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Visit the mosque Ghamama and the Magnetic Hill
Madinah is a city with many beautiful attractions. After a few days, you may have seen all the highlights of our mesmerizing city and you may be looking for other attractions to enjoy. Here is a mini-guide with two less common attractions that are worth visiting: The Bukit Magnet and the Masjid-e-Ghamama mosque.
The Magnetic Hill near Wadi Jin (Saudi Arabia)
Bukit Magnet, or magnetic hill is a rare and unusual thing. A “miraculous place” some will tell you, and merely a “fortuitous optical illusion”, others will say. Yes this is the famous reverse hill; a road where drivers will demonstrate that you can put the engine in neutral and roll uphill, or at least it certainly appears to be uphill. Bus drivers, taxi drivers, and tour guides all enjoy showing this to tourists and visitors. It is easy to get to located just 38 km north of our hotel in Madinah.
People ask logical questions like “Does water roll uphill here too? Water is unaffected by magnets” but I have not found any evidence that such a simple test has been carried out. So for the moment, we will just have to believe our eyes and enjoy a little wonder in our lives.
The Masjid-e-Ghamama
Our second suggestion is a mosque. Madinah has many impressive mosques that are worth visiting. Tourists however tend to overlook one of the most remarkable mosques of our city: the Masjid-e-Ghamama. It is a small white mosque with a short but elegant minaret in the central part of the city, just 1.6 km southwest of our hotel. As it is on the far side of the Masjid al Nabawi, it can be reached by driving all the way around the city to the other side of the great mosque, but perhaps the fastest way is to simply walk to it (19 minutes) as you can take many shortcuts. The story goes that when the city was hit by a perilous period of drought, the prophet offered a special invocation for rain, and almost instantaneously a cloud appeared and it began to rain heavily on this spot. A Mosque was built on the site and named Masjid-e-Ghamama, which means “Mosque of the cloud”.
Incidentally, this is the same mosque where funeral prayers were offered for the first king (or emperor) to accept Islam. King Najashi of Aksum in Abyssinia or modern-day Ethiopia. The prophet also offered Eid Salah prayers here in the later years of his life. Although this mosque does have a Masjid, it does not feature the 5 salat prayers, because it is so very close to the Masjid al Nabawi. Still, it is well worth a visit as it is often overlooked in favour of its massive neighbour!
We hope you have enjoyed our mini-guide with these two unusual destinations. If you do get a chance to visit them, please tell us your experiences!
Are you going to visit Madinah and are you looking for a luxurious accommodation? The Dar al Taqwa Hotel is a 5 star hotel in Madinah (Saudi Arabia). We offer elegant suites with all the facilities for a perfect stay.
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