As one of the guests of the Custodian (II)
After taking lunch at the restaurant of Casablanca hotel, our lodge in Makkah, we observed Zuhr prayer and rested in our rooms. Our three square meals daily were buffets throughout the period of our sojourn in the holy land. After Asr prayer, we went to Masjdul Haram (the holy mosque of Ka’bah) to perform Umrah; […]
After taking lunch at the restaurant of Casablanca hotel, our lodge in Makkah, we observed Zuhr prayer and rested in our rooms. Our three square meals daily were buffets throughout the period of our sojourn in the holy land. After Asr prayer, we went to Masjdul Haram (the holy mosque of Ka’bah) to perform Umrah; a religious rite that consists of Tawaf (seven circuits round the Ka’abah); observing two raka’ats of nafilat prayer by facing the Maqama Ibrahim station; Sa’yu (running between the two hills of Safa and Marwa near the Ka’abah and within the Masjdul Haram); and shaving the head or cutting part of the hair on the head. We didn’t find it easy doing the Tawaf and the Sa’yu because of the mammoth crowd of pilgrims at the mosque. This was only four days then to the commencement of hajj rites.
While circumambulating round the Ka’abah as well as during Sa’yu, I found it amazing that one of my colleagues on the trip, Alhaji Naibi, was faster than I was because he was always ahead of me even though he was older. In all the Umrah and Hajj rites, I struggled to catch up with him. During our Tawaf, Alhaji Naibi drew my attention to a physically challenged man, a cripple, who refused to use a wheel chair to perform the Tawaf, which implied that, as an able-bodied person, I had no reason to lag behind in any Hajj rite. I felt fatigued after the Umrah. The reason was my abandonment of regular physical exercise. I have resumed routine exercise since my arrival from the holy land. During this trip, I learned from Alhaji Naibi to use staircase in place of electronic escalators not only at our hotel of residence but also at the holy mosque of Ka’abah and other public buildings.
As we moved out of the Ka’abah mosque after performing Umrah, we lost our way because we came out through the gate other than the one we passed through into the mosque, the Masjidul Haram. As visitors who arrived only two hours ago, we regrettably didn’t know the name of the district where our hotel of residence was located. Knowing how to communicate in Arabic was also not helpful as the various security personnel we approached to guide us on how to get back to Casablanca hotel failed to be of any assistance. After walking round and round the expansive holy mosque of Ka’abah, we later got a cab driver who knew our destination and took us there though at a very exorbitant fare.
On Thursday August 16, 2018, each guest was given a SIM card of the Saudi STC network with a recharge worth 20 Saudi riyals. At the hotel’s ground floor was the Da’awah and Irshad (Islamic Propagation and Guidance) desk where guests could pick as many copies of the Qur’an as they needed. There was however a caveat that each guest was responsible to pay for the surcharges of any luggage that is in excess of 20kg.
At about 5pm on Sunday August 19, 2018, we once again put on our Ihram clothes and then left Makkah, surprisingly not for Mina but directly to Arafat where we arrived amidst strong rain storm. Moving to Arafat directly on the Tarwiyyah day (8th Dhul Hijjah) instead of passing the night of 8th Dhul Hijjah is one of the modern exigencies of hajj rites occasioned by the large number of pilgrims, especially in the past two decades. Jurists, scholars and Imams of the two holy mosques in Saudi Arabia have issued legal opinions that permit pilgrims to observe hajj rites in a way other than the manner in which the Prophet (SAW) performed Hajj. We were duly informed by the Saudi government officials in charge of our programme that our host, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques has graciously provided funds for fidyah (animal sacrifice) to expiate for any requirement of Umrah or Hajj that was omitted by us. We thus spent the night of Tarwiyyah at Arafat instead of Mina.
At the Arafat plain, guests from all the 63 countries were systematically grouped and lodged in four mega tents; with one tent exclusively for women. Our Arafat camp was fenced and our movement restricted to the vicinity of the camp. Security was tightened at the entrance of our camp. We spent the following day, Monday August 20, 2018 which was equivalent to 9th Dhul Hijjah, supplicating and glorifying Allah (SWT) inside our camp on mount Arafat. At sunset, we departed Arafat in our respective luxury buses but did not get to Mazdalifah, which was just few kilometers away from Arafat until after two and half hours. The crowd was gargantuan; with many pilgrims going to Muzdalifah on foot.
At Muzdalifah, we observed Maghrib and Isah’i prayers as required by the sunnah of the Prophet (SAW). After been offered snacks and taking a one and half hours rest, we were directed to board our respective buses again for onward ride to Mina; an act that ran contrary to prophetic practice which required pilgrims to pass the night at Muzdalifah where they are required to pick pebbles that would be used for stoning the Jamrah pillars at Mina. As permitted for women, children, the weak or the ill and their caretakers to leave Muzdalifah for Mina after midnight of 9th Dhul Hijjah; jurist have also issued a legal opinion allowing even able-bodied pilgrims to leave Muzdalifah, after midnight, for Mina. This is to ease the movement of pilgrims in their huge numbers in one direction; to perform the same activity within a given period. Were it not for this legal opinion, the situation is better imagined if all the pilgrims were restrained from proceeding to Mina from Muzdalifah on 9th Dhul Hijjah.
We arrived at Mina in the early hours of Tuesday August 21, 2018 which was 10th Dhul Hijjah; Big Sallah day. We stayed at Mina until 12th Dhul Hijjah when we returned to Mina. The set of tents assigned to us was the closest to the Jamrah site in Mina. The wash-hand basin where we performed ablution or brushed our teeth was gold-plated. Someone was so sarcastic about it that he said it was better than the best dish used for serving food at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja. The concluding part of this serialized piece comes up next week, insha Allah.