abtravels

Quba Walkway

In my last post I talked about visiting the Dar Al Madinah museum which was a beautiful museum and quite a captivating learning experience. In this post I describe the Quba walkway and Masjid Quba – the first mosque in Islam. If you enjoy this post I would be so grateful if you can share and comment. I would love to hear your thoughts. Let’s get started.

I was waiting for my Uber just outside the museum entrance which was gate 2. The uber app was incredibly frustrating for whatever reason had given my pick up location at gate 4. When I was notified that my car had arrived, I didn’t see anything where I was and after asking where gate 4 was initially, I walked round the corner. But I quickly realised that this area was no place for walking pedestrians, it was only for cars. Uber really frustrated me that day and angered me. It took me 3 attempts to wait for a taxi before one did arrive and pulled up at gate 2 where I had returned. I’m grateful he knew the building and suspect he’s been through this before with pick ups.

My next stop was the Quba walkway and the Quba Walkway Park which contrary to my earlier hypothesis is not a green space but a small concrete area with benches and pigeons all around if you like them. The Quba walkway is a 3KM walking trail for pedestrians which connects Masjid Quba – the first mosque in Islam – and Masjid an-Nabawi. It is the same route that the prophet walked between the two mosques.

It is now filled with a commerce area with shops all lined on both sides. It is a very commercial strip with so many shops which to be honest they all sell the same things so I didn’t spend a lot of time going in but it was still worth exploring. I’m sure you can probably find some unusual crafts or items if you have the time to explore.

There are also many restaurants and I stumbled across a moderate food court with multiple restaurants all around. Most of them were South Asian so Pakistani vendors and Bengali who would try to grab your attention as you walked past. 

Quba Restaurant

As I entered, the first thing I needed was to find a toilet. After bumping into a gentleman with a white beard who was standing outside his restaurant I asked if there was any toilet around. He seemed to nod and pulled me into his restaurant and then back out again to the other side which was now inside a very large building. 

It was like a shopping mall. He walked with me towards the end of the first walkway on our right and then turned around to the left and raised his hand to point right to the end corner. This was past the tables and dining area and the food court. I said thank you and indicated that I would come back to eat. I actually already placed an order of 2 pieces of chicken and a cold diet pepsi. I made sure to say that I didn’t want any rice or roti because my sugar levels were still high even now and I explained I’m a diabetic and can’t eat right now. I don’t know if they understood but they seemed to.

When I got to the toilets it was quite busy. There were 4 squat toilets and only one sit down one which was being used by women when I arrived. But I still queued up and waited patiently. On returning I’m not sure how or why but I lost my bearings and I think I got a bit lost and forgot the location of the restaurant. 

After I walked around in circles in all directions for 4 or 5 minutes I managed to come back out to the road that I had come off from initially. It was soon after I ran into the guy with the white beard again who kind of jumped and grabbed/escorted me back to the restaurant. He was bengali and as we were walking back, other vendors tried to grab my attention and I understood the gentlemen explained to them I had already ordered but forgot where. With a bit of a laugh which was fair enough!

Despite not asking for any rice or roti they did provide two pieces of roti. The meal was decent I would say although it was a bit dry but not too much. I was just happy to be able to sit down and enjoy a rest and meal with a cold drink as I had been walking all morning really. 

One event at the restaurant was when two staff members in the kitchen started an argument. It got quite heated and one of them tried to grab the other and remove him from the restaurant. This was until about 5 other staff members intervened. I carried on eating! I didn’t really get involved but I just remember a lot of loud voices throughout my lunch. Typical Bengalis!

I managed to walk back to my hotel after this as it was within a walkable distance – about half an hour – and I think I just wanted a bit of air and exercise as well as to look around a bit more and explore. I do wish I had spent more time in Quba walkway rather than just rush through it like I did. There’s a great number of shops as I mentioned, kind of like Oxford street in London. I should have spent a bit more time walking up and seeing what was around if I’m honest. A slight regret but on the other hand all the shops sell pretty much the same things anyway.

Masjid al-Quba

That night after evening prayers I took an Uber to Masjid al-Quba which is the first mosque in Islam that was used by the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) himself. The mosque is absolutely beautiful in my opinion. 

It’s got a selection of small-medium sized domes and an array of minarets. The building is completely white and the whole area is marble floored and smooth and also very clean. One regret that I do have is that I didn’t spend too much time inside the mosque itself beyond reading my prayers as I was gravitated outside the mosque and the nice area. 

It is also a very family friendly place with small families exploring around with kids. A key difference I noticed was that the mosque area had a lot more women worshippers/visitors so I needed to be mindful about the entrance I was using as well as the Wudu/Toilet areas. 

But this was the only thing. The prayer hall inside is quite vast and it reminded me of Masjid Aisha in Makkah. If you can, of course, I would recommend visiting, it is a lovely place which reminds me a lot of Regents Park Mosque in London, only more organised I would say and more open.

After exiting the mosque I took a bit of a walk around as well as took a lot of photos and images. It was very dark at this point but as there’s a lot of street lights, the images were quite good I think. After scouring the area for a bit I did find the entrance to the Garden of Salman al Farsi. This is a Garden right next to Masjid al-Quba where Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) planted some date trees himself for the freedom of Salman Al-Farsi. 

It is also where he rested during his prophetic quest in Madinah. There is an entrance fee to the garden and because it was at night, I had planned to return during the daytime so I could see better, but unfortunately I never did get round to this. Something to keep in mind for my next trip!

Beyond the garden there is the Quba souk. This is a bit more modern than Quba walkway with nice cafes and supermarkets similarly or even better than what you’d find in Covent Garden in London. However, it is a bit overpriced I have to say. A little box of dates cost me SAR 23 whereas in Madinah Dates market, you can buy a kilo or so for SAR 20. It’s a nice supermarket with a range of Saudi products but a bit overpriced.