Lesson learnt in Mina - Hajj Part 6

I was totally exhausted from the long walk, and also I had some pain to my legs. The next morning, my husband asked me whether I’m okay to precede with the ritual or whether I wanted to proxy him to do it on my behalf. I told him that I would let him know later.

Since there were not many activities during the day, I was able to recuperate and ready to go for the stoning ritual myself. After the Magrib’s prayer, I waited for the announcement. This time, I brought with me my chair that I have been using for prayer.

I gave the chair to my husband who helped to carry it without much complaint. Since we know our way to the place, we didn't bother to follow our group. We took our own sweet time to reach the Jamrah. Just like the previous night, we again took a break, and this time, we have chair that we can sit on when we took a break. We took turned to sit. 
  
This time, we brought twenty one stones as we need to throw seven stones to each Jamrah. The first Jamrah is Jamrah Ula, followed by Jamrah Wusta and lastly Jamrah Kubrah. After that we said dua before we headed home.

This routine was similar on the 11, 12 but on the 13th Hijrah, instead of after Maghrib’s we have to do it in the morning after the Subuh’s prayer. Whoa… I was worried as I might not have enough time to recover, but I prayed hard so that I can continue with the ritual.

Alhamdulillah, when the time comes, I was able to go and continue with the stoning of the devil ritual. But this time, my hubby forgot to carry his water, and on the way back, we had run out of water.

As we took a break and watched people passing by, suddenly out of nowhere, a guy came and distributes free mineral water. We were so grateful, and my hubby took two bottles from him.

When we reached our camp, we can't wait to go back to Mecca, but we have to wait for the announcement for our turn. When it was our turn to leave, a fully air-conditioned bus, which was meant for the al-Maas package (this package cost RM125, 000) stopped and took us back to Mecca. We happily boarded the bus, and on the way back, we saw most of the pilgrims have already made their way back to Mecca.

The short journey, 7.5Km, took more than 3 hours as the traffic jam was very bad. When we reached Mecca, the road leading to our hotel was closed as people already getting ready to pray. The bus driver dropped us near the hotel, and we have to walk back to the hotel. Luckily it was not that far.

Once we reached the room, the first thing that we do was rush for is the bathroom. Everybody took her time to shower, and after performing the Zuhur’s prayer, we headed to the restaurant for lunch, and then laundry mart.

When I looked back, the experience in Arafat, Mudzalifah and Mina, cannot be replaced. It was very precious as it thought me the meaning of being patient, tolerance and humble. It also made me realize that, in Mina, everybody is equal, whether you are Prime Minister, CEO, Datuk, Datin, Doctor or just a poor farmer.


I would stop here and would continue with the last two rituals before one can be called Haji or Hajjah.