We went to Arafah by bus from Minna on 9.9.2018 to perform wukuf. We took the bus in the morning and reach arafah around 9.00 am ..
Wukuf is stopping or being in the field of Arafah at a certain time (9 Dzulhijjah between Zhuhur and Magrib) with the intention of worshiping Allah SWT.
Wukuf in Arafah formally begins when the time of the noon prayer has arrived. It starts with the Zhuhur and Asar prayers (Jama 'Qasr) and is followed by the Arafah sermon by Khatib. Extended later with prayer, can be together or alone.
I suffered from vaginal discharge problem. Vaginal discharge is considered as unclean and invalidate ablution. The problem is prayers and tawaf should be performed in a state of ablution. Luckily, back in Malaysia we have been taught what to do with this problem. The discharge will not invalidate the ablution if it is remain inside the vagina and does not flow.
So the ustazah teach all the women to do sempal technique. Sempal technique is basically squating down and inserting sempal or cotton ball firmly at the vagina entrance to prevent the discharge from flowing. And if the cotton ball appears move then most likely the discharge have flow and your solat/tawaf already invalidate and you have to repeat it.
I bring a lot of cotton ball due to my problems. And my hajj journey is quite tough because of it. I went to the toilet before every prayers to clean my vagina from discharge and insert new sempal (cotton ball) firmly. This is quite tough because the toilet is not many and the queue is quite long. So i spend quite a lot of time line up for toilet during my hajj .. haha. I takes about 1 hour of queuing everytime .. so i took this time to communicate with fellow hujaj waiting for the toilet.
However, one of the way Allah swt teaches me about my whole life and how and what to do with it is through my discharge problem and my sempal .. haha. As Imam Al Ghazali said, there is no absolute disadvantage.
As such, i have go to the toilet to urinate, change my sempal and take ablution before zuhr so that i can focus on worship completely during the time of wukuf. The time of wukuf is starting from zuhr until maghrib. The time from asr to maghrib is the peak time of wukuf. Our mutawif informed us, when the time of zuhr start, Allah swt will descend from the arasy (throne) to the heaven and when time of asr start, Allah swt will descend from the heaven to the heaven of the world. Our mutawif told us to pray alone to Allah swt in an open space during the peak time of the wukuf. For information, there are seven heavens and the lowest heaven is heaven of the world. During wukuf, the sun rays are a little hot and very bright white color. Look at my picture on top, the sun rays outside the tent is very bright white light.
Please note "Al-Baidhawi (one of the Ahlussunnah figures) said 'When it is certain with the indisputable arguments (qath'i) that Allah is the Most Holy from the physical nature (jismiyah) and the nature of the limits (tahayyuz), then it is not possible for the word down to mean movement from one place to another lower place.
Once arrived to Arafah, i really try to serve /help my elderly roomate as best as i could because i know Allah swt will reward me generously and instantaneously too. I bring her to the toilet, carry her umbrella and shoes, help shading her from the sun by holding the umbrella for her while waiting for her turn to use the toilet etcetras .. etceteras .. hihi. For information, the line to the toilet in Arafah is quite long, everybody want to defecate / urinate and take wudhu (ablution) before the time of wukuf starts. And the line for wudhu in ablution area is also quite long. So you have to line up twice (for toilet and for ablution) in very long queue under the sun.
True enough, when i want to use the toilet.. the toilet queue is very short. Only four people in front of me. And i did not even have to line up for my wudhu. Alhamdullilah ..
We performed the Zuhr and Asr prayers (Jamak Qasr) and prayed and recited dhikr together until the time of Asr. During the Jamak prayers, i saw a very tall man standing at the opening of the tent in front. He is very tall, reaching to the top of the tent door opening (roughly 9 feet) and he is watching us praying. However, i can only watched his face silhouette, his face features is not clear. I want to take picture but could not because i am in the middle of the zuhr prayer lead by the imam. Look at my picture on top, the guy i saw watching us prayer stand at that tent opening but he is very tall and reach up to the top of the tent opening. I told Macik Ima (one of my roomate during hajj) and she says what i saw is an angel .. huuu .. so happy. Alhamdullilah ..
There is a history stating, the presence of angels in the sky came down to watch the pilgrims standing in Arafah. Allah says in the hadith of Qudsi to His angels meaning: "Look at the people who visit My House, indeed they have visited Me, until it is tangled and full of dust." (Narrated by al-Hakim from Abu Hurairah). Indeed, they are sincere in performing the pilgrimage, therefore they are entitled to an abundance of bounties and I should give them the best reward for their hard work and response to My call.
Once the Asr time start, we left the tent and sat in the open area to pray by ourselves. I read my prayer i have written during Hari Tarwiyah in Minna (Refer to My Hajj Story 8.9 -14.9.2018 Part 1 - Hari Tarwiyah)
