not allowed to go into Al-Aqsa mosque by the Israeli but alhamdullilah, our group was well taken care of by our agent there.

To be honest, I didn’t really paying attention to the tourist guide when he was explaining to us the history of Jerusalem in the bus because I was dozing off!! Haha.. Then my husband woke me up and paksa me to listen so I can write it in this blog! Haha.. Sorry people, I was sooo sleepy. Anyway, this is the part that I heard from him.. BaitulMaqdis is also known as Al-Quds or Palestinian-land-occupied-by-Israel. It is claimed by the Israeli from the Palestinians as their land after 1967 after Six-Day War. (That’s quite a short duration for a war, isn’t it?) After thousands of years Islam has been there, the Israeli took the land from Muslims and made it theirs (I think the British who conquered the area at that time gave it to the Jews as Jews has no country, if I’m not mistaken.. Trust me I’m bad at History!!). The Israeli has closed down more than 600 mosques in BaitulMaqdis and converted it to churches, police stations, shops and many more. It saddens me seeing the Israeli army stationed at all the Al-Aqsa entrances. They control who can come in into the mosque. Only Palestinians and tourist Muslims who lives in BaitulMaqdis can go to Al-Aqsa but not other Palestinians who lives outside of BaitulMaqdis. Imagine your rights to pray in the third holy mosque is controlled by the Israeli. Is that fair?

We flew from KLIA to Queen Alia Airport in Amman, Jordan. In Amman, we were brought to see the Seven Sleepers Cave, which also known as Ashabul Kahfi.

The entrance of the cave is really as described in the Quran in Surah Al-Kahfi, verse 17:

“And you would have seen the sun, when it rose, inclining away to the right from their cave, and when it set, passing away from them to the left, while they lay in the open space in the midst of the cave. Such are among the signs of God. He whom God guides is (rightly) guided; but he whom God leaves to stray, for him you will never find a protector, a guide (to lead him to the right way)”

This sentence, according to my tour guide is referring to the olive tree that covers the entrance from direct sunlight. There’s also another place in Turkey that people claimed as Ashabul Kahfi but this one in Amman suits the ayat the most.

Here’s the inside of it. These is a picture of three tombs and archeologist actually found human bones and a dog’s bone inside this cave. Wallahualam..

After that, we went to Prophet Shuib A.S mosque and shrine, which was also in Amman..The tomb is probably about 12 foot long. I can’t imagine seeing someone with that height.. MasyaAllah.

Then we proceed to Jerusalem, no pictures were allowed to be taken at the border check point between Jordan and Jerusalem. It’s controlled by the Israel. It took us almost two hours just to pass the immigration check point. They even open all our bags for security reasons.

Anyway, after that, our tour bus dropped us at the Dead Sea at Israeli side. I totally forgot the name of the place but it looks like this..

Across the sea, on the other side is Jordan. That’s Jordan Valley. Yes, they are that close to each other.

No I didn’t go for swim there.. (OK I can’t swim.. haha..) Never in my life I would imagine I will go to the sea in abaya.. and my husband in jubah! Hahah.. but who cares, right! Managed to dip our legs into the sea.. jadilah.. Bella and Tasha also had a quick dip there.. Apparently Dead Sea water is super salty. It contains 32 types of minerals (that is a lot as compared to normal sea but please don’t ask me how many types of minerals in normal sea.. I dont know! :D) It is supposed to be good for your skin, and according to them, the mud is even better. These people the applied the mud on their body like body mask!!

OK, I gotta go. Tasha is awake. Back to mommy mode. Will continue my story later…

X

Hi all!!

Yesterday, I followed my husband to a press conference for “Jejak Tanah Suci BaitulMaqdis with.. urmm.. him”

Guess what?!!

This is your chance to go there. We are gonna go to Palestine to visit many Islamic historical places like the tomb of Nabi Musa, Nabi Shuib, Nabi Ibrahim, the mosque that was build by Nabi Daud, fort that was build by Nabi Sulaiman, many historical islamic museums and the most important thing.. Masjid Al-Aqsa!!

I really really wanna see the footprint of our Prophet Muhammad SAW before he went for Isra’ Mi’raj. Yes, Isra’ Mikraj started from Al-Aqsa!!

