Going to alluring Ta’if

Performing Umrah in Madina: Our first stop the following day was the first mosque built after the advent of Islam-Masjid Quba. The layout of the mosque was drawn by the Prophet, SAW himself, while migrating from Mecca to Madina, and He used to visit it every Saturday thereafter, sometimes on foot, other times on his […]

Performing Umrah in Madina: Our first stop the following day was the first mosque built after the advent of Islam-Masjid Quba. The layout of the mosque was drawn by the Prophet, SAW himself, while migrating from Mecca to Madina, and He used to visit it every Saturday thereafter, sometimes on foot, other times on his mount. It is stated in a hadith that whoever makes ablution at home and goes to the mosque of Quba to pray will have the reward of an umra’. That’s how we ended up adding the miles of an umra whilst still tucked up in Madina. Alhamdu Lillah.
Mad’am Mandi Restaurant: Coming out of Quba, my body started complaining; this is what it said, ‘you know we went out without breakfast this morning, so you should quickly find somewhere to fuel me up else… Now, this is a warning one shouldn’t take lightly, so I said to it, ‘o k, fine, calm down, just give me a little time’.
I turned to Dan Mallam, our driver, and requested him to call Abdurrahman, that native of Madina who escorted us to Mada’in Salih. He said to him after exchange of pleasantries, ‘where is the best mandi restaurant in Madina?
Abdurrahman gave him an address on Malik Abdulaziz road. It wasn’t long before we found the restaurant, located not too far away from the Nigerian medical mission, more so because of the bold inscription ‘MAD’AM MANDI’ on display in front of it. The moment we entered I knew, without being told, that we were in the right place.
Dan Mallam ordered two plates for the three of us, and believe me, it was more than enough, principally because of the prophetic hadith that says, ‘ the food of one person is enough for two, that of two is enough for three, that of three is enough for four and that of four is enough for eight.
Now, if you can recollect, in my last piece I promised explaining what ‘mandi’ is in this one.
Mandi is well spiced rice served in a big plate or bowl with a whole section or big chunks of extremely soft/tender lamb or chicken, mostly lamb, the type that comes off bones without provocation spread around it.
It is traditionally eaten with hands by a group of friends or family sitting down in a circle. And believe me, this strengthens bonds of both friendship and family, just as mentioned in another prophetic hadith.
This was the third restaurant I was to eat mandi from, the others being in Damascus and Mada’in Salih, and I can tell you this is by far the best in terms of ambience and presentation but not taste. It is my belief that all mandis taste good and almost the same, because it is a kind of delicacy a chef can’t go half way in learning how to prepare. It is either you know how to prepare it or you don’t. Though I know this restaurant can be a bit expensive for a pilgrim not quite sure of when he/she will be ferried back home, my advice will be to still brave it and go in a group of eight, order four plates and split the cost. And, the good news is, once you have your fill there, it’s not likely you will look for dinner again that day. You will just be watering that lamb down throughout the rest of the day with either rani or cold water, thus making further savings by getting two lunch and dinner for the price of one.
Road to Mecca: On our last day in Madina we waited until after zuhr before checking out of the hotel. But, before checking out, Muhammad, a Nigerian who has an office in the hotel premises, introduced to me by Alh Hassan Dantata as the person responsible for our discounted booking, and whose manners have obviously been influenced by that of the people of Madina, insisted on coming down to see us off.
When he came down we expressed our profound gratitude, exchanged contacts and proceeded to Zul-Khulaifa to take our ihram-the two-piece white clothes.
Anytime I put on ihram my mind races back to an interview Hala Gorani of CNN had with a young boy on Hajj for the first time with his father years back.
She-Hala, had asked him; ‘What lesson have you learnt from this experience?’
The boy answered in form of another question with these few words, ‘everybody is the same?’ which betrayed his innocence.
And that’s the greatest lesson one can actually take away from Hajj or Umra. In that two piece white ihram one can’t really differentiate-unless you know the person-between  a rich man and a pauper, or, a king and a slave, or, a master and a servant. And indeed in the eyes of our creator we are all the same. The closest to him, and that’s according to HIM, SWT, is the most pious amongst us. And again that’s difficult to decode.
We drove straight, without stopping, and reached Mecca in good time for Maghrib, after which we proceeded to perform the umra. As is usual most times, we were separated and it was only on completion we were connected with Rashid at an agreed meeting point.
We called our driver and proceeded to Jeddah sleeping all the way, minus the driver of course. Rahji was dropped off at the Red Sea Palace hotel and I went back to my friend’s house.
The following day we left early for Mecca, having arrived with the intention of going to Ta’if immediately after Friday prayers.
The road to Ta’if: We hit the road immediately after conclusion of Friday prayer, stopping only at the outskirts of Mecca to buy fruits and drinks.
I have had the privilege of traveling on some of the most treacherous roads in many countries but, the road to Ta’if is by far the  scariest I have traveled on so far.
This road, which was first commissioned by King Faisal as a single lane highway in the mid sixties, goes through the edge of very steep, high and winding mountains, which made it extremely dangerous for motorists.
This invariably necessitated its expansion into a dual carriage way not only to Taif  but Abha, a city on the banks of the Mediterranean and home town to that amiable consular officer Ibrahim at the Saudi Embassy. A project embarked upon by the Bin Laden group in 1974, to be precise.
But this road is not all about treachery and scaring people. There are points specially carved out, starting from when you climb to about 3000 ft, for travelers to come down and savor the view, take pictures and appreciate the point from which they came from and where they are. And what a view it was.
To climb 3000 ft is like driving a kilometer into the sky by car at a 49 degree angle, in case you don’t get it. And to think that was almost half way to our final destination, made my liver shiver.    
I must however, sound a note of warning here. These stops are not for those with a phobia for heights. If you have it, my advice is; just close your eyes and tell your driver to fire on. There is an alternative though. You can opt to climb by cable car, which is the largest in the Middle East, with the opportunity of catching an extremely good scenery of the Sarawat Taif mountains.    
Now, because of the number of people—mostly tourists— that stop to snack and drink away at these stops, monkeys and baboons have also found it suitable enough to buffet away with fruits/ bananas and pose for photo shots.   

