Hajj 2012 - 4

MINA: Day 3 of our journey/10^thof Dhul-Hajj month of the Islamic Calendar:

In reality, we returned to our hotel room in Makkah and snatched a little sleep before dawn. After the Fajr prayers, we proceeded to go to Mina, which is about 2 km away. Just ahead of Mina is the “Jamarat” or the place where the three “devils” are located. Before I describe this, let me say that stoning of the three devils is a ritual more to remember and praise Allah than to actually denounce the devils.

The route to Jamarat goes through a tunnel that is over a kilometer long. This tunnel was full of devotees right in the morning; only police and emergency vehicles are allowed to pass (and some motorcycles, which had one Saudi and one pilgrim … a private arrangement where the Saudi earns some quick bucks). We also saw several guys with wheel-chairs for hire; they ferried the willing pilgrims to Mina for 50 Saudi Riyals. However, theirs is an illegal enterprise, and we frequently saw the police blocking them and asking the pilgrims to “disembark”. However, the thing I wish to say is … the road to Mina, and beyond, to the Jamarat, is easily traversed as you are walking with hundreds of others. We went past the tunnel, and via a busy but narrow road, we finally reached Mina. 

A view of Mina with cloth tents in the distance

This is a town that sports thousands of tents, where Hajj pilgrims must stay for at least two nights, the 11^th and the 12^th of Dhul-Hajj month (more on this later). Past the bustling town of Mina, one reaches a huge building complex that has the huge stone columns that represent the three devils. 

The pilgrims proceeding towards the Jamarat

The four-storey complex is reached from different directions, and all the upper floors are centrally air-conditioned. The “devils” are tall columns of stone that start at the ground floor and are identical in shape and size through all the upper floors. You pass the “small” devil first, then the middle one and finally the “large” one. Today, the ritual required one to just stone the large devil. Hence, we went past the first two columns and launched seven stones, one after the other, reciting “Allah-o-Akbar” with each throw of a stone, at the stone column before us.

Throwing stones at the "large" devil

This ritual hardly took five minutes. Thereafter, if one can, one must “sacrifice” an animal. I had pre-arranged for the sacrifice to be done in Mumbai through my family, so there was nothing to be done here. However, some of my colleagues went to designated counters and paid a pre-set amount of Riyals (450 per person, I think) to register their sacrifice. Thus, the pilgrim himself/herself does not actually knife the animal. It is done by the Saudi governmental agency, and the meat is distributed among the needy people in several countries where deprived people stay (usually among Muslims).

After the sacrifice, the males among us went to shave our heads, but found the salons full. Eventually, we returned to the hotel, prayed the afternoon salah, and went to the barber nearby and got tonsured by about 4:00 p.m.

Leaving the Jamarat and proceeding towards the Holy Mosque

Once this is done, you may remove the special two-piece garment that you had to compulsorily wear for the previous two and a half days (the ehram). This done (I changed into a tee-shirt and a pair of loose trousers), I went to the Holy Mosque to perform the second set of seven circumambulations … this is the Tawaaf-e-ziyarat, and it is mandatory to perform this.

This done, I then proceeded with some of my colleagues, to go back to Mina to spend the night. This ritual is also one of the mandatory ones. Spending the night at Mina and praying through it is a requirement that must be fulfilled or a sacrifice has to be done in lieu of it. My partner for this venture was Dr. Naheed’s husband, Mr. Faisal. We reached Mina at a little later than 10 p.m. The roads were full of several illegal pilgrims like us who had brought with them cheap plastic floor-spreads and various other types of material on which to sit or sleep. As we had none of these things, we picked up some old water-bottle cartons, opened them up to make a “mat” for ourselves, and found a place on the road where we would stay for as long as possible.

It wasn’t easy, as the police came again and again and forced the people to get up and leave. A police jeep with the worst possible sirens would arrive, and the man within would use a loud-speaker to ask people to get up. Along with this jeep, there would descend on the crowd several young and brash policemen (probably in their late teens or early twenties) and they would wake up sleeping pilgrims or stir those already awake and ask them to leave. I decided to argue with one of these with rationality: where do they expect the thousands of us to go. When he replied that there were tents where we could go, I reminded him that the tents were for those who had come legally, and in any case, there was no place in Mina to set up tents for so many others! Also, I questioned their basic step of trying to clear a road that, in any case, was out of bounds for all vehicles! He seemed to understand my broken Arabic, and after a few more futile attempts, the police left.

