abtravels

International fair and museum of the prophets biography

The next morning after breakfast I decided to visit the museum at the clock towers for a guided tour. It was 10AM when I got there and the English tour was scheduled to start at 10:10AM. It’s a good museum and very modern, however you just need to be mindful that it is a very immersive digital museum with few artifacts that you can literally see in real life. This was still great as it was very immersive and incredibly well presented. Beyond that it was very informative and educational.

By the way, the one in Makkah, as it is in Makkah only Muslims can visit, but there is another one in Madinah. I didn’t go to the one in Madinah but it is open to non Muslims as non Muslims can visit Madinah. Sacred places like mosques are still only reserved for Muslims, they’re not tourist sites, these are holy places, but non Muslims can visit the city in general and from YouTube vlogs I’ve seen prior to my journey, it is a very hospitable place with kind stewards – so count yourself lucky!

The museum is SAR 70 for a guided tour which I would definitely recommend. There are two entrances to the museum, one for the gift shop and another for the entry into the museum. I entered the museum and purchased my ticket for a guided English tour. The veiled woman at the reception was very kind to speak up as I think it became clear that I was hard of hearing.

After waiting a few minutes in the lounge area where other attendees who were waiting for the English tour were arriving, we were then welcomed and directed into the first exhibit if you like with the tour guide who was a woman wearing a veil.

There were panoramic displays of Makkah and Madinah and how the two cities had changed over time. These were fantastic displays and very colourful. They were other displays which gave you an immersive tour of the prophet’s (PBUH) house and village at the time of his life. The house can’t have been any bigger than my living room I would imagine. It was very immersive. I don’t know if you’ve ever used a VR headset but it was kind of like that.

Key things that I did learn were about the roles of women and I think 80 hadiths – scriptures – that exist where prophet Muhammed (PBUH) during his time in Madinah directed that there needs to be women teachers, nurses, doctors, basically in every role in society that there was. This was incredibly inspiring to me and somewhat left me a little confused about where some misogyny in the context of Islam comes from. 

This wasn’t what the prophet taught. I came to realise and understand after speaking to a friend of mine on my return to the UK, that it’s the fusion of religion and culture that has been the cause of many problems. A lot of Muslims today around the world are mixing up religion and culture incorrectly as it’s been ingrained in us that we should read and study in Arabic without going to the effort of understanding it.

When you go to Makkah/Madinah however, it gets a little clearer that hold on, we need to double down on everything we are doing to understand our religion. Basically don’t make assumptions, just because this is what we’ve been led to believe growing up. 

The museum, whilst not in a direct way, made this evident to me. I’m so grateful for that as it was a complete refresher in a way after so many years of constantly having this negativity vibe being bashed into us due to global events and the actions of a few. 

So to learn about the compassion of the prophet, his prophetic quest to unite the tribes of Makkah, his teachings about our regard and the roles for women, it was inspiring. It feels weird to say that as I’ve been a Muslim my entire life. But do I know my religion? I think or I came to understand I still have loads of work to do. This is a beautiful thing about the wider parts of Makkah beyond the Grand Mosque – it is a valuable learning experience that I never got growing up.

The Veil – my thoughts/feelings

The first two or three rooms were digital immersive displays with an American accent reading through the speakers. The second half of the guide was delivered by the tour guide. Whilst this was valuable, you can’t take pictures during these talks which I can understand and be respectful towards. However, and by the way this is just me, as I am a hearing aid user but I don’t think I could live within a society where veils are as common as they were in Makkah.

Please don’t take this as me being critical of the veil and it is really not my intention to cause offense so I apologise if this happens. As someone who struggles with hearing, if I can’t see someone’s face and see their lips, it really causes difficulty with my communication. 

I’ve just read a fantastic book called Captivate by Vanessa van Edwards and she talks about the first 5 minutes of meeting someone and microexpressions. Microexpressions are a form of communication. They enable you to communicate and understand contempt, happiness, disappointment, anger, disgust and other everyday emotions. 

When I’m faced with someone wearing a veil, I can’t get any of that and with my bad hearing, it gets quite difficult to understand the other person. I’m sorry and by the way this is just me and my individual circumstances.

When the guide was speaking, it was very scripted which is very reasonable and fair. However, it was a bit rushed and I didn’t really get much of what was said besides the roles of women and also about medicine/diet as this involved the audience. The prophet said you should fill your stomach a third with water, a third with food and a third should be for air/empty. I understood this as the guide asked the audience who answered together. 

Beyond that, I was just admiring the displays and holograms which were cool. We exited the tour into the gift shop which had a varied selection including, jewellery, plaques, arabian oud (a type of perfume I think), quran’s and my favourite – fridge magnets! I love fridge magnets, I’m obsessed with them. I have two fridges in my kitchen which are covered in fridge magnets! The fridge magnets on sale however, were not individually wrapped. They were boxed up like a proper item. At SAR 20 each (about £4.50) they’re quite steep for fridge magnets. Also they’re all in a circular shape so they can all look the same.

I bought 2 – one for Madinah and one for Makkah. The reason being is that this was so far the only retail outlet I could find that sold fridge magnets. Despite the number of small souvenir shops around my hotel and the grand mosque, fridge magnets are very rare and difficult to find. The Makkah fridge magnet was a picture of the Ka’bah and the Madinah one was a picture of the green dome in Madinah. 

They were decent and funnily enough my mum was very insistent that I don’t break them by opening the boxes and that I put them on the top of the fridge so no one would knock it off accidentally. She was very assertive on this, whereas with my other fridge magnets – “why are you spending so much money on these??”

Karak Chai

I think that morning my SnapChat storyline was probably on overload taking pictures and videos inside the museum. I was coming to the end of my trip as the next morning I would be leaving Makkah for Madinah. I took a 360 degree video of the Haram area as I exited the clock towers before making my way back to my hotel. On Ajyad street I stopped at BLK coffee to get a Karak Chai. This turned out to be really lovely, its actually now a favourite drink of mine. However, the ones sold in the UK by a well known Indian street cafe brand in my opinion don’t taste as good as the ones I had in the KSA.

This opinion was actually shared by a friend of mine who visited Doha in Qatar who felt the same that the ones sold in the UK are a bit too dark flavoured so the spices don’t come out as well as the ones sold in the middle east. But hey if anyone wants to buy me a Karak Chai, I’ll happily accept!

One criticism of myself is that I keep in mind the prayer times in Makkah as people will literally stop in the middle of the road to pray. This is a beautiful thing but a lot of the small shops will close their shutters and if you’re in a cafe, it will most likely empty out. No one is going to force you to leave but it might feel a bit awkward that’s all. You can pray on the road if you feel comfortable and come back for your tea. 

I did also order a spaghetti bolognese which was really nice actually although a little swimming in sauce. But still very delicious. I made sure to double my normal insulin dose before eating due to ongoing high sugar levels.

If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my blog so you can get first updates on new posts. The next blog is my last night in Makkah, where a completed a final Tawaf and witnessed heart warming moments. Keep reading and let me know what you thought by leaving a comment!