10th Dhul Hijja; the day of Eid. After resting a few hours, you should get ready for the long day ahead. The sleep was short, often cut with people trying to pass through narrow paths and almost falling on your tent. Just put in your mind that you are there to gain some rest, and not to sleep, do not expect to have an undisturbed night, everybody is looking for quiet spot, and there are just NONE.
If you have with you elderly or women/children, you are allowed to leave Muzdalifah after the middle of the night.
There are reports that the middle of the night is not "midnight", it's rather the time where the moon would have set.
You would have to look at the moon on your left hand side if you are facing Mekkah, and it won't be very high on the horizon, so when it's about to disappear, it will be time for you to leave the boundaries of Muzdalifah.
You will also need to know how far you are from Muzdalifah boundaries, as it takes at least another hour to reach there.
As for us, we slept at 22:00, and woke up at 01:00 AM. By the time we packed and were ready to go, it was about 01:40. Just leave the tent behind you, we just donated it to a couple who was outside with a child, they were happy to get some cover to sleep a bit more comfortably.
So we started walking again around 01:40, but my wife was too tired and the cream for the muscles did not help much. We had to take a push chair to the Jamarat. Luckily, we found close by a person with a chair, and negotiated the price down from 250 SR to 200 SR, then we set off.
We reached the Jamarat at 03:40, so it took us 2 hours from the Masjid Mashaar Al Haram to the Jamarat.
Note: there are many guards along the way to Jamarat, they will not allow you to take bags/ mats, umbrellas etc, so make sure you do not keep these unnecessarily as they might be taken away.
The path you are on would take you to one of the many levels of the Jamarat complex, you head towards the last pillar, and you stone that pillar with 7 pebbles that you would have collected in Muzdalifah.
After that, you move out of the path of other pilgrims, keep walking untill you exit the Jamarat bridge, and you can cut your hair either at the barber shops, or ask your wife to do it if you have brought with you the necessary items to shave, just like we did.
By 04:00 AM, we were done with shaving and needed to head towards Mekkah for the Tawaf Ifadah.
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| Jamarat - 10th Dhul Hijja. Approaching the complex from Muzdalifah. |
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| Jamarat Complex at 04:00 AM. Many people are there and will continue to be there. |
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MASHA ALLAH nice post! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Sunny, thanks for passing by and dropping comments. All the best for you
Deleteyour post is really helpful with very good tips to beat the crowd. thanks. i have a question on this part of hajj! what about animal sacrificing ? when we have to do that part?
ReplyDeleteWelcome njsalma, I am glad it was of some help.
DeleteThe time for offering the sacrifice begins after the Eid prayer on Eid al-Adha and ends when the sun sets on the thirteenth of Dhu’l-Hijjah. So there are four days of sacrifice: the day of Eid al-Adha and the three days after it.
All the best for you always.
Almost all rituals of Hajj are so spiritually in performing but especially stoning of Jamarat pillars make the Muslims as a strong pillar against the Cleverness of devil. And oftentimes, they get a little emotional when they are stoned but they should never lose their patience during the whole pilgrimage. By the way, your article is good.
ReplyDelete