Faisal and I stayed until about 1:00 a.m., then we left to return to our hotel back in Makkah. Soon, I went to sleep till about half past one. After this, we got up, dusted ourselves, and walked back to the hotel to await the morning of the 11^th day of Dhul Hajj.

Day 77, Tuesday, 31st January, 2012: On to a brief outing

Today, on the last day of January, which, incidentally, is also Nishrin's birthday (her first one when I am not with her in person), I set off on a 3 1/2 day outing. I had already applied for a day's leave for Wednesday, 1st February 2012, but I had to put a fresh paper before the medical director for the early departure today. Dr. Niaz had arranged for a car to take us both to Ta'if, where he had to visit the Muderiya to collect his passport (he is flying to Pakistan within the next 36 hours), while I wanted to return the monies I had borrowed from a few doctors working at the Children's Hospital here, and also, to transfer some money to my NRI account from my balance in the Al Rajhi bank. Thus, after Niaz had completed his work at the Muderiya, the car driver took us to Shubra street, where I did the money transfer and went to the Children's Hospital to hand over the money to two doctors I had taken the money from. After this, I was also supposed to go to the Al Ahlia Insurance company to submit an application for my medical malpractice insurance, but I could not do this as Dr. Niaz suddenly dropped a bombshell: he had to drop his idea of going today for the Umrah and rush to Jeddah as his flight was for today evening from Jeddah.

He wanted to leave immediately, and I had no option but to go with him, as, otherwise, he would leave in the car and I would have to make independent arrangements to travel to Mecca etc. Thus, we left within a few minutes and he dropped me at the Mikaat (the place where I would tie my Ehram, pray at the mosque and go onward to Mecca to perform the Umrah). From here, I was on my own.

After the prayers and other formalities were done, I took a paid lift from a cab that was also going to Mecca and arrived at the Haram sharif around half past three in the afternoon. I left my luggage (the bag and a small handbag with my shoes) inside a paid locker (SR 10 for two hours) and then entered the Haram sharif. I performed the Umrah with true devotion, and did Tawwafs in my own name, as well as one each for Dad, Mom, Marhoom Mother, Nishrin, Inas, Hannah, Kaizar and his family, Murtuza and his family, all my neighbours from all the three places of my life-time (Bharmal House, Tankiwala Bldg and Meena Apartment), all the people who are my friends, all my patients, all my extended family, all my subordinates (people who have worked at my home, in my clinic, in Nishrin's parlour, my own and my children's teachers  in school and college, and an unnamed tawwaf for all the others who I missed naming in the previous tawwafs. I got immense satisfaction doing all these tawwafs. I cried many times as I remembered my entire life and the people who have moulded me in different ways through my life. After this, I began the walk of the Safa-Marwa, did the Maghrib prayers, and left the Haram at about 6:45 p.m. I picked up my luggage from the locker.

I went down the road past the Bin Dawood mall and, with the help of a Bangladeshi, searched for and moved into a small, non-nondescript hotel room for the night, paying SR 60 for the same. After a bath, I went down and walked back to the Haram to join the congregation for the Ishaa prayers. Thereafter, I went inside the bin-Dawood mall. It is a huge mall with four storeys. There are several eateries and ice-cream outlets, two full storeys of clothes shops, and several other shops too. I had a vegetarian fresh, hand-made pizza and tea (SR 15 + 2). When I left the mall, I saw something interesting: a lot of dark skinned women had laid out their wares outside the mall. They appeared to be Sudanese, and they were selling purses, trinkets, peanuts, pillow cases, and several other things. As I moved down the road, I encountered many more similar women going to join their other compatriots, with loads of stuff slung on their backs. It reminded me of the hawkers who descend on Mohammad Ali Road after 7:30 p.m. every single day in Mumbai. The thing is that all of them, every single one of them were black women ... not a single man was seen.

I returned to the hotel room by 10:00 p.m., sat watching a movie on Zee Aflam (Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon) and wrote this blog entry as well as the previous one, browsed my mails and surfed Facebook before deciding to go to bed by midnight.

P.S. I did remember to call Nishrin to wish her a Happy Birthday. The family was planning to go to Gaylord Restaurant (at Churchgate) for dinner.