Madinah, in Saudi
Arabia, is the holiest city for Muslim pilgrims, after Mecca, and was, in fact, the first
to accept the Prophet's message. The Prophet fled to Madinah, erstwhile Yathrib, from
Mecca in 622 AD. The Islamic calendar starts from His flight. Al Madinah is also known as
the city of date palms because they line Madinah's streets and highways in profusion. The
city authorities are constantly planting even more, together with many multi-coloured
shrubs. It is almost impossible to find a park or garden in the city without at least one
palm tree. Madinah's altitude of 1,958 feet/597m above sea level gives it a somewhat
extreme climate -- very hot in summer, moderate in autumn and cold in winter.
Modern Madinah is eminently accessible with wide, well-surfaced
highways. It is situated 308 miles/49km from Mecca, 264 miles/425km from Jeddah, 170
miles/275km from Yanbu, and 590 miles/950km from Riyadh, the Kingdom's capital. Saudi
Arabia’s national airline operates non-stop flights between Madinah and many other
Saudi cities. There are also international non-stop flights between Madinah and Cairo
(Egypt), Damascus (Syria) and Istanbul (Turkey). During the season of hajj (pilgrimage)
and the vacation periods of the academic year, many additional flights are provided.
The most important place in the city is the Prophet's Mosque
that contains His burial place. Everything of historical or religious significance within
the precincts is forbidden to non-Muslims, although the outskirts of the city and the
airport are open to all.
Located several hundred
kilometres north of Madinah is the ancient -- and now uninhabited -- city of Madain
Salah. It is the best known and the most remarkable archaeological site in Saudi
Arabia. It was an important stop on the caravan routes from the incense-producing areas of
southern Arabia to Syria, Egypt, Byzantium and other points. It is famous for its
spectacular and huge stone tombs that were carved between 100BC and AD100. Madain Salah
was the second city in the Nabataean empire, after Petra in modern-day Jordan. The ruins
at Madain Salah are in fact better preserved than those at Petra because of the hardness
of the local stone. The Nabataeans became rich through their control of the incense route
and their charging caravans tolls of up to 25%. Their power declined in the first century
AD when the Romans realised that the incense could be loaded onto ships and taken to
Egypt. Less expensive items continued to move along the route and it was never totally
abandoned. In Islamic times, the pilgrim route from Damascus to Mecca passed through
Madain Salah. For those who want to visit Madain Salah, a great deal of bureaucratic
bother and hassle can be avoided by booking a tour through the Madinah Sheraton. Both the
hotel and the airport are on the outskirts of the city and so are open to non-Muslims.
Madain Salah is 330 km north of Medinah, off the main road from Medinah to Al-Ula. You
will have to rent a car to get there.
There are no hotels or restaurants at Madain Salah, so you can stay
outside the city, about 22 km away at Al-Ula, which has a few hotels and restaurants
attached to them. Qasr Farid is the largest tomb at Madain Salah. It is carved from a
single large outcrop of rock standing alone in the desert, and quite breathtaking.
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