Masjid Al-Nabawi Rev. 2. Medinah, Saudi Arabia, 12-11-10 – YouTube
Uploaded to Vimeo September 3, 20012
Islam is the fastest growing religion and consequently this religion has largest followers on this planet. At this date the Muslim population is about 2.1 billion human beings.
The video and chant calling the Muslim faithful to prayer are quite different from what Westerners and non Muslims usually are used to or watch and hear on YouTube. Please keep an open mind as you watch this video and do not believe all what negative things we are being bombarded with by the Media , Governments and the Zionist detractors and their supporters about the Muslim Religion. Muslims are human beings just like we are and have an amazing history.
I hope that you will like the YouTube “Video” which I created of the Masjid Al-Nabawi, (The Prophet Mohammad’s Mosque and Tomb) in Medinah, Saudi Arabia.
I would especially like the poor and the sick Muslims, men, women and children in many parts of the worlds who cannot make the pilgrimage to Medinah and Mecca and the Palestinian Muslims, whose lands are occupied by Zionist Israel and who are not allowed by the Israeli’s to travel or if they do so they are usually not allowed to return to their ancestral homes, to somehow be able to view this slideshow “video“ of the beautiful Masjid Al-Nabawi, their Prophets Mosque the second holiest Muslim Mosque, in Medinah, Saudi Arabia.
I want non-Muslims in the World to view this “video “ of the beautiful second holiest Muslim Mosque,The Prophets Mosque in Medinah, Saudi Arabia. Perhaps they will begin to understand a bit better about the greatness of Islam as a religion and its Hajj (Pilgrimage), to Mecca and Medinah, the two Holy Muslim cities in Saudi Arabia and its once great most long lived Arab Muslim Empire from about 638 AD (see further on below). The Third holiest city for Muslim is Jerusalem, Palestine, the city where I was born, with its beautiful Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Golden Dome of the Rock.
Perhaps it may inspire non-Muslims to seek more knowledge about Islam which is an extension of Judaism and Christianity whose ideas and doctrines the Prophet Mohammad adopted freely and which are in the Quoran ( Koran) their Holy Book. Perhaps they will seek more knowledge about Islam and its adherent’s amazing history and culture and stop this unwarranted demonizing of Islam especially here in America and England and other parts of Europe. The Muslim religion and the Quoran recognize Christians and Jews as the People of the Book the Torah and the Bible. Muslims do recognize and respect Jesus (Jasuu in Arabic) as a very great Prophet.
I am working on creating a YouTube “Video” of the First Holy City of Islam, Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Mecca is a closed city and only Muslims are allowed to enter it. That bothers some non-Muslim people. I feel that it is their Holy City, their Religion and we must respect their about 1380 year old restriction. I never had a problem with that . When I was in Saudi Arabia I was treated very well and courteously. I was allowed close to the Holy City of Mecca but not allowed to enter it. The Prophet Mohammad is buried in Medinah in the Masjid Al-Nabawi with two other great early Muslim leaders, Abu Bakr (first caliph and the father of Muhammad’s wife, Aisha), and of Umar (Umar ibn Al-Khattab), the Second Caliph. The outskirts of Medinah and the Medina Airport, are open to all. Non-Muslims are strictly prohibited from entering Central Medina. Some hotels are for Muslims only. I have no problem with that.
A bit of Muslim history may be in order here.
Islam, the longest lived of any empire, the Arab Empire of Faith, existed for about 857 years after the Prophet Mohammad died in 632 AD in Medina, Arabia. Islam would become the revitalizing force of a barbaric ancient Arabia returning people to God and bringing back the monotheistic message of Christianity and Judaism in its most powerful way. Muslim Women were given rights over their husbands, racism was annihilated and the rich were made equal to the poor.
During its Golden Years to about 1518 AD, for about 856 years the Great Muslim Empire stretched from the African shores of the Atlantic Ocean to China and India, a 200 days journey. While Europe was in the Dark Ages, the Arab Muslim Empire flourished as great works of architecture were built, reading and writing, mathematics, medicine, and astronomy to name a few blossomed. Even before the printing press Muslims would have hundreds of scribes writing all at once so they would learn and reproduce the writings.
