Asalam alaikum,
Thought of sharing my travelogue here..
From the capital center, we went down South to hilly terrain Abhaa last summer - its story & exclusive pics; later some time inshAllah.. (except for the one i just posted above)
But didn't get a chance to visit country's north up until...
View down south in a larger map
.. up until recently; the site of age old civilizations from the time of Babylon dating back to 6000 BC - Its where the ancient arabs lived, the existence of whom is pretty much extinct as of today.
In local language such are called Arab-Baidah (perished arabs), i.e; ‘Ad, Thamûd, Tasam, Jadis, Emlaq, and others.
Some time back, alhamduliLLah went to Madinah Munawwarah (westwards).
& then got a chance to visit Khayber & Madaain Saleh up north.
{Madain Saleh; where Prophet Saleh alehi salam was sent to his nation the thamood}
View up north in a larger map
When i told the white bearded arab man outside the Roza Rasool gate (Baab e Jibraeel), in my tooti phooti arabic, that im gonna visit Madain Saleh.
He was like; "Why? u should avoid going there, its not a site-seeing picnic-spot, its a place where Allah's azaab struck the beliars & disbelievers."
I told him im going there for ibraah (ibrat)..
He kept silent for sometime thinking, & then looked up at me & said; "ibkiik!" (do weep when u go there.)
So off we went 200 km up north, first to Khyber.
We saw jewish settlements there, the castle of the doomed disbeliever Maarhab (killed by the Noble Companion Ali radiAllah).
Then drove up north again some 200 km to the city of Al-Ulaa' (which is the main city adjacent to Madaain-saleh)
As for the jurisprudence aspect of Madaain Saleh, i do know its not encouraged to go there, as its not a fun-sun spot & our beloved & final Rasool (salaLLAhu alehi wa alihi wassalam) ordered his companions to rush through weeping, on his way to Tabook (which is further up north near syrian border).
But my curiosity for having 'ain-ul-yaqeen' over powered my sense of following the sunnah :/
"Do they not travel in the land, and see what was the end of those before them?They were superior to them in strength, and they tilled the earth and populated it in greater numbers than these (pagans) have done: and there came to them their Messengers with clear proofs.Surely, Allah wronged them not, but they used to wrong themselves."
{سورة الروم; The Romans, Chapter 30, Ayah 9}
On our way from khayber to Al-Ulaa' we observed the mountainous terrain having changed gradually from well-formed high mountains to that of weird de-shaped, huge blown out ones the more we went to the direction of Madain Saleh.
Now those were some classical rugged mountains & their jaggered silhouettes were puncturing the sky with teetering primordial boulders, thrusting columns & cavernous air pockets... it was all too..rather predictable.
So there we went next morning having stayed over night in 'Ulaa *Siraye* (motel).
Traveling 22 km further we came to the destination; Madaain Saleh & after showing the pass to the check-post just adjacent to the area, we entered the doomed site.
The air was uncanny, the mood silent & somewhat spooky.
The most astonishing thing adding up to all the 'haibut' were the mountains.
Yes.. the mountains, like molten cakes, like brazen bakes..haunting & bearing the brunt of Azaab.
It was something I've never seen before; from the mountainous regions of North pole (Rovaneimi) to that of green tops surrounding Lake Zurich, from Himalayas to that of sand dunes of arabian desert.
Yes, that was something totally baffling, & humbling .. i dare say.
"Saw you (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) not how your Lord dealt with 'Ad (people)"Of Iram (who were very tall) like (lofty) pillars,
The like of which were not created in the land?
And (with) Thamud (people), who hewed out rocks in the valley (to make dwellings)?"
{سورة الفجر ; The Dawn, Chapter 89, Ayah 6-9}
I tried weeping but couldn't, all i could do was to enter each one of their dwellings & pronounce 'astagfiruLLAh' loudly & then leave.
While roaming around, we met a Bengali man - incharge of baldiyah there - who was knowledgeable enough to narrate to us the whole story of Prophet Saleh (along with Qurani references), & hospitable enough to show us around & lead the way to the well of that miraculous She-camel. (now that was one huge n deep of a well)
He showed us around different wells there too, the water of almost all was dried up.
He took us out of the locality to an adjacent place - what remains of the Hijaaz railway, constructed by Ottoman Caliphs; a multi billion project of that time, pushed to an awful oblivion by the arabian rebellion on behest of Lawrence the gay goon.
He then took us further away from the doomed place to the site where beloved Rasool Allah (salaLLAhu alehi wa alihi wassalam) led the prayer on his way to the conquest of Tabuk (nowadays therez a Masjid built there)
Just surrounding that masjid were remains of an old town laid down by great Islamic warrior Musaa' ibn Naseer.
(the town & its people have moved to a nearby new housing scheme :p)
And in there was a great archaic Castle (dating back some 3000 B.C) overlooking the abandoned town.
We thanked & bade the man Allah hafiz, as he was the resident of the town - & returned home safely after driving 1100 km back home, alhamduliLLAh.
That trip was memorable in more than one ways..
hope it dint make u yawn..& if it did..then sweet dreams :o)
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Some reads;
- Story of Prophet Saleh
- Another short one
The Satellite View;
View up north in a larger map
"Thamud (people) denied (their Prophet) through their transgression (by rejecting the true Faith of Islamic Monotheism, and by following polytheism, and by committing every kind of sin).When the most wicked man among them went forth (to kill the she-camel).But the Messenger of Allah [Salih عليه السلام] said to them: "Be cautious! (Fear the evil end). That is the she-camel of Allah! (Do not harm it) and bar it not from having its drink!"
Then they denied him and they killed it. So their Lord destroyed them because of their sin, and made them equal in destruction (i.e. all grades of people, rich and poor, strong and weak, etc.)! "
{ سورة الشمس ; The Sun, Chapter 91, Ayah 11-14}
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Other bits of the album:
Take a peak at my full-screen Madain Saleh gallery slide-show 
(click 'Show Info' in upper bar in there, to see the captions.)or check out this 3d wall down here;
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