I was in a shop when the muezzin called for prayer. The shop attendant announced that all shoppers should leave as he was going to pray. The cashier also declined to receive money from buyers who wanted to pay before leaving the shop. “After prayers,” he said.

For the residents of Medina city in Saudi Arabia, trading after the call to prayer has been made is unacceptable.

This simple pious gesture made me realise how different a Muslim I was, coming from a culture where money comes first.

Medina is Islam’s second-most holy city after Mecca. The city receives more than two million visitors annually during the Hajj period.

In the northwest of the kingdom, is 250km east of the Red Sea. Situated on a plain with aquifers fed by runoff from the surrounding hills, the city had abundant water supplies that fed vast date palms, watermelon, cucumber and vegetable gardens.
This made Medina an important desert stop for caravans plying the trade routes.

The date palm plantations have become a major tourist attraction, and dates, the desert fruit, are common in the city’s markets.  

The city now has an international airport. Trade in manufactured goods and the hospitality industry are the city’s main economic activities today; agriculture is also practised widely.

Muslims from all over the world visit Medina to pray inside the Prophet Mohammad’s Mosque and visit his tomb, the latter being the city’s biggest attraction.

It is said that the prophet participated in the building of Masjid Nabawi using palm leaves and tree trunks. The mosque became the command centre for the armies of conquest and the heart of Medina.

Over the years, the mosque has undergone expansion and modification and has a unique feature — 27 plazas, all open to the sky.

In extreme weather, concrete domes slide into place and provide cover for the worshippers. There are several minarets, each crowned with a four-tonne gold-plated crescent.

The mosque can accommodate more than one million worshipers at a time, and is still undergoing expansion.

Masjid Nabawi is air-conditioned and tiled, and to protect worshippers from the scorching sun, there are 12 large retractable umbrellas that open and shut as need be.

They are quite a spectacle, especially at night against the lights mounted on marble and brass pillars to illuminate the area. It is like watching a butterfly coming out of its cocoon and flying for the first time.  

About seven kilometres north of Madina are the Uhud mountains, where the graves of martyrs of Islamic battles lie.

From the mountains one can see the date palm plantations below, and the modern road and rail networks that have replaced the old caravan trails.