Ta’if
Taif, sometimes referred to as the Garden of the Hijaz, is a city barely 100 kilometers from Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Situated almost 2000 meters above sea level on the slopes of the Sarawat Mountains, the city is the agricultural gold mine of Saudi Arabia, where a lot of grapes, pomegranate, figs and honey are grown.
Rare pink rose flowers picked at dawn and distilled into Rose oil are also indigenous to the city. This expensive rose oil is in turn used in making famous perfumes like Ormond, Chanel and Guerlain.
The disparity in temperature, due largely to altitude, compared to that of Mecca, which is just 100 kms away, is the first thing that will strike you on entry into the precincts of Ta’if. The sensation you get when that cold air hits your skin is just like the one felt in a hollow tooth worn away by sweets when dentists blow cold air into it. Believe me it was with difficulty we managed to perform ablution with ordinary tap water on arrival at about the time for ASR prayer.
Ta’if is a beautiful city full of parks and gardens, which makes it an ideal destination for holidays with the family, especially, when you find yourself in Saudi Arabia with an entry visa in the heat of summer. I am not sure if one can survive the place December-January.
As a matter of fact, it is said each summer the government of Saudi Arabia moves from the heat of Riyadh to Ta’if, and that most of the royal family have houses there.
The story of Ta’if, as far as Islamic history is concerned, is not all that pink rosy. The city is infamous as the one that turned its back on the noble Prophet of Islam. This is how the story goes;
It is said, HE, [saw], left for the city at the height of persecution by the Meccans, after the death of his strongest pillars of support, Abu-Talib and his wife Khadija, with the hope of getting some respite and eventually winning them over.
On arrival, HE, [saw], first visited the three chieftains of the city, but they all treated him with contempt, after which he turned to the masses of the people who also behaved likewise, going to the extreme of even stoning him out of the city.
It was after this incident angel Gabriel along with the angel of the mountains descended from the high heavens and gave him the option of choosing the kind of punishment to be meted out to them. But, the Prophet, saw, being what he was, the most compassionate of human beings and the utmost in manners opted to pray for them and their descendants.

Out of the city, HE, saw, was given sanctuary in a small house at a place called Wadi Mitna in the outskirts of the city. The house has now been turned into a small mosque and is a must visit when in Ta’if.
We were privileged to visit and offer supererogatory prayers inside the mosque, courtesy of Abdallah Ta’if,
Abdallah Taif, an elderly Hausa man was not only born in the city, but his parents were. He met us at the entrance and showed us around not only Taif , but another small village, by their standard, that sits practically in the clouds, about 30 kms further uphill, called Al-Shafa.
Al–Shafa: Like I said, the inhabitants of this village practically cohabit with the clouds, and the place is much colder than Ta’if. Al-Shafa is also another Mecca for photographers and tourists; what with its many beautiful gardens and a must stop and see sanctuary for baboons and monkeys. I mean real life big baboons, not like the ones we have here, if you catch my drift.
Abdallah told us that they, the baboons, once whisked a baby out of its mother’s hands and disappeared into the deep gauges below, never to be seen again. Close to the baboon sanctuary you will also find decorated camels and horse drawn carriages for hire. I will suggest you try the camel ride if you are one of those with an adventurous mind and want to climb higher than Al-Shafa.
Here also, we were confronted with many mandi restaurants, the only difference being that in most of them, there are no places to sit down and eat. We were informed the tradition in the village is to buy your food, go find an empty space in a garden or by the road side, spread your mat or carpet, in a picnic- like atmosphere, have your fill, and go back home or get the out of town. That’s what we did.
This part of Saudi Arabia is a paradise for tourists, and for a country that already has the numbers and will continue to have them till doomsday, only God knows how much they will add to their coffers when they open up. But then, the world is now a totally different place, so wouldn’t blame them if they are a little bit cautious with that.
Late evening we drove back to Ta’if, dropped Abdallah and proceeded on a downward spiral back to Mecca, arriving in good time for Maghrib.
We proceeded to the consul-general Ambassador Ahmed Umar’s house in Jeddah after isha prayer, arriving in good enough time to be welcomed onto the table for a sumptuous dinner with an old primary school mate of mine whom I hadn’t seen in a long time [Lawi], Former FCT Minister Aliyu Modibbo and a couple of others.
My flight back to Dubai was for early morning the following day, so we bid farewell and parted ways with my friend and co traveler Rashid Rahji who was flying straight back to Nigeria at the consul’s residence that night.
Before going to bed, Ambassador Umar surprised me with a gift of a rare pink rose Ta’if perfume, covered in an equally rare yellow colored package. He must have figured since I couldn’t get to go see the Rose Plantation in Ta’if, I might as well leave the country with their perfume as a souvenir. Good thinking. Like what I always say; what can I really do without my friends?