Multitudes visit Medina holy places

By: Abdulali

HOLY CITY OF MEDINA, Saudi Arabia: Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims on Saturday visited the holy resting place of the Chief of Prophets, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh & hp), which is inside the Prophet's Mosque in the holy city of Medina, Saudi Arabia.

The pilgrims also converged on the destructed holy cemetery of El-Baqee where once before 1926 were the holy shrines of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh & hp)’s Ahlul Bayt (p) including his beloved daughter about whom he said, ‘Fatimah (p) is a part of me. He who hurt her, hurts me, and he who hurts me hurts Allah,’ and four Aaimmah namely Al-Imam Al-Hassan bin Ali (p), Al-Imam Zaynul Abidin (p), Al-Imam Al-Baqer (p), Al-Imam As-Sadeq (p) plus pious wives and companions of prophet (pbuh & hp).

At present the cemetery houses destructed pious graves only. It is a practice here that pilgrims visit the holy places in the holy city of Medina before and sometimes after performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca.

There go a number of traditions regarding the great merit of visiting the holy graves of the Prophet (pbuh & hp) and Aaimmah El-Baqee (p).

More than 1.1 million Muslims from around the world have already arrived in Saudi Arabia for the hajj, which climaxes on January 31, under the shadow of terror. The arrivals, monitored by the hajj ministry, swelled the faithful at Friday prayers to around two million in the holy city of Mecca and Medina, according to reports.

Imam of the Grand Mosque Sheikh Abderrahman bin Abul Aziz al-Sudais, urged believers to “close ranks” at a time when the Islamic world is divided. He also told worshippers to “stay away from acts that violate the sanctity of the hajj” and to observe a moderate line.

“Islam is the religion of peace, tolerance and respect for human rights while the whole world is prey to violence, horror and terrorism,” the sheikh said.

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