This morning I woke up for our last Fajr in Makkah. We read our Fajr outside the haram. We then walked into the beautiful castle and watched the sky turn colours.

The light black – the sky in Makkah isn’t pitch black – to dark greys to stunning shades of pinks and purples. It was the perfect sunrise to end our trip. It was completely mesmerising.

We ended up passing by the place where the Imaam reads and saw that he has a perfect view of the Ka’bah. We ended up walking to the opposite side of the haram to the King’s Palace.

We ended up seeing the Mountains of Makkah near the haram. I couldn’t help but think of Zain Bhikha’s nasheed and all I could think was “oh Mountains of Makkah, bear witness that I to the oneness of Allah do I testify.”

We walked back to King Fahd gate and went back to the hotel for breakfast. After asking the chef to make for me my last French toast of the trip (it was so so so good), I went back to the room and slept for a bit.

I woke up, packed my bags and got ready to go give the Ka’bah one final look. No amount of time is enough to say goodbye to the Baitullah.

We had some lunch and went downstairs to our bus and so began the journey to Madinah. The drive from Makkah to Madinah by bus is 6 hours.

One can’t help but think about the journey Nabi ﷺ undertook 1 445 years ago. We can only imagine the way Nabi’s ﷺ heart felt when he left his beloved city.

The bus ride didn’t feel as long (but was the same amount of time as our flight from Johannesburg to Jeddah). But we were nineteen people and guys my family is a vibe. It was filled with snacking, nasheed singing and lots of teasing.

We stopped for Maghrib and got to see a beautiful red sky. We also got some tea, coffee and doughnuts. We then set off again. I sincerely missed those dodge garages you stopped at before. I would always buy some crisp and you just knew that the cheaper the crisp was, the more lekker it was.

Tala al badru ‘alayna

Min thaniyati-al Wada’

Wajaba Shukru ‘alayna

Ma da’a lillahi da’

O the white moon rose over us
From the valley of Wada’
And we owe it to show thankfulness
Where the call is to Allah

One can’t help but wonder about the excitement the Ansaar must have felt knowing that Nabi ﷺ was going to be in their city. Before we knew it, the signs on the road were showing Al Masjid Al Nabawi and then we were in the very much familiar haram area.

We offloaded the bus and headed to our apartments. We had two eight sleepers which was very much needed for us. Taiba apartments is newly renovated and it’s really worth the stay especially if you’re a big family. It is on the frontline of the haram, the ladies entrance is right on the left, there’s a Bin Dawood right under the hotel and the walk to the Green Dome is just fifteen – twenty minutes.

After refreshing ourselves, us eight girls made our way to read our first salaah in the haram. We read on the green carpets outside the haram. We then went back to our room to get some sleep so we could wake up refreshed for our first official day in the city of Madinah.

Step count: 15 482