Hajj steps 6: in Arafah

Arafah:
And this is it...9th zul Hijja...the height of Hajj rituals. You will go to Arafah to spend the whole day, this is the most important day of the Hajj, if you miss it, you miss the whole Hajj, there are no compensation for missing out this step. You should take advantage of every single second of this.

Arafah trip from Mina took about 1 hrs by bus. The best day onto which sun will rise will be the day of Arafah. There is not a single day that the sun rises on more beloved to Allah than the Day of Arafat! This is the best day for dua! 

All the pilgrims will be standing on Arafat area, seeking Allah's Forgiveness. On this Day Allah frees more people from the Fire than any other day!.

The Prophet (Salla Allahu Aleihi Wa Sallam) said: "There is no day on which Allah frees more of His slaves from Fire than the Day of Arafat, and He verily draws near, then boasts of them before the angels, saying: ‘What do they seek?’” (Muslim). 

Sunrise while approaching Arafah.

At the limits of Arafah, we will turn left soon and reach our camp

Our camp in Arafah.

And in another hadith, the Prophet (S) said: “Verily Allah boasts of the people of Arafat before the people of Heaven (angels) saying: ‘Look to my servants who have come to Me disheveled and dusty. ” 

Also, this is the day on which Allah completed His Religion and perfected His Favor. It was on this very day that the Prophet ( Salla Allahu Aleihi Wa Sallam  performed his pilgrimage and while he (Peace Be Upon Him) was standing on Arafat Mountain, Allah revealed to Him the verse (interpretation of meaning) : "This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion." (Al-Maidah :3)

Make the most use of the day of Arafah:
The Prophet (Salla Allahu Aleihi Wa Sallam) also said: "The best dua is the dua of Arafat." (Tirmidhi) 

Before the sun sets make sure to spend some time calling on Allah. Make sure to ask Him for all you have in your heart. This is a day when Allah rejects no prayers. DO NOT FORGET YOUR PARENTS with a lot of duas for them!. If you reached that place, then your parents played a role in this, even if it was the fact that they raised you and did not abandon  you, so do not forget them in your duas. Ask Allah for everything, everything, everything. Include all the prayers your friends/relatives asked you about, include all those prayers you felt were not meant for you or were just impossible. Remember that you are asking The Generous One, the One Who is Capable of All, the One who simply says to a thing "Be!" and it will be. 

Beware of time wasting:
The day of Arafah will go fast, do not waste your time talking with people, do not waste your time eating excessively, this is not the place for jokes and idle talks. After Dohor/Assar grouping prayers, isolate yourself from the rest of the group, face Qiblah, raise your hands and start your duas without interruption.

Food:
Depending on the arrangement, food should be made available by your group. However, should it not be the case, then there are many free food distributed all around Arafah, just aim at the large semi-trailers parked in almost every street.

Advice: avoid food that generate a lot of gases in your stomach, you will want to remain in wudhu state the maximum time.
If you eat less, you will need to go to toilets less. This is important because the facilities are OK within Arafah, but if you plan to walk to Muzdalifah in the evening, then you better take your precautions and plan on this. Keeping light meals will also keep you alert and will prevent you from feeling dizzy after eating. You would like to have a nap if you have a heavy meal, so just eat light.

Few tips:

• Arafah is a large area, do not think that you must be on Jabal Rahma to start your duas. Any quiet place within the boundaries will do and it will avoid you wasting time reaching for the Jabal Rahma.
• I saw a man sleeping during almost all the afternoon of Arafah day, I pity him because he did not understand the value of this day, but each of us must just focus onto perfecting his/her day, so worry on your own shortcomings before all.
• Staying inside the tents can be subject to distraction, I always isolate myself outside, and stay away from the crowds. I find it also better to make duas in the open than inside a tent.

Arafah camp - May Allah Reward those behind planting trees all over.

Toilet Facilities in Arafah - men did not respect the signs, this should be a women side.

After Assar:
In our case, we decided to walk from Arafah all the way to Mekkah. After assar time, we started walking towards Majid Namirah, which is the large mosque close to the limits of Arafah.
If you decide to walk as well, then you will need to plan onto getting closer to the limits. In the same time, keep making duas and remain focused on your ibadah.

Note on moving to Arafah limits before Maghrib: 
Some Ulamah do not like the idea to start walking closer to the limits (I emphasize again, to the limits, not out of the limits which is forbidden) before Maghrib, but you will see that if you do not do so, you will waste a lot of time in Arafah trying to get out of it. In my case, I had my wife and daughter aged 13, I took decision to move closer to the limits after Assar because the more time they would spend standing up waiting for the streets to clear a bit, the more likely the tiredness would start to take on them, which would have spoiled the rest of the plan, and the trip to Mekkah is relatively far, so I pay deep respects to our Ulamas, but you need to use common sense and make your decision.
Note: We are not talking here about moving out of Arafah before Maghrib which is forbidden, we are just talking about moving to the limits before Maghrib.

We stopped about 100 or 150m away from the limits of Arafah, yet it took us over 1 1/2 hr. to cross this distance due to the severe crowd. we really were moving about 3 steps then stop, again 3 small steps then stop and so on until we crossed that 150m and the road started to clear more and more.

Limits of Arafah - Masjid Namirah is on the left

Arafah - Helicopter taking off, adding some dust to our heads...

Stay on the left hand side of the pedestrian way

Arafah Limits - It is very crowdy, the experience of the crowd is very unique.

Personal advice:
If I was to make it again, I would really move to the limits of Arafah before Assar, and I would stay within 10-20 meters only of the limits to avoid being trapped by the crowd later on.
If you are on your own and have no rush, then you may stay longer in a quieter place then move to Muzdalifah later on during the night. In this case, you need to know that it will take you much longer to reach Muzdalifah as many people would be sleeping on the main pathways, preventing you from walking at a normal speed.

<---Step 5     Step 7--->