Mina Things to Do

The three days after Eid is called Ayam Al Tashreeg.
A pilgrim has an option of staying at mina in all three days,or just at the first two.
We chose to go back to Jiddah a day earlier and then return again to Makka after few days , to preform Tawaf Al Wada`a (Farewell Tawaf)...when Makka`s grand mosque is less crowded.

On the first day,usually right after noon prayers,til sunset,we should do a symbolic ritual of stoning the devil (used to be marked by a pilar,but now the place is an oval shaped terrace in the ground with a concrete wall cutting the oval in half).
And it has three levels as it is the most crowded place in Hajj and where most death accidents happen...that`s why now it is permitted to stone the devil even before noon prayers,or later at midnight(this is what we did)in order to escape the crowd.

MARK MY WORDS:DO NOT GO AT NOON,YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO SURVIVE!!!
Also go to the Jamarat site as light as possible,take ONLY the pebbles with you,if you drop anything,simply ANYTHING,just leave it,no matter how expensive it is,if you bend down,you might be stamped by others!

There are three places to do this practice,they are called:
(to be continued)....

Unlike Muslims all over the world,Eid al Ad-ha is less celebrated among Saudies,specially locals living next to Makka...for that the government is usually busy with the pilgrims.

This time when I went to Hajj,I was extermely delighted to celebrate Hajj eid,it had a whole new meaning,by taking a shower and ending our Ihram(check Mina page for Islamic expressions translation).

I slept at 8:30am of Eid day....The camp orgnisers offerd us cookies and indian delights called Laddo(very common in Makka area).
The story behind Eid ul Ad`ha:

{Muslims believe that God revealed in a dream to Ibrahim (Prophet Abraham) to sacrifice his son Isma’il. Ibrahim and Isma’il set off to Mina for the sacrifice. As they went, the devil attempted to persuade Ibrahim to disobey God and not to sacrifice his beloved son. But Ibrahim stayed true to God, and drove the devil away. As Ibrahim prepared to sacrifice his son, God stopped him and gave him a sheep to sacrifice instead.(copy right: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eid_ul-Adha)}

The night before Arafat day(the most important day of Hajj)we slept early to prepare ourselves for the big day.
(check Arafat page).
We left Mina early in the morning 7:30am in the bus towards Arafa.
Reached Arafa at 11:00am,then at 5:30 PM we left Arafa towards Muzdalifa.
Leaving Arafa to Muzdalifa is called Al Nafra,and usually it`s the most tiring journey,although it`s a very close by area,but because it`s too crowded a journey could take up to 6 hours or in worst cases 12 hours....we were super lucky,we reached Muzdalifa at 7:30PM.
Stayed in Muzdalifa until midnight Then left to Makka,did our Tawaf al ifadda and sa`ee Al Hajj,then headed back to Mina,we were minutes ahead of other pilgrims,so we finished everything ahead of schedual,I even went with my husband to throw the stones (Jamarat al Aqaba al Kobra)at 7:00am,it was literally empty....
came back to Mina camp,had a shower (Tahalol al asghar)and slept like a baby at 8:00am(more than 24 hours awake).

Al Tarwiyya day is the day before Arafat day...pilgrims in the old days used to stay one night before Arafat to gather water,that`s why it`s called tarwiyya.

It`s on the 8th day of Zul Hijja Month.
My husband and I choose to go to directly to the camp,while some other pilgrims chose to go to Makkah to preform Tawaