The
obligatory Haj rituals are to be performed in the vicinity of Makkah during 8 –
12 Zul-hijja (the month of Hajj) which is the last month of the Islamic
calendar. Only when you have performed the prescribed rituals on these given
days are you said to have performed Haj.
We
returned back to Makkah on 5th Zilhijja after the 10 day stay in Medina
– and it seemed to be a different place than what we had left. There were
people everywhere, on the streets, in front of hotels, in temporary makeshift
tents in traffic gardens and in the grand central Mosque – the Masjid-al-Haram.
Yet
despite the huge crowds, when we returned back for the obligatory Umrah to Masjid-al-Haram on the night we
reached from Medina, it felt like a homecoming, like getting back into the arms
of Allah again.
Let
me share some insights into how the Saudi government manages the large crowd.
In 2012 around 40 lakh pilgrims performed the Haj as per the official version out
of which 16 lakhs were foreign visitors while the remaining were from GCC
countries who do not need a visa and just drive in or local Arabs and migrant
workers in Saudi Arabia. All the foreign pilgrims are allocated to a Muallim – or a local leader. Muallim in Arabic means ‘Sir’ or
‘Teacher’. Each Maullim is allocated
approximately 5000 pilgrims and during your stay in Saudi your travel and
security is his responsibility. In the month preceding the Haj week and the month
that follows, the government controls the pilgrim population by distributing
them between Makkah and Medina. Thus some batches first travel to Makkah and
then visit Medina, whereas an approximately equal number visit Medina first
before traveling to Makkah. This is managed centrally by Muallims through an IT program.
Thus
on any given day when a set of pilgrims is travelling from Makkah to Medina, an
almost equal number is travelling back from Medina to Makkah and the 7 hours
journey gives the hotel staff at both locations time to clean up the rooms for
the new set of arriving pilgrims. However for the Haj week the
entire population travels to Makkah only and hence when we returned back to
Makkah we were allocated a hotel in the suburbs, around 5 KMs from the Central
Mosque since hotel rents in the city during these days are exorbitantly high.
The
rituals during the Haj week (8-12 Zilhijja) are taxing both in terms of
physical effort required as well as due to the huge crowd and hence it is
recommended to refresh and rejuvenate for a few days prior to its commencement.
We spent 5 – 7 Zilhajja in our hotel room in Azizia (a suburb of Makkah)
largely attending sermons on the Haj rituals, their significance, the travel
and stay arrangements during those days and how to manage if one got lost. The
mosques deliver these sermons in various international languages based on the
nationalities staying in that location.
On
the night of 7th Zilhajja we took bath, packed a small bag with
necessities, discarded our clothes and donned the white ihram once again and became ready for the final passage; the
purpose of the pilgrimage. All the preparation, all the knowledge, all the
insights resonated internally and nothing mattered besides that single intent
to ensure every rite was performed as prescribed, every ritual measured up to
the standards deemed by the Prophet and our Haj could meet the acceptance of
Allah. The entire journey would then be worthwhile.
The
prophet had set for Haj on the morning of 8th Zilhajja, but due to
the large crowd now we set forth on the journey around midnight of 7thZilhajja.
The Haji during these prescribed days has to stay in Mina, a huge plain about 5
KMs to the east of Makkah where more than 100,000 air-conditioned, fire proof
tents are set up to provide temporary accommodation to the pilgrims for these
five nights.
The
10 minute bus journey took us almost one hour since every road leading to Mina
was packed with vehicles and people walking with their belongings trying to
find their tent in that sprawling sea of white. As you look around from your
bus it was the only color you saw – white. The white tents packed close to each
other separated only by streams of the same color; streets made invisible by
millions of pilgrims all dressed in the same two sheets of unstitched white –
the ihram.
And
on the lips of everyone is a single prayer – the Talbiyah, which (in translation) states "Here I am at Thy service O Lord, here I am. Here I am at Thy
service and Thou hast no partners. Thine alone is All Praise and All Bounty,
and Thine alone is The Sovereignty. Thou hast no partners.”
