Hajj steps 7: Muzdalifah

Walk or take the bus to Muzdalifah?:
By experience, walking to Muzdalifah will be quicker than the bus in most cases.
If you decided to walk, then you should be taking the pedestrian road#1, it is the most straight one.
You will see that there will be many bottle necks on the way to Muzdalifah, these are mainly created by people selling stuff in the middle of these roads, and as people stop to buy, it creates bottlenecks. The stuff you could buy if needed is food, fruits, or sandals etc...Do not expect to walk at a good speed, the problem is that you are part of million of other people, and the pace is pretty slow. It is recommended to keep making duas during this trip and keep silent as much as possible.

If you reach a point where you can't walk?
If you, or one among your group just cannot walk anymore, then  you have the choice to either make the rest of the trip using a motorbike, or a wheel chair. I do not know the price for these, but expect something around 200 SR.

Some time and distance data:
Maghrib time was 17:44. People started walking out of Arafah
It took us over 1hr to cross 150m only to reach the limits of the Masjid Namirah!
Left limit of Arafah at 18:53
Arrived limits of Muzdalifah : 20:20 (this is thus about 1 1/2 hr distance)
Walked another 40mn to pass the Masjid of Mashaar Al Haram, which is the only big Mosque you would see inside Muzdalifah (this is the place mentioned in the Quran where we should be making duas).
We stopped walking at 21:00. 
Set our tent, prayed Maghrib Isha, collected pebbles, had some food for dinner and went to bed when it was exactly 22:00

Note that our group who took the bus, sent us sms that they arrived in Muzdalifah at 22:30, so this is confirming that walking was the best option for us again.

Distance between the Jabel Arafah to Masjid Mashar Al Haram in Muzdalifah = 9KM

Muzdalifah- Masjid Al Mashaar al Haram.

Street maps of Muzdalifah & Arafah:

Map showing the boundaries between Arafah & Muzdalifah

Street Map - Arafah

Map of Muzdalifah area

<--Step 6  Step 8--->

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--->

Hajj steps 5: in Mina

Mina - 8th Zul Hijjah.

8th Zul Hijja:
On the 8th of Zul Hijja, it is time to move to Mina. After having a shower, you will pray 2 rakaat and make your niyya for the Hajj and start your Talbiyah. You are now entering the Hajj ritual, the ritual which took you all the way from your home country to this place, you are answering the call that Allah (SWT) asked Ibrahim (AS) to make, thousands of years ago, from these same places.
What could strike you is the great number of people gathered in a relatively small area, millions would be there for the same reason as you, to accomplish the 5th pillar of Islam. One must certainly not forget to thank Allah to have made it that far already, and ask Allah to make all the rituals easy for the upcoming days, as you will need all the Help of Allah to perform your hajj.

Mina - Civil defense close to Masjid al khif

Many people just preferred to walk to Mina, about 1hr trip on foot.

Mina camps and Jamarat complex

Inside Mina tents:
Don't expect high class hotels in Mina (although you may have VIP rooms, but we will not talk about these here). Your group would have booked a series of tent within Mina and you will be allocated one for yourself in the camp.

Take the minimum in a small bag, you will need to know what minimum is (it is really "minimum"), there are very little space for you to put a bag inside the tent as could be seen in the following pictures, so just plan onto taking the strict minimum, yet without forgetting essential items behind.

Inside Mina tents- Women side. It's more tidy than the men's side.

Inside Mina tents- barely any extra space to stretch your feet.

Inside Mina tents - Take a very small bag or you will struggle with place to put it.

Few tips:
There are no plug extensions inside the tents, you should plan onto taking a plug extension + adapters for your mobile phone. This is also easy hassanates to contribute helping others, as many pilgrims would not have thought of this.

Type of adapter to be used inside Mina tents.

If you are sensitive to AC, then be among the first ones to enter the tent, and chose the spots that are NOT facing the A/C ducts. You will see that it will be impossible to content the whole crowd inside the tent and you better chose a spot which will not be affected by the cold air blowing from the A/C. There will always be "someone" waking up at night to switch it on and you would wake up half frozen due to the low temperature it could reach...of course you are in a state of Ihram and you cannot argue much, so just select the right spot to start with and it should be fine. If you cannot find the spot, try to swap with someone else who likes the cold air. Bad goes to worse, head outside and sleep outside the tent, you will not be the only one doing it, and at least, you will protect your health and not fell sick at the wrong time.

Facilities:
Facilities are going to be an issue in Mina, but you will just have to bear patience. Queue for the toilets can take an average time of 30-45mn, so plan on waking up very early in the morning so that you will not miss the jamaa prayer.
Alternative: look if there are toilets outside the camp. In our case, the camp was located not far away from a major toilet complex, so it was easy for many people to just go there.

Preparation:
The day of the 8th zul hijja should also be used to make a lot of zikir, but it should also be used for you to rest in preparation of the next day, the day of Arafah, as it will be a long day. It will also be the time for you to make sure you prepare your bag of Arafah, especially if you plan to walk and not take the buses.

Mina, at the end of the street, we can see the jamarat complex.

<--- Step 4   Step 6--->