MasyaAllah.. do you know Al-Aqsa mosque is one of the three holy mosques in Islam?!

#1) Masjidil Haram

#2) Masjid Nabawi

#3) Masjid Al-Aqsa

Another interesting story.. there’s a hanging stone in Al-Aqsa and it’s called Qubbatul Sakhrah. Correct me if I’m wrong but according to history, that huge rock wanna follow our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW during Isra’ Mikraj but to no avail. So, the huge rock is left hanging. Subhanallah! According to the tour agent guy, the Jews built pillars so people will not see that the rock is hanging. (Biasa lar the Jews kan, always full of agenda!! Huh..)

Owh.. and not forgetting the Dead Sea!! You know you can’t drown when you’re swimming there, right? SubhanAllah! I’ve read somewhere that the sea mineral content made it impossible to drown at the Dead Sea.. you’ll be floating!! Suitable for people like me.. (who can’t swim!) Here’s my chance to float effortlessly!! ;)

This trip is from April 29, 2013 to May 8, 2013 and only available for 32 + 4 persons..

Wonder who is the “+ 4″ is?? ;)

Mr Astronaut, Sophea Isabella, Sophea Natasha and mommy!!

Yes, we are gonna bring our two daughters. Bella and Tasha is going to see Al-Aqsa!!

Honestly speaking, I’m really looking forward to this trip. Alhamdullilah I’ve been to Masjidil Haram and Masjid Nabawi. And here’s my chance to go to Al-Aqsa. I know its gonna be hectic because Tasha will only be about 3 month old and Bella is so active running around. The challenge for me is to maintain my milk production because when mommy is stress up or tired and combined with lack of sleep and possibly not drinking enough water and knowing the weather in Middle East country.. Wish me all the best!

Haha..

The ‘damage’.. it’s RM7230 for adult and RM6730 for a child.

Grab your opportunity mommies. Seats are super limited!

If you’re interested, you call Miss Wany Idris @ 017-305 2663

or you can contact GOTZ Travel and Tour Sdn Bhd at 03-7727 0585

And that’s Bella giving her daddy her talk-to-the-hand face during the press conference yesterday..

Much love, X

OK.. I’m guilty as charged!! I couldn’t finish my blog on time last night coz the moment I updated my FB saying that I wanted to finish it last night.. Bella did her “big business” then she wanted milk.. then we fell asleep while talking to each other.. So, janji tinggal janji lah.. Now I’m back from work, Bella’s daddy has put her to sleep.. Here I am in front of my computer *wink*

Alright.. most of you wanted to know about our trip to Turkey.. Firs, I wanna ask you.. Do you know what’s the capital of Turkey? Nope, it is NOT Istanbul.. it is Ankara!! Hahahah… I got that one wrong too!! It was Istanbul until 1923, they moved the capital to Ankara :) We learn something new everyday! Hehehe..

So, remember I told you the temperature there is 0 degrees.. I was wrong!! *dang* Few days before we arrived Ankara, it was minus 20degC.. and the day we arrived there, it was minus 14degC!! But at the same time.. the sun is shining… aaahhhhh… I just love living in a fridge with sunlight!! ;) And guess what?!! Bella loves the cold weather… Initially she was quiet, like she’s thinking what’s going on around her, after a while, she get used to it.. and really enjoys the snow..!! Owh.. did I mention about the snow?? Yay!!

“Mommy.. can I eat the snow??”

This is when she really put the snow in her mouth, and she got diarrhoea for the next 3 days!! Hahahaha..

Istanbul is full of historical buildings.. very Europe-ish.. well, it is actually half Europe and half Asia.. Anyway, my point is, it is very Europe-ish without any problem finding halal food.. I whacked everything edible.. just to enjoy Turkish gourmet.. They use a lot of meat, lamb and cheese.. heaven!! Don’t even think about asking me about my weight.. the answer is “No, I’m not telling you!”

