While walking past the courtyard of Masjid Al Nabawi, my son phoned in to enquire about my condition. He asked, ‘Dad, so how does it feel to spend the Ramadan fast at Medina?’. I replied without beating around the bush, “How else but elated would I feel when I could greet and salute the Holy Prophet directly and closely as ‘You’ than the indirect ‘him’. Medina is the chamber of love where one doesn’t need the angels to ‘courier’ their gifts to the Beloved from a distance. Standing beside the Beloved Prophet is standing beside your Paradise. The vice versa is equally true: his lovers would argue. While I was planning my 4-days Umrah journey, I was in two minds whether to arrive first at Mecca or Medina. Shall I give priority to His House or the Garden of His Beloved. Ultimately, the Qibla (prayer direction) of my heart aligned towards the latter. Thus I arrived on a Friday early morning at the Radiant City of the Beloved. And blessings mounted upon blessings as I recollected the injunction, “Among the most excellent of your days is Friday; so invoke many blessings on me on that day, for your blessing will be submitted to me”. Why else would I chose a different destination for my soul on this auspicious day in the Holy Month of Ramadan? Friday is the favorite day of lovers to celebrate their longing for the Guest of the Rendezvous Miraj. He is the Sun around whom the cosmos revolves. The epic center around whom love circumambulates for its survival. I am not a jurisprudential expert to argue if Ziyara is an obligatory part of the ritualistic Umra. But in this age of monstrous spiritual amnesia, I am undoubtedly convinced that rather Umra is a part of the Ziyara of the Beloved. I spent the Friday completely in the city of the Beloved. I then left for Mecca the following day only to return back to Medina on Monday morning. “The Messenger of Allah (saw) was asked about fasting on Mondays, whereupon he said, ’On it, I was born, and on it, revelation was sent down to me’. [Muslim]”. I wished to greet him again on the day he was born. For, how would I know my Creator if it wasn’t for his teachings. The Almighty revealed His grace and pleasure via His Beloved. The Obligatory and Voluntary were both demonstrated by the same Prophet. Therefore he must be the beginning of any pilgrimage. And its end too. There are some who think that the Visitation of Medina is a South Asian Muslim cultural phenomenon. However, the millions of lovers eagerly assembled around the Rawdha will testify to the opposite. Medina and its reverence is the heartbeat of the Global Ummah. Medina is the Tree. Ka’aba, Mounts of Safa and Marwa, Zamzam and Masjid al Haram are its twigs and branches.