Friday, June 6, 2008
On the wrong side of King Faisal Highway
[classof72] On the wrong side of King Faisal Highway
From:zahid aziz (zaziz@hotmail.com)
Sent:Saturday, October 28, 2006 7:22:45 PM
Reply-to:classof72@yahoogroups.com
To: classof72@yahoogroups.com
Assalamu 'Alaikum,
Eid Mubarak Kullu 'aam wa antum bikhair. Selamat hari raya aidil fitri kepada sahabat-sahabat Kelas 72 dari saya dan keluarga di perantauan. Just got back to Riyadh from an early morning flight from Jeddah having spent 5 days in Madinah pre Eid and 5 days in Makkah Eid and post Eid, with family and father in law. Not many public holidays in Saudi but Eid is an annual 10 day public holiday. enjoyed by all.
When Hasbullah, a 4th year student at Madinah Islamic University cum tourist guide for us offered a luxury hotel in Madinah for us to spend the last 5 days of Ramadhan, I politely declined in an attempt to capture the Madinah of old, bustling souqs and all. However nothing prepared me for the transformation that is Madinah today compared to what it was 10 years ago. Literally Masjid Nabawi is completely ambushed by luxury 5 star hotels. Room accomodation ranges from SR400 to SR1000 to SR10,000 per night. Hasbullah found us some decent accomodation in the vicinity of Ijabah Mosque but it is a daily life threatening experience to cross the King Faisal Highway to get to Masjid Nabawi. Submerging the proletariat in me I weakly resolved to stay on the right side of the Highway next time my family and I visit Madinah. Air conditioned souqs somehow lack some romantic notion of an Arab market place but hey I love my kids too much to risk their life and limb in crossing the Highway that separates the haves and the have nots in today's Madinah. I laud the modernisation of Madinah but somehow find it hard to reconcile that with the celebration of the poor that was the hallmark of the Prophet's s.a.w struggle.Quietly I hope somehow things will work out, the poor pilgrims will not be sidelined and the richer ones allowed to pay for accomodation they can afford.
Eid iin Makkah was a non event for us. Spending malam raya in Madinah airport departure hall, our 12.40am flight for Jeddah enroute to Makkah eventually left at 3 am. We missed Eid Prayers in Masjidil Haram as outgoing traffic prevented us from approaching the Mosque. However we have nowhere to go and nothing to chase so all was taken in good stride. At least the difficulty of reaching Haram makes us forget the rendang and the lemang and the ketupat which is inseparable with pagi raya. Distance makes the taste buds grow fonder or something like that.
Maaf zahir and batin from me and familiy.
Zahid
From:zahid aziz (zaziz@hotmail.com)
Sent:Saturday, October 28, 2006 7:22:45 PM
Reply-to:classof72@yahoogroups.com
To: classof72@yahoogroups.com
Assalamu 'Alaikum,
Eid Mubarak Kullu 'aam wa antum bikhair. Selamat hari raya aidil fitri kepada sahabat-sahabat Kelas 72 dari saya dan keluarga di perantauan. Just got back to Riyadh from an early morning flight from Jeddah having spent 5 days in Madinah pre Eid and 5 days in Makkah Eid and post Eid, with family and father in law. Not many public holidays in Saudi but Eid is an annual 10 day public holiday. enjoyed by all.
When Hasbullah, a 4th year student at Madinah Islamic University cum tourist guide for us offered a luxury hotel in Madinah for us to spend the last 5 days of Ramadhan, I politely declined in an attempt to capture the Madinah of old, bustling souqs and all. However nothing prepared me for the transformation that is Madinah today compared to what it was 10 years ago. Literally Masjid Nabawi is completely ambushed by luxury 5 star hotels. Room accomodation ranges from SR400 to SR1000 to SR10,000 per night. Hasbullah found us some decent accomodation in the vicinity of Ijabah Mosque but it is a daily life threatening experience to cross the King Faisal Highway to get to Masjid Nabawi. Submerging the proletariat in me I weakly resolved to stay on the right side of the Highway next time my family and I visit Madinah. Air conditioned souqs somehow lack some romantic notion of an Arab market place but hey I love my kids too much to risk their life and limb in crossing the Highway that separates the haves and the have nots in today's Madinah. I laud the modernisation of Madinah but somehow find it hard to reconcile that with the celebration of the poor that was the hallmark of the Prophet's s.a.w struggle.Quietly I hope somehow things will work out, the poor pilgrims will not be sidelined and the richer ones allowed to pay for accomodation they can afford.
Eid iin Makkah was a non event for us. Spending malam raya in Madinah airport departure hall, our 12.40am flight for Jeddah enroute to Makkah eventually left at 3 am. We missed Eid Prayers in Masjidil Haram as outgoing traffic prevented us from approaching the Mosque. However we have nowhere to go and nothing to chase so all was taken in good stride. At least the difficulty of reaching Haram makes us forget the rendang and the lemang and the ketupat which is inseparable with pagi raya. Distance makes the taste buds grow fonder or something like that.
Maaf zahir and batin from me and familiy.
Zahid
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