The day of wuquf in the plains of Arafah

The haj is one huge task of marshaling a band of disparate travelers from a diverse age group, divergent social standing who come complete with the myriad human mind about what each wants in life, out of life. The telling of this major task in package tourism management with a difference – redemption and religion is its critical consideration – will be kept for later. Now what is worth the immediacy is the successful completion of the wuquf and of the award of the honorific Haji to one’s name.

Everyone who returns will be entitled to be called a Haji but there will be those who are loathed to be addressed that way. Its all to do with the concept of mabroor – the haj that is accepted by Allah. To answer that we have to ask ourselves why do we go to great lengths to undertake this odyssey in the first place. It is an odyssey for most pilgrims will have to take at least a month off to make the trip. This is more because of a question of airline frequency, flight schedules and airport capacity than one’s professional or private calendar.

The haj ritual itself takes a mere five days to complete. It begins with preparations to be present in Arafah on the 8th of Zulhijjah to prepare for Wukuf on the 9th and then for the Stoning of the Devil ritual on the 10th, 11th and 12th Zulhijjah. There is also the part where the pilgrim has to retun to Mekah for the tawaf (circumambulation round the Kaabah) and saei which takes a matter of hours – at peak periods, to complete.

The location of the pilgrimage site to Mekah is down to the placement of the Kaabah, which is the house of God. It is not a house where God actually lives but that it was the first structure commanded to be built since the days of Adam for man to worship to before a single diety. Through the ages the Kaabah went through many evolution until the time of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), his wife Siti Hajar and their son Ismail.

We all learnt of Prophet Ibrahim’s absolute faith in the word of Allah that he was ready to carry out the command to slaughter Ismail – the young lad himself having agreed to submit himself, and lose his neck. But just as the deed was about to be carried out, a fresh command was transmitted through the angels which replaced the command to the slaughter of sheep – hence the ritual slaughter of livestock that is the signature of Eid Qorban or Eid Adha.

So Malaysians who celebrate Eid Adha on Tuesday will celebrate this holy day with greater understanding of the significance of the ritual slaughter.

Here in the holy land, the ritual slaughter takes place on each of the three days of tasyreeq with pilgrims opting to undertake the task in Mina where they are encamped for the whole of the three days.

In the past, the slaughter scale was so massive and the meat so abundant that so much of it went to waste. That was until the IDB, the Islamic Development Bank decided that enough was – not enough! They decided to supervise the ritual slaughter, gather the meat and use modern logistical methods to distribute the meat to the muslim communities where it is most needed. In this case the meat is packed and sent to countries like Somalia, Pakistan or Bangladesh where there are sizeable muslim populations who are always in want of something.

For the 1.3 million foreigners from 188 nations who made this journey of a lifetime, they would have earned the right to add the honorific haji to their name, signifying that they indeed have made this demanding journey and performed all the requisite rituals.

This involved performing the minor haj (umrah) upon setting foot in Makkah for the first time (there are two alternative ways to sequence the performance of the minor haj that gives the choice either to doi it simultaneously or consecutively), and waiting for the moment on the 9th of Zulhijjah (which was on Monday 14 October) to be present in Arafah.

Now that this ritual is completed, we will move on to Mudzalifah tonight (14 October) at the appropriate hour (deemed to be 30 minutes before midnight where we will make a brief stopover to pick up 49 tiny pebbles for the Stoning of the Devil ritual in Mina on the three days of tasyreek. So you see, there’s still four days of the haj ahead for us to negotiate.

For the media team, we will head to Mekah after making the brief compulsory stop in Mudzalifah and head for the Kaabah where we will proceed with the tawaf and sa’ei after which we will opt to shave our heads bald for the tahlul ritual. That would be Tuesday morning when Malaysians would be feasting on lemang and ketupat as well as rending as they celebrate idul adha. For pilgrims, there’s no celebrating on any festive scale as there’s still three days of tasyreeq left to observe the Stoning the Devil ritual.

In fact Tuesday morning for those pilgrims who opted to come direct to Mekah after the wuquf, it will be a quiet Eid Adha prayer fro them in Masjidil Haram, unlike the elaborate ceremonies in Malaysia with its feasting and open houses now a common feature.

So there is still some way to go yet before I come back to work – with sharp spikes sprouting from my shaved head – for I intend to observe the tahlul requirement to the maximum standard - a reminder for all to where I have been nearly two months away from the office.

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