We leave Muzdalifah around 2 am in the morning on the 10th Dzulhijjah to mabit in Mina during 10 -13 Dzulhijjah and complete the throwing of the Jamarat. The throwing of the Jamarat also known as Stoning of the Devil must during days of tasyrik on 11,12 and 13 Dzulhijjah
We were among the first to move to Mina and as soon as I arrived in Mina, I immediately took a shower before Mina was crowded with other pilgrims. It will be difficult to get the shower once all the pilgrims settled in Mina given the small number of toilets.
The toilet and shower share the same narrow cubicle. The shower head is on the slight edge of the toilet hole. The toilet in Mina has no flush, we just pour water to clean it. However, we did not encounter any clogged toilet problems possibly because the toilets are built on desert soil. I shower carefully so that my feet or my belongings such as toothbrush, soap and slipper don’t fall in the toilet pit.
The most challenging part of Hajj to me will be mabit in Muzdalifah and mabit in Mina.
Throwing at jamrah is carried out according to a schedule that has been arranged by KSA. The turn of the Malaysian pilgrims is in the evening around 5pm every day.
So during the day, the pilgrims are quite free. In my tent, some pilgrims spent their times sharing stories and laugh while others reading the quran and do zikr to fill the time.
Since I have vaginal discharge problems, i need to go to the toilet at every prayer time to clean the discharge and insert a new sempal (cotton balls) to prevent the discharge from leaking, before taking ablution and performing prayers.
As such, i spent a lot of time in Mina queuing to use the toilet specifically queuing before jamak zuhr and asr prayer, before jamak maghrib and isya prayer and before subuh prayer. Each time i spent almost 1 hour in total queuing for the toilet and afterwards queuing for ablution. I socialize with other congregations during this time hahaha ..
So during my stay in Mina, i have to continously practice patience and think well of destiny, Allah swt and my fellow congregations.
Once I got lost and couldn’t get back to my tent. This is because I have gone to check toilets in several other areas in hopes of finding a place where not too many pilgrims line up to use the toilets. Of course, all toilets are packed and i settled in one of the area and finish my business. Unfortunately, i don't know how to get back to my tent. I strayed too far haha..
After getting lost and went to and fro to find my way back, I saw a young lady pilgrim sitting in a wheelchair outside a tent in the dark (i was lost until night time) and asked her how to get back to my tent in Maktab 78. She chuckled and told me to go out to the main road outside the maktab and start walking back to my Maktab 78 by looking at the Maktab numbers at the main entrance of each maktab.
I really feel grateful to the young lady at the same time feel guilty because in the previous night, i have seen seemingly lost old lady sitting in a wheelchair in the toilet area near my tent in the dark for quite some time and i did not do anything. It will be very troublesome to help sending back the lady in these oceans of tent huuu ... may Allah swt forgive me for being selfish. Astaghfirullah hal azim ... uuu
My husband outside our Maktab ie at Maktab 78 entrance. Maktab 78 house several pilgrim groups staying in a few tents. Male and females stay in separate tents.
The road outside the Maktab link several Maktab entrance according to numbers which is organized in sequence.
There are stalls selling colorful stones, clothes and food on the road side. I buy two sets of colorful stones from these stalls on 11th Dzulhijjah. The ruby stones sets i bought for SR100 and the blue amethyst stones for SR 50
Outside the tent, a fridge housing 200 ml ice cold water is available for taking. A pilgrim getting ice cold water outside the tent. The orange flag is where my tent is ie Felda Group Travel and Tours
Apart from ice water, we also got plenty of fruits such ie apples, bananas and oranges, desserts, biscuits, muffins, instant cup noodles (may be all these from sadaqah .. i am not sure). Anyway .. i love all the fruits, biscuits and muffins but not very much on the cup noodles.
We have to bring our instant coffee and mug from Mecca (prepared by our travel group). This is not provided in Mina.
Hot water is available from the pipes located near the Maktab main entrance. Every morning, i went to get the hot water from the hot water pipes to make my cup of instant coffee
The food is also one of my fondest memories of Mina. I love the fruits, biscuits and muffins. But the main course (the pack meals for lunch and dinner) .. will make you feel full within just two spoonful because of the tastelessness .. hahaha. It is very bland and tasteless. But this is Hajj ..this is the time to practice good thoughts, practice being grateful and practice no complaining. And these good traits must be maintain throughout our lifetime.
One time, i just opened my dinner which is rice, long beans and meat cooked in soy sauce. Meat cooked in soy sauce is literally just soy sauce watered over the meat and the grease from the meat float in the sauce in 1 minutes after i opened the packed dinner ...huuuu. This dinner, i cannot swallow hahaha . My elderly roomates also cannot stomach the pack meals and forever making instant curry noodles. She said its delicious .. delicious .. mmmm. The curry cup noodles also tasteless .. so i end up eating a lot of biscuits and muffin (i have sweet tooth hihi)
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| Food from the road side stalls (my husband bought it) - some buns and samosa |
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Blue amethyst and ruby stones .. which i custom made into a silver ring and silver bracelet in the jewellery shop once i return to Malaysia. The bracelet cost RM850.00 and ring cost RM450.00 |
The more expensive hajj package (the RM50 k package), performed nafar awwal. Nafar Awwal is a Hajj pilgrim who leaves "early" to leave Mina on 12 Zulhijjah before sunset (entering the time of Maghrib Prayer) after meeting certain conditions and not to return to spend the night in Mina during the Hajj season this time.
My group (the medium package group costing RM30 k ++) performed nafar thani. Nafar Thani is where the Hajj pilgrims who come out “late” to leave Mina on 13 Zulhijjah after completing the Hajj practices in Mina on 10, 11, 12, and 13 Zulhijjah.
In Mina, the sleeping space is very cramped and we sleep at 10.30pm (after completing our personal business such as urinating, brushing teeth etc) and got up at 3.00am to get ready for the dawn prayers.
Additionally, most pilgrims does not take shower because of the long queue for the toilets. We only cleans our private parts and brush our teeth. Shower will takes long time and cause other pilgrims who are queuing to wait too long. During my stay in Mina, i only take two shower and the rest is just cleaning my private parts, my face and my teeth. I review my definition of cleanliness as free from feces /excrement hahaha. Previously, my definition of cleanliness involve long shower, shampoo, facial cleansing etc ..etc ..etc.
As such, we are exhausted in Mina uuuu. In one of the religious talks conduct by our Mutawif (during our free time), one of our group member (i believe she is either the Datin or the doctor hihi) queried why are we not allowed to performed Nafar Awwal and leaves Mina early. I was like ..yes Nafar Awwal please (only in my heart of course). Then, our mutawif loses his temper. He inform us sternly that 3 days in Mina (11,12 and 13 Dzul Hijjah) is better than being in Masijidil Haram. Oo .. i did not know that.
Our mutawif has been trying to be patience with us since day 1 of our hajj .. my groups complaints a lot .. hihi. Even me become curious, did they forget that we are on hajj, there are certain conducts we must observed during hajj. However, everyone has their own spiritual journey and i do not know what their story is. Each of us will received our own enlightenment at the end of the journey, which is designed specifically for our needs. That is the beauty of Omra /Hajj .. it is personal teaching/learning from Allah swt to each individual pilgrim.