The
central theme of Haj is Oneness – the equality of mankind, all dressed alike,
all reciting the same prayer, united in their desire of seeking servitude and
love of a single Lord. No soul can stay unaffected in that atmosphere of energy
created by forty million people unified by a single spiritual purpose.
The
8th of Zilhijja is known as Yaum-ul-Tarwiyah
(The day of giving water) because on this day, in ancient times, the pilgrims
and their caravans would drink and fill water for the day of Arafat to follow.
There are no specific rites for this day except to offer the five mandatory
prayers and spend the day in zikr or
remembrance of the Lord seeking His forgiveness and help.
The
beds in the tent are foam mattresses cramped adjacent to each other with hardly
and space to walk and the toilets though many can be few at ‘rush’ hours so you
do become careful while eating and have to plan your natural visits. However it
is important to ensure enough nourishment for the two tough days to follow.
The
second day of Haj i.e. 9th Zilhijja (also called Yaum-ul-Arafat or
the day of Arafat) is probably the most crucial of all days because it includes
the mandatory rite of seeking pardon in the plains of Arafat. There are 3
mandatory and 6 obligatory rituals for the Haj to be deemed complete. If you
miss any of the obligatory rites then you can still continue with the Haj by
paying a compensation in the form charity (sadqa) or sacrifice of a sheep or goat. However if you miss a compulsory ritual the
Haj is deemed incomplete and one has to undertake the whole journey again.
Being in a state of ihram, standing in the plains of Arafat on the afternoon of
9th Zilhijja and the Tawaf-e-Ziyaarat (the circumambulation of the
Kaaba during specific Haj days) are the mandatory rites.
The
Arafat ritual is probably the most significant ritual of the pilgrimage. On
this day the Haji has to stand in the huge open plains of Arafat from noon till
sunset and seek forgiveness for all his sins. For the ease of the pilgrim and
to provide undivided focus on this single act of repentance even the mandatory evening
prayer (namaz-e-asr) that day are to
be read along with the afternoon prayer (namaz-e-johar.)
We
reached Arafat just after midnight and the few tents over there were dark since
there is no provision for electricity. It didn't matter, because that day you
only have a single worry; will I receive forgiveness for my sins?
What
if you were aware of your many wrongdoings and given one chance to stand in
court and seek mercy from the judge?
The
plain of Arafat that afternoon is full of men and women from every culture,
nationality, age, prosperity standing with their hands raised to the sky,
unmindful of the blazing sun on top, the burning sand underneath, sobbing as
they recall their sins, the sweat and the tears difficult to distinguish.
It
was as if the entire journey had prepared you for this one moment; all that
time to read and reflect, to be with yourself and God unpeels the outer layer
of superficial modesty to reveal the garbage lying inside you – your truest
intents for doing what you did and you have realized that these have not always
been honest. From this acute self-awareness comes a sense of remorse that is
deep and heartfelt. And when this opportunity arrives to get everything
excused, you seek forgiveness as if nothing else mattered. That afternoon there
is no one in Arafat who doesn’t cry.
And
that afternoon you realize why the pilgrimage, if performed as prescribed, has
the potential to make you as pure as a new born.
A
loud alarm signals sunset. It is time to leave Arafat and reach the mountains
and plains of Muzdalifah to spend the night, which is the next obligatory task.
Imagine 40 million people leaving a place at the same time to reach another common
place. The crowd, the chaos, the commotion can be unmanageable and we had a
near life-threatening experience as we were sandwiched in a crowd of more than
fifty thousand trying to enter the metro station through a single narrow gate.
The
harrowing experience though doesn’t affect you. You have managed to board a
train and get dropped somewhere in Muzdalifah (it is almost 9 KMs from Arafat
and there are three metro stations for Muzdalifah.) You are separated from your
group, you don’t know which place you are, you had nothing to eat since the
afternoon lunch yet nothing matters.
All
that matters is compliance to God, to dutifully do as He reckons. To, as
someone had rightly said, trust the process.
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