Pilgrims eager to buy Madinah souvenirs

Shops around the Prophet’s Mosque are witnessing big sales during Ramadan as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from around the world rush to buy souvenirs and rare collections from Madinah.
Several kiosks and stalls have been sprung up in the area with an eye on the huge influx of pilgrims during the peak of the Umrah season.
They display wide variety of items and souvenirs, including rosaries, prayer rugs, henna, perfumes, incense, abayas, pictures of the Prophet’s Mosque and historic places, and copies and CDs of the Holy Qur’an and its translations.
Many elderly men were seen searching for and buying silver rings adorned with precious stones.
Almost all the pilgrims are buying various types of Madinah dates that are famous worldwide.
On a tour of several shops in the area, Arab News saw many pilgrims buying souvenirs and special rosaries and abayas available in Madinah.
Nabeela, a Syrian pilgrim, said she bought rosaries after realizing that these are the best gifts that she can take to her family members and relatives back home.
Echoing the same view, Jouda from Pakistan said the beautiful and light Madinah rosaries are the precious gifts that she bought from the holy city.
On the other hand, Sofia Akhtar, also a Pakistani pilgrim, preferred rosaries made of amber and a prayer rug with inscriptions of the Holy Kaaba and the Green Dome of the Prophet’s Mosque to gold ornaments.
Inayat Ahmad, an Egyptian woman pilgrim, said that she was keen to buy traditional toys of Madinah that are popular in her country like small birds and pistols.
She said: “I take these home because they fascinate my sons as well as children in our neighborhood.
“A few years ago they used to get them from some of our relatives who brought them from Madinah.”