Medina as Non Muslim - Solo Travel in Saudi Arabia المدينة المنورة المملكة العربية السعودية أجنبي

Made in Bangladesh, Dhaka. 'Allahu Akbar' 'As-Salam Alaykum' I'm from Malaysia actually. But it's also a very commercial place. English 'so so'. Hello Good morning from Medina, with a splendid breakfast as you can see. I'm also the only person in the breakfast  room at the moment. It's off season and this hotel is a little bit out of the center, where most of the religious pilgrims like to stay. Time to dig in (to eat). Bon appetit! Medina is known as the city of the Prophet and considered the second holiest site in Islam after Mecca. This is where Islam's founder Muhammad lived and was eventually laid to rest. All able Muslims are supposed to make the  journey to Medina and Mecca once in their life.   As a non-Muslim I heard conflicting stories about  being able to visit, so I went to see for myself. You are from Kashmir in India?  Yes, from India. You are from Pakistan Sir? Pakistan. Made in Bangladesh, Dhaka. Where are you from? Indonesia. 'Allahu Akbar' It's unbelievable, people from all parts  of the world converge here into Medina, and it's really quite special  for me to to walk here. After checking with officials and security personnel, I was allowed to visit all of central Medina, except the Prophet's mosque, the Al-Masjid an-Nawabi. While many pilgrims visit Medina by themselves and with their families, there are also a lot of tour groups with professional guides. Good morning to all the people, my name is Muhammed. I come from Malaysia actually. I'm a tourist guide. So as you can see, nowadays we bring our people, about 4 buses, for Umrah. We stay here for about 5 days, after which we go back to our country Malaysia. The Prophet's mosque is a spectacular sight.  One of only two mosques in the world that can hold over a million people. It holds deep significance for Muslims from all over the globe. The massive umbrellas that you  see protect people from the sun, during the middle parts of the day and also add  to the special atmosphere surrounding this mosque. After a quick but tasty lunch I decided  to walk through some nearby shopping areas. I can't help but notice that it's also a very commercial place. Many stores are selling all kinds of different souvenirs, religious items, handicrafts, and all kinds of other things. With millions of visitors per year, mostly during the time of the Hajj, religious tourism is an important part  of the non-oil economy of Saudi Arabia. Among all the tourist facilities you  can even find western coffee houses,   fashion shops and ice cream stores here. With the ambitious Vision 2030 program of  the crown prince this is only set to increase.   In this program Saudi Arabia aims  to reduce its dependency on oil,   and diversify its economy with tourism, both  religious and mainstream, playing a key role. As the day was coming to an end, there was one more prayer session to go. While the sun was setting I found a spectacular  vantage point of the Prophet's mosque,   where I was allowed to witness a  beautiful event in the religion of Islam.

Channel: Stef Hoffer

Views: 1,494,628

Rating: 4.8577542 out of 5

Keywords: Saudi, Arabia, Saudi Arabia, Medina, Madina, travel, tourism, religion, Islam, Muslims, foreigner, non, Muslim, أجنبي, المدينة المنورة, المملكة العربية السعودية, Middle East, prophet, Muhammad, نبي, محمد, Madinah

Id: 9np1b4C3XnE

Length: 7min 52sec (472 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 17 2020