Experience in Aqsa

Assalamualaikum.

Let us throwback to August 2014, syukur Alhamdulilah, with the grace of Allah SWT, I was so lucky that I get to tag along with an NGO to visit Palestine during one of the charity mission. 

12 hours flight from KLIA to Queen Alia International Airport, Jordan. I had never travel for so many hours in plane before, it ain't that bad during the flight to Jordan or maybe I was too excited. But it definitely tested my patience and will a tiny bit on the way back (Astagfirullah, should not had complaint).

Queen Alia International Airport, Jordan

When we arrive Jordan, it was morning, just after Subuh, the weather was very chilly and I don't remember other feeling other than thrilled to bits. Then we got on the bus and headed straight to the King's Cross Border. 

[DISCLAIMER: For the following paragraph, please forgive me and I hope you can read it with patience and a positive mindset. <3]

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim.

I had looking forward to visit Jerusalem since teenage because of the sacred wall of Jewish. (I was curious what is so special about the wall) I still remember that I had a book at home (which I never finish reading, probably just flipped through) entitled "Wisdom of Jewish" (in Mandarin), talking about how Jewish do business. I also told that Jewish was the one controlling America's economy. That was probably one of my reason why I look up upon Jewish and believed that they are one of the smartest people on earth. I hope at this point no one is getting offended or judgmental too soon. I admit I was too naive back then and I was never interested to study any kind of religion after all. 

I never knew about the conflicts between Israeli and Palestinian before I was reverted. I guess I was too  unconcern about the global news. I remembered I participated in an event when I was in Diploma and at the end of the event they burn the Israeli flag. Back then I thought it was very bizarre to do this kind of thing and it was not even my will to attend that event. Now I noticed that Malaysian's passport are not allowed to enter Israel and I finally understood the issues but that was years later.

Morning View of Jerusalem

Before joining this trip, I read and was told a lot of news regarding GAZA, Palestine, Israeli, war, bomb and etc. I could not deny that I was slightly worried with all the negative news over the social media. The main objective of this trip is for charity purpose and my second intention was to visit Al-Aqsa Mosque (I never knew about Al-Aqsa Mosque before I revert, all the books I had was about THAT WALL - which I still have no idea which wall was that as I forgot when I got there). With positive intentions, I really hope that in Allah SWT's will that we could pass through the border. What I could in the bus at that time is to pray for the best and hopefully we could enter the border peacefully.

New Settlement in Jerusalem

We came into the middle of dessert. The chilly weather in Jordan almost made me forgot that the Middle East region was actually dessert. A tinny bitty issues at the border but we still manage to get in safely. Alhamdulilah. It was truly an amazing experience, unlike anywhere I have been before. In this blog I will only share about my experience in Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Al-Aqsa Mosque

We performed our Zohor prayer in Al-Aqsa Mosque. This was the third mosque that I had ever been to in my entire life (First was Malaysia National Mosque before I revert; Second was Selangor state Mosque that I had my syahadah speech). Throughout the trip, I gained a lot of knowledge, learnt the history during site visits. To my both Muslims and Non-Muslims readers, main stream medias are not completely trust-worthy. We should seek for alternate sources or really do in-depth research before we start judging. There are a lot of misconception and wrong portrayal of Islam in the medias. This trip has totally opened up my eyes.

In Al-Aqsa Mosque

Dome of the Rock

A Muslim sister is performing prayer in the Dome of the Rock.

Favorite food in Palestine *drool*. They like to eat bread with olive oil and the green herbs. It's finger lickin' good! Palestine produce very good quality olive oil and you can see olive trees everywhere. I was addicted to olive oil since then. I didn't know there are so many kind of fruits in Middle-East. 

Zaitun or Olives from one of the oldest olive tree.

Bread served with olive oil and herbs.. I didn't like the olive pickles in the middle..

Home-made apricot was DE-licious!

This is fig or buah tin in Bahasa Malaysia. Never heard of this fruit before but it was delicious and I saw dried one in our (Malaysia) local supermarket the other day (Never tried the dried one before tho).

Fig or buah Tin

Syukur!!!

I could not thank Allah enough for giving me this chance to visit Palestine. Learnt a lot during the trip and performed prayers in the mosque. Syukur! Saw Israeli soldiers everywhere in Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque's entrance was guarded by the Israeli army as well. We were lucky that we did not bump into any attack incident. I could not describe the peaceful feeling that I experienced there.

No one was born evil. I pray to Allah SWT that one day the world will come to peace and humans stops fighting against each other. Amin.

(Photos was taken with Iphone 5S, Sumsung S5 & Canon Powershot S120)

I guess I will stop here for today. Thanks for sparing your precious time to read, hope you have a good day.