After two long years shut out of the two holy mosques, Muslims all over the world were finally allowed to return to perform pilgrimage and visit the home of their beloved Prophet this year. Since the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic that shook the whole world, the two holy mosques of Makkah and Madinah have been eerily empty in the two Ramadhans previous, but not this year. This year they are both back to their bustling best, just the way we like it.
The Municipality of Madinah has been busy at work developing the city’s infrastructure during these past few years of Covid downtime, and a lot has been done to improve the experience of the visitor to this holy city. The Saudis have always strove hard to serve the ‘Duyoof Ar-Rahman’ (The Guests of the Most Merciful) and in truth, the improvements made to the city of Madinah began to take shape well before the Covid-19 pandemic. For instance, a city wide bus service was introduced in 2018 connecting the grand mosque to the local airport, the train station and other sites of religious and historical importance throughout the city. It is now possible to take a bus ride from the airport to the grand mosque for just ten riyals, this would have set a traveller back at least fifty riyals when the only option was a taxi ride. Short bus rides to the Quba Mosque and to Mountain of Uhud have also been made available for a small fee of just five riyals. The city has also introduced an open top tour bus, reminiscent of those found in London, Dubai and cities all over the world, that takes the visitor to see the city’s most important landmarks for around one hundred riyals. These new services have greatly improved the Madinah experience for the visitor who wishes to get better acquainted with the city of Madinah, the Prophet’s city, and the good news doesn’t stop here.
A four kilometer walkway connecting the Prophet’s Mosque to Masjid al Quba has now been built. The previous route was an eight and a half kilometer drive that would have taken a quarter of an hour. This new walkway isn’t a faster route by any means, it takes forty-five minutes or so but it is a much more pleasant route. I visit the city of Madinah almost every year and I am always impressed by the improvements being made, but these most recent ones have impressed me most. In Saudi Arabia, it is rare to find a pedestrian walkway that connects two places that are so far apart together. Most of the time it is only possible to walk in areas designated specifically for walking, these areas are called ‘mamshas’, translated as a ‘walking area’. The lack of safe walking places in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia make these walking areas a necessary evil. Necessary because people need to walk and evil because these areas, in my opinion, indirectly contribute to the lack of paved roads throughout all cities in the Kingdom.
Presumably, planners in Saudi Arabia believe that the mamsha relinquishes their responsibility to lay pavements throughout their cities since these areas meet the needs of the average pedestrian. Or maybe they believe, as others do, that nobody would use them anyway since it is “too hot to walk” in Saudi. This is one of the most common arguments I hear for the lack of paved roads in this country but the city of the noble Prophet, with its new walkway, has turned this argument (and all the others too) on its head, and it has done so beautifully.
Your journey to the Quba Mosque begins at the gates of the Prophet’s Mosque where once you have walked past some hotels, you will pass under the First King Faisal Ring Road and then come out to the relatively new Quba Front. Quba Front acts almost like a gateway to the Al Jummah Neighborhood which is where this newly built walkway passes through. It is a bustling courtyard, steeped in history, that offers a friendly environment for people to come and enjoy a coffee (or a tea) and try out the food trucks. And while the Quba front is pretty amazing, the best part about the whole journey is the experience of being able to walk from the mosque of our holy Prophet to the first mosque ever to be built by the Muslims after their migration from Makkah to Madinah. It has been authentically reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) would visit the Mosque of Quba, at times walking and at times riding, once a week and that he would then offer two units of prayer in the mosque, making the walk between these two mosques not only pleasant but spiritually fulfilling too.
Google maps lists this area as a ‘mamsha’, but in reality it is more like a ‘souq’, the Arabic word for ‘marketplace’. This unofficial gate (Quba Front) provides an opening through which the extraordinary mosque of Quba can be seen — palpable history. This is since the path cuts straight through the market providing a direct view of the mosque. Dark slabs of concrete pave the streets with buildings standing on each side, attentive and bright white. This design spills over into the market area where the shops resemble the just-passed houses. As you near the Masjid however, the area begins to change. The voices quieten, the squabbling of shoppers disappears, the many shops and restaurants give way to apartment buildings, convenience stores and schools. The sun laments an old abandoned villa which I can only imagine belonged to someone either very wealthy or very important given its great location, an Ottoman-designed mosque and even a date farm.
This sprawling market has been named recently too, Jadat Quba or Quba Avenue in English, showing that it is an area rediscovered and back in favor. You can pretty much find anything you want ‘Jadat Quba’, a shawarma, a mobile phone charger, even gold and silver is on offer here, but this isn’t what makes the area standout. This walk is completely different to anything else I have experienced in Saudi Arabia. For once in Saudi Arabia it is possible to walk in order to get from one destination to another, and all the great things you will see and do on the way are just part of the route to your destination. This is entirely different from the previously mentioned mamsha, that oxymoron that requires you to drive somewhere first just so you can walk, and provides you with nothing interesting to see or do for your troubles.
Madinah has always been one of the most walkable places in the Kingdom and the steps counter on my phone can easily attest to this. Despite this however, the city is continuing to give more. During my last visit, another direct pathway was being built from the Prophet’s Mosque to Mount Uhud which may well have been completed by now. This mountain is very important to Muslims and it also had a special place in the heart of the noble Prophet who used to say that “this is a mountain that loves us and is loved by us”. It is recommended that Muslims visit the mountain when they are in Madinah and give glad tidings to the martyrs (companions of the prophet) who were slain in the Battle of Uhud and remain buried there today.
A Saudi real estate website named Bayut.sa attempts to educate would be house buyers in the country on how to measure walkability in Saudi neighborhoods using five metrics. Interestingly however, none of these metrics entertain the idea of safe places to walk or pavements/sidewalks. The blog post does however discuss the idea of safety only as it relates to safety from crime, be it violent or otherwise but it doesn’t discuss pedestrian safety. Perhaps here lies the problem? Perhaps planners in Saudi Arabia just don’t regard pedestrian walkways necessary since they believe that they do not contribute much to the safety of their citizens which is odd given the high number of car related deaths in the Kingdom. Or perhaps it’s something entirely different?
On your next visit to Madinah look out for Abu Abdullah. That middle aged Arab man dressed in all white shouting the words ‘ziyaara, ziyaara, ziyaara’! This is a man who for many years buttered his bread by taking pilgrims and visitors to see the sights of this great city in his trusty old Toyota Camry but the introduction of a city wide bus service and pedestrian walkways is slowly pushing Abu Abdullah to the sidelines. The Municipality of Madinah must have known this would happen and it is possible that they simply put off plans to pedestrianise the city to save local jobs.
I have mixed feelings about Abu Abdullah and the many other men who are like him because I hate to see anyone lose their livelihood but by the same token the city needs these changes and the people need it too. Being able to walk to Masjid al Quba made me feel more connected to the home of the Prophet Muhammad his companions, and the fact that a market place has grown out of this route is a testament to just how important it has been in the past and continues to be. It is truly great to see this holy city getting the attention and development that it deserves. It is a city that is loved and visited by Muslims all over the world because it allows them to get closer to their Prophet and see the way he lived for themselves. They read about their Prophet and try to follow in his footsteps, and now they can walk in his footsteps too.