This morning we woke up, prayed, freshened up and went down for a quick breakfast. We had labneh and coffee and then it was time to meet our guide. 

He explained that there are four quarters in the old city – Muslim, Christian, Armenian and Jewish. 

Our first stop was Salahuddin Ayyobi’s masjid. This is the masjid that Salahuddin Ayyobi would pray in. 

We then walked through the Cristian quarter to get to our next stop. The Christian quarter has little umbrellas hanging and it looks so cute. The guide explained that the stones we were walking on was from the time of Nabi Isa A.S. so they were about 2000 years old. We passed the Greek Orthodox Market on the way to the masjid of Sayyidina Umar R.A. 

When Sayyidina Umar R.A. conquered Jerusalem, the priest of the church offered him to pray two rakaah of salaah in the church but Sayyidina Umar R.A. declined saying that if he does, the Muslims will want to use this place as a masjid and this place is not for Muslims but for Christians. To avoid any issues, Sayyidina Umar R.A. took a stone and threw it 20m from where he was standing and then prayed salaah where it landed. Salahuddin Ayyobi built the masjid of Sayyidina Umar R.A. in the spot where Sayyidina Umar R.A. prayed that salaah. 

We then went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is where the beliefs between Muslims and Christians differ regarding Nabi Isa A.S. We believe that Nabi Isa A.S. (Jesus) was raised to the heavens and he will come down again closer to the Day of Qiyamah while the Christians believe that Jesus was crucified. Christians believe that the church holds the basin where Jesus’ body was washed and shrouded and the church holds the tomb of Jesus. The church is under construction but you can still enter it and see the pretty ceilings of it. 

We then passed the Madrassah Mamlook which came after the time of Salahuddin Ayyubi R.A. and we passed the masjid of Uthmaan bin Affan R.A. One of the best parts of the old city is that there is so much to discover. 

We then went to the Buraq Wall which is 15m high. We stood at a lookout point in the Jewish quarter to see the Buraq Wall. The view of Masjid-ul-Aqsa was so beautiful from here. 

We then went to Masjid-ul-Aqsa for some more ziyarah. We passed the dome where Nabi Sulayman A.S. asked Allah to give him a kingdom like no other and Allah accepted his dua.

We entered the masjid as zohr athaan was going so we prayed our salaah in the Qubbat as-Sakhra. After salaah, the guide explained that the Qubbat as-Sakhra cost 16m JD to build and is 750m higher than sea level. We then went down to the cave and he told us that the first person to worship Allah Ta’alah in the cave was Nabi Ibraheem A.S. Next to the Qubbat as-Sakhra is the Dome of the Chain which is a smaller model of Qubbat as-Sakhra, once Abdul Malik bin Marwaan approved the design, the Qubbat as-Sakhra was built. 

We then passed taps where the guide said that Nabi ﷺ drank water at the Olive trees where these taps are today. We then saw the fountain which was made by Tankees, 20 people can make wudhu at a time. 

The Qibli masjid can occupy 5 500 people. From a window, you can see the mountain where Sayyidina Bilal R.A. was the first person to call out the athaan in Jerusalem. The names of the Asharah Mubasharah (Sayyidina Abu Bakr as Siddeeq, Umar bin al-Khattab, Uthmaan bin Affan, Ali bin Abi Taalib, Talha bin Ubaidullah, Zubair bin al-Awwaam, Abdur Rahmaan bin Awf, Sa’ad bin Abi Waqqas, Saeed bin Zaid and Abu Ubaidah bin al-Jarrah R.A.) are written on the walls of the Qibli masjid. 

We then went to Old Aqsa mosque which is 1 500 meters squared. It has the capacity to hold 3 000 people. We then saw the cistern of the oil. The oil would come as a gift from villages in the West Bank in response to the hadeeth:

Sayyiditina Maymunah R.A., the freed slave of Nabi ﷺ, relates: “I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, give us a ruling regarding Bayt al-Maqdis.’ Nabi ﷺ said, ‘It is the land of Resurrection and Gathering. Go to it and pray there, for a prayer there is like a thousand prayers elsewhere.’ I said, ‘What if I am unable to travel there?’ Nabi ﷺ said, ‘Then send oil to be used in its lamps, for whoever does so is like a person who went there (i.e., and prayed).’”

After visiting the Marwaani Masjid, our guide said goodbye to us and we decided to do some shopping in the old city. We bought some gums, spices, olive oil, ghee and a juice presser. We left everything in the room and then went to buy some fresh juice from our favourite spot: Holy Rock Cafe. Husaam pressed for us some pomegranate juice and made some mango juice. This uncle has such a good heart, I’m so sure that that is why his juice is so good. 

We went back to Masjid-ul-Aqsa for our final maghrib and Esha in the masjid. We caught the prettiest sunset and then went straight to Qubbat as-Sakhra. We prayed maghrib and then went down to the cave to sit there until Esha. The cave emptied out and by Esha, we had the entire cave to ourselves. We prayed salaah and got ready to leave this beautiful masjid. My heart hurt known that it was time to say Al-Widaa (farewell). 

We then need to make one final decision. Which magnet do we buy?

My brother chose the one with the ayah below: 

سُبْحَـٰنَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَسْرَىٰ بِعَبْدِهِۦ لَيْلًۭا مِّنَ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ إِلَى ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْأَقْصَا ٱلَّذِى بَـٰرَكْنَا حَوْلَهُۥ لِنُرِيَهُۥ مِنْ ءَايَـٰتِنَآ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ

“Glory be to the One Who took His servant [Muhammed] by night from the Sacred Mosque (Masjid-ul-Haram) to the Farthest Mosque (Masjid-ul-Aqsa) whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He alone is the All-Hearing, All-Seeing.”  (17:1)

We stopped by Holy Rock Cafe again for some lemonade, greeted the uncle and then went back to the hotel. We needed to pack everything up as we were leaving the next morning. 

After a solid hour of sorting everything out, we got a knock on our door and our pizza was delivered. It was the biggest pizza ever, we did half margherita and half pepperoni with green chillie which was so so good. 

Then it was time for our usual tea and coffee conversations but this time downstairs because it was too cold to be outside. 

We called it a night and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep. 

Please note: the only graves that we are 100% sure of is the graves of Nabi ﷺ, Sayyidina Abu Bakr R.A. and Sayyidina Umar R.A., all the graves we see throughout this trip – Allahu ‘Alam – Allah knows best. Also, all the various theories that are mentioned have multiple versions and not all is fact – once again, Allahu ‘Alam – Allah knows best.

Step count: 14 917