My visit to Muthaf Dar Al Medina – Dar Al Medina Museum

Have you ever wondered how Makkah was when Ibrahim (AlahisSalam) left  Hajar all alone there. How was the masjid Nabawi, the first time it was made by our Prophet Muhammad sallalahu alayhe wasallam and the  Sahaba? How and where were the hujurat and rooms of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad? How was the masjid re-done after the Qibla was changed from Jerusalem to Makkah….

If so, then be ready for an unforgettable journey back in time, witness the Seerah of Prophet Muhammad unfold in front of  your own eyes. Live and breathe as if you were living in the era of Rasool Allah salllhu alayhe wasalam.

After the two Harams – this is the best place you will ever visit. The Muthaf Dar Al Medina aka Dar Al Medina Museum.

This museum is very small part of a mega project in Medina called the Knowledge Economic City.

This mega city, which is still in its initial stages of development, is located 5km from masjid e nabawi.

However, it is not close by and you will have to hire a Taxi. Another problem was that no taxi driver knew about this place, as it is recently developed and add to that that they do not understand any other language except for Arabic. So.. what I did was to write down the address of the Museum on paper and then asked the taxi driver to take you there. It will be a very desolated area with not many buildings at all… so you should be able to see the ‘fancy’ dome shaped building of the Knowledge Economic City and its signboards and logos. Don’t depend on the taxi driver to take you,instead have a good look at these photos and the KEC Website, copy their address and make a lot of dua that the Taxi driver is able to take you there. InshaAllah

Secondly, it has an entry fee as well. I have forgotten how much it was.. but I think it was around 20Riyal.

Inside the KEC main building, there was a beautiful gallery of enlarged photos of the two harams as well as beautiful miniature models of the houses and villas being constructed there called the dar al Jewar. We were only  interested in seeing the Museum but we reached there at 9:00 and the Museum opens at 10:00. So we spent one hour looking at the beautiful gallery and the models of the villas displayed there.

This is the entrance to the museum which is located inside the main building. It opens at 10:00

This is the model of Masjid e Nabawi in the first year of hijrah.

The Masjid was built on a land opposite to the house of  Abu Ayub Al Ansari. RasulAllah s paid 10 gold dinars  for purchasing the land. Some amount was also contributed by Abu Bakr As Siddiq r.

As you can see, this model is beautifully done  with exceptional detail with trees, palm leaves roof and sand and pillars. In the first year of Hijra, the Qible was Baitul Muqaddas, which is to the north of Medina. So the Masjid was constructed with the prayer are to the north ( the large shed made of leaves and supported by palm tree trunk pillars. The Ashab e Suffah area was to the south and on the south right side you can see two rooms. The first belonged to Aisha r and the one next to it belonged to Fatima (ra)

There were 3 doors, one to the south, one to the west called Bab e Rehma and one to the east through with Prophet Muhammad s entered. The original mosque was  a rectangular enclosure of 30 m × 35 m (98 ft × 115 ft) at a height of 2 m.

The columns were made of Palm tree trunks and roof of palm branches which was later covered by mud to prevent rain water from leaking in.

Another view of Masjid e Nabawi as it was in the first year of Hijra.

 

Sixteen months after the Hijrah, the Qibla was changed to Makkah, so the masjid was re-aligned. The Southern door was closed, the prayer area was moved to the south and the Ashab e Suffah plattform was moved to the north. The Hujraat of the wives remained to the southern side of the masjid. The photo below is from the MadinahKEC website.

 

To see more and better quality photos of this museum, please see this FB album: Muthaf Dar Al Medina 

For more details see the KEC website: Madinah KEC and see Dar Al Madina Museum for superb quality photos from the Museum.