NO other city has been the object of such sincere love and veneration as the holy city of Madinah. Muslims yearn to visit the city where Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, migrated and where he is buried. The dearest wish of many Muslims is to be buried in the cemetery near the Prophet’s Mosque.
No visitor wants to return to his native land once he has arrived in the blessed city. Tears flow and his heart saddens when the time for departure draws near. Upon his arrival in the vicinity of Madinah, he feels a great joy as he is about to enter the city. Just the mention of the city’s name fills him with happiness and solace. No other place gives him this feeling. To hear the name of the city, Madinah the Illuminated, makes me bow my head in veneration. Any words I can write are insufficient to describe its greatness. Forgive me my incoherence.
The theme of women’s activities in this year’s Madinah Festival is “The Heritage of Madinah in the Recent Past.” The city’s cultural heritage — which is unique in many things including architecture, social and family customs, clothes, the local dialect of Arabic and its special vocabulary — is almost unfamiliar to the younger generation. By the grace of Allah and the devoted efforts of both male and female volunteers, particularly the members of the Taibah Charitable Society, a miniature model of old Madinah has been erected. The model shows traditional houses with skylights and furnishings, special sherbets, food and clothes from those days in a setting dotted with palm trees. The model was prepared in a very short time. Each participant in this venture was driven by his or her deep love for the city. While some people offered to work free of charge, others contributed plants and women prepared special old-fashioned food. Others trained the participating young ladies to behave like the men and women of the past. None of the people from Madinah, who are famous for their unselfishness and kindheartedness, refused to help and all cooperated in making the effort a huge success. They competed among themselves in performing virtuous acts. The opening day of the women’s festival was marked with warmth and affection that trickled down from the organizers and supervisors to the guests.
In an earlier article, I wondered why the Madinah Festival was exclusively male. The organizers this year, however, set aside the Madinah Heritage for Women. In addition to the miniature model of the old city, the event included cultural seminars and programs designed to amuse. I wish that the exhibition of the miniature model could continue until the end of the festival and visitors could be charged a nominal fee. The money collected could be given to the charitable society. We appreciate the sincere efforts made by Madinah Governor Prince Muqrin and his wife, who heads the women’s festival activities, in making the event a success.
I assure the festival’s organizers that they need not doubt Madinah women’s capability to organize such events.
Turning now to another topic, I send my greetings to Raja Ahmad Jamal. I read your comment on my recent article about the real estate business in Makkah and Madinah. Though you have a right to express your opinion, I was rather surprised by your negative reaction to my idea of allowing any Muslim to own real estate in Madinah and Makkah. This is based on the sayings of the Holy Prophet, pbuh. It is very unfortunate that you compare my proposals with the alleged sales of Palestinian lands to the Jews. I leave the reply to this point to the Palestinians.
You identified the Palestinians’ greed for money, which prompted them to sell their lands, as the cause of their current sufferings. How can anyone compare Muslims who buy land in the Two Holy Cities to the Jews who occupy Palestinian territories? The fact is that most citizens in the Western Region of the Kingdom are not original settlers. Many of them came here as immigrants in search of closeness to God. If the Kingdom’s government had not been strict about implementing its naturalization regulations, the number of naturalized citizens would be very high. There are a number of naturalized citizens who have reached high positions in the Kingdom though they only became citizens a few decades ago. You must remember and understand that we are all brothers and sisters, joined in love and brotherhood by the blessed ties and beliefs of Islam.