The conquering Ottoman Turks adopted Islam shortly after about 1518 AD and ruled for 400 years more as Muslims until 1918. History of Islam http://www.barkati.net/english/,
The Muslim Conquests http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquests
Before there was the modern so called pariah “state” of Israel, there was great peace in the Holy Land of Palestine. First under the Muslim Arabs after they conquered the Levant and captured Jerusalem, Palestine in April 637 AD and later by the ruling Muslim Ottoman Turks who ruled the Middle East for over 400 years from about 1518 AD until 1918.
You can read and learn a bit more about the Muslim Empire from the information presented below:
Under the last of the Umayyad, the Arabian Muslim empire extended two hundred days’ journey from east to west, from the confines of Tartary and India to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The Arab Muslim Empire lasted about 856 years until 1517 AD, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_conquests . The Arab Muslim Empire kept civilization alive.
The Arab Muslim empire in Spain lasted from 711 – 1492 AD a period of about 781 years. Al-Andalus, what the Muslim-Berbers named Spain the, today is a veritable living Museum of the amazing Arab-Berber Muslim civilization and culture that flourished there and the amazing beautiful buildings and public works that the Muslims built there.
The conquest of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania commenced when the Moors (Black Africans, Berbers and Arabs) led by Tariq ibn Ziyad invaded Visigothic Christian Iberia (modern Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Andorra, Septimania) in the year 711 AD and later joined by his superior, Caliph Musa bin Nusair. During the eight-year campaign most of the Iberian Peninsula was brought under Islamic rule—save for small areas in the northwest (Asturias) and largely Basque regions in the Pyrenees. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad
This territory, under the Arab name Al-Andalus, became first an Emirate and then an independent Umayyad Caliphate, the Caliphate of Córdoba, after the overthrowing of the dynasty in Damascus by the Abbasids. When the Caliphate dissolved in 1031, the territory split into small Taifas, and gradually the Christian kingdoms started the Reconquest up to 1492, when Granada, the last kingdom of Al-Andalus fell under the Catholic Monarchs .The majority of the Sephardic Jews of Spain( Al-Andalus) opted to leave Spain with the retreating Arab Muslim armies to North Africa as they knew that the Muslims would not harm them and would protect them from the armies of the Catholic King Ferdinand of Aragon ad Queen Isabella of Castile.
The Great Muslim Mosque at Cordoba Spain ( From the Al-Andalus Era)
Now a Church
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral%E2%80%93Mosque_of_C%C3%B3rdoba
The Cathedral and former Great Mosque of Córdoba, in ecclesiastical terms the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (English: Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption), and known by the inhabitants of Córdoba as the Mezquita-Catedral (Mosque–Cathedral), is today a World Heritage Site and the cathedral of the Diocese of Córdoba. It is located in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain.
The site was originally a pagan temple, then a Visigothic Christian church, before the Umayyad Moors converted the building into a mosque and then built a new mosque on the site. After the Spanish Reconquista, it became a Roman Catholic church, with a plateresque cathedral later inserted into the centre of the large Moorish building. The Mezquita is regarded as the one of the most accomplished monuments of Islamic architecture. It was described by the poet Muhammad Iqbal:
“Sacred for lovers of art, you are the glory of faith,
You have made Andalusia pure as a holy land!”
Of course we also all do still have my beloved Old City of Jerusalem, Palestine, the third Holiest city of Islam and also a city Holy to Christians and Jews. Amongst it’s many treasures, it contains the Haram Al-Sharif, the Golden Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Holy Sepulchre many, many other churches and some synagogues and the wall enclosing them in the old city of Jerusalem.
The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt the ancient wall of the old city of Jerusalem in 1537 AD after the Ottoman Turks captured Jerusalem in 1517 AD from the Egyptian Mamluks 1250-1517 AD. The Ottoman Turkish Muslim Empire lasted another additional 484 years.
The Golden Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the ancient old city of Jerusalem are showcases for Islamic architecture and design from the Umayyad 661-750 AD period to the Ottoman period about 1534-1918 AD. The Golden Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque continued as an important religious and educational center for Muslims to the present day
Please pass it on to all of your families and friends.
With best regards and love ,
Arthur F. Billy
Dedicated to my Friend Hasan Hammami who inspired me to create this “Video” slideshow.
Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi, The Prophet’s Mosque is the beautiful Mosque and Tomb of the Prophet Mohammad, (Peace be Upon Him), in the second Holiest City of Islam, Medinah in Saudi Arabia. The Prophet Mohammad (Peace be Upon Him), died in 632 AD and is buried under the green dome of Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi.
Buried near him is Abu Bakr, Abdullah Ibn Abi Qahafa (570-634 AD), first Caliph and Successor to the Prophet Mohammad (Peace be Upon Him). His caliphate lasted two years and three months in which he opened up the lands of Palestine, Syria and Iraq for the Muslims, suppressed apostasy among the Arab tribes, and fought the false prophets including al-Aswad al-`Ansi.
Also buried near the Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) is Umar Ibn Al-Khattab (592-644 AD), the fourth Caliph who ruled from 633 AD until his assassination in 644 AD. During Umar’s Caliphate, the Islamic Empire grew at an unprecedented rate, capturing Iraq and parts of Iran from the Sassanid ancient Persian Empire. Umar conquered the rest of Palestine, Syria and Iraq, Egypt, North Africa and parts of Turkey and Armenia from the Byzantine Empire. Umar codified Islamic law and brought peace to these lands following years of strife between the Sassanids and the Byzantines.
Caliph Umar Ibn Al-Khattab was known for his simple and modest lifestyle. A famous story tells of him walking beside his camel upon which his servant was sitting on arriving in Jerusalem in order to resolve a long festering dispute between the different Christian sects in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Before he adjudicated the dispute, he cleaned himself up and prayed outside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, lest Muslims thought it ought to be a Mosque. He asked the Church Leaders to give the keys of this most important Church to an old Jerusalem family that had converted to Islam. They were to open and close the Church, resolve disputes and lead Religious Processions. To this day, 1400 years later, the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are held by the Nusseibeh family. One of the Nuseibeh’s personally locks the gate every evening and opens it every morning in a ceremony that is watched by hundreds of tourists and pilgrims every day. Such was his wisdom and desire to bring peace to his Christian (and Jewish) neighbors.
Azan – The Call For Prayers
In The Name of Allah (God) Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Azan or Adhan is the first call to prayer. The Azan is recited in a loud voice by the Muezzin facing the Ka’ba, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. A Muezzin is the chosen person at a mosque who leads the call to prayer (azan) at Friday services and the five daily times for prayer.
The honour of being the first Muezzin appointed by the Prophet Mohammad (Peace be Upon Him), goes to Hazrat Bilal, a black Muslim slave. He had a very sweet, resonant and musical voice. His appointment shows that in Islam all human beings are treated as equals. Rich or poor, black or white, short or tall, all are equal in the eyes of Allah. It is the piety of each individual that makes the difference.
In this “Video” the Most Beautiful Azan ever is chanted in Arabic words in a sweet melodious voice by Turkish Muezzin Hafiz Mustapha Özcan Günesdogdu’ to announce to the faithful that it is time for the Obligatory Prayer and to invite them to prayers:
“Allahu Akbar” – recited four times
Meaning, “God is Most Great.”(four times)
“Ash-hadu an la ilaha ill-Allah” – recited TWO times.
Meaning, “I bear witness that there is none worthy of being worshipped except God.”(twice).
“Ash-hadu anna Muhammad-ar-Rasoolullah” – recited two times.
Meaning, “I bear witness that Muhammad is the Apostle of God.”(recited twice).
“Hayya ‘alas-Salah” – recited two times.
Meaning, “Come to prayer.”(turning the face alone to the right and saying it twice)
“Hayya ‘alal-falah” – recited two times.
Meaning, “Come to Success.”(turning the face alone to the left and saying it twice)
“Allahu Akbar” — recited two times.
Meaning, “God is Most Great” (face back to front and saying it two times).
Morning (Fajr) Prayers
The following phrase is added after “Hayya ‘alal-falah” in the Azan of the early morning prayers:
“As-salatu khairum minannaum” – recited two times.
Meaning, “Prayer is better than sleep” (recited two times).
“Allahu Akbar”
Meaning, GOD IS THE GREATEST
With best regards and love
Arthur F. Billy