One place you MUST visit in Istanbul is.. the Grand Bazaar!! Taddaaaaa… Not a surprise that one coming from me, eh ;) It is huge!! More than 3400 shops in the Grand Bazaar, and I believe if I need to go to all of the shops, I might need 4 days to finish it all… unfortunately, we only managed to spend about 4 hours there.. Bella’s dad schedule is jam packed!! No time to leisurely walk in the bazaar.. haih.. They have everything you need from Turkey. Love. Love. Love…

Serving my duty as mommy.. Breastfeeding Bella at the Grand Bazaar.. Don’t worry, she can breathe from under my breastfeeding cover ;)

We stayed at the Bhosphorus area where part of Ottoman empire was located.. It is facing the sea with gorgeous view of the other side of the town..

And that is little Bella stylishly waiting for her flight back to KL.. she had fun in Turkey.. wishing she (and mommy) could come back again.. *hint to daddy* ;)

Hey all!!

Hope everybody is doing great :) As some of you might know, my little tiny family was down in Singapore because Bella’s daddy is giving a speech at the Asia Pacific Region Space Forum.. mommy and Bella tagged along just for fun. Hahahha… own no!! Trust me, I have another motive :D

So we drive down (I said down because in the map, Singapore is on the south of KL, jut in case if you’re wondering..) to Singapore on Wednesday afternoon as planned.. It was a 3 hour journey with just one quick stop to change Bella’s diaper. Hahah.. Trust me it was like the F1 pitstop cause we were in hurry.. It was about to rain at that time. I made it in less than 3 minutes from taking her off her car seat, to digging through her diaper bag, changing it with diaper rash cream and powder all ok!! Hahaha.. We went via the second link at Tuas. The traffic was excellent. There was almost no car at all!! I loike!! After checking in at our hotel, we went out for a walk at the shopping mall nearby..

Bella chilling with mommy and daddy at Starbucks after our long journey.. She’s having mocha frappucino in her own way.. biting the cover ;) NOOO!!! Trust me she did not have mocha frap!! ;)

And here is Bella before she goes to bed.. She doesn’t sleeps with us coz back at home, she sleeps in her own room. Only on this rare occasion, she sleeps with us..

We just spent the next day wandering at Orchard Road.. of course most of the things that we bought are for our little angel.. Check out the hat with huge flower on it!! To whoever who always complain to me, why Bella is not wearing flower hats.. There you go!! Happy??! We didn’t managed to go to see the night Christmas lighting at Orchard Road.. Trust me they have the most beautiful lighting and ornaments and what not for Christmas there.. Just thought Bella might like to see all the beautiful lights and christmas trees at night….

Tak dapat yang besar, yang kecik pun jadilah.. See I told you, she loves lights and balls and stars..

The only place that we went to visit and act like tourist was the Singapore Flyer.. That is like The Eye of Malaysia which was located at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa a few years back.. Now they have shipped it back to Germany! Borrowed for a year I think.. Correct me if I’m wrong.. Hahaha.. It is a huge ferris wheel towering at 165m at its highest point.

This is the view of Singapore harbour, called Keppel Harbour. See how busy they are with all these ships docking..

It has been a long day for Bella.. We made her read the map on her own… Hehehe.. and this is what she did! Laying down looking cute and make me go… aaaaahhh!

After we are done with our Singapore trip, I quietly whisper to my husband.. pretending like I’m cool.. “Can we go to Johor Premium Outlet, S? My friend says it is quite a good place to go shopping. Bargains are pretty good! Alang-alang we are already here.. buleh tak?” *insert cute face here* Padahal dalam hati dah melonjak2!! Hahaha.. The moment he said “OK why not..” I straight away showed him the route map I have googled earlier on.. Hhahahha… *kena jeling balik here*

After 1 hour of driving following my map reading skills.. Hehehhe.. then only we made it to JPO *big grin* To me, it is really a good bargain if you dont mind wearing one or two previous seasons fashion.. I am NOT a fashion victim, I only wear whatever I am comfortable with. So, it is not a big deal for me.. Of course a lot of things a cheaper there as compared to KL and Singapore. I’m sorry I don’t have any picture to share with you coz I literally went berserk there.. *malu* Hubby was very kind to take care of Bella while I do what I do best (cheewahhh!!) Hahahahha.. Rough estimation, I think I have SAVED about RM2k there ;) No.. thats not the amount that I spent.. that’s the amount that I saved!! *another big grin* Bijak kan!! ;)

Till then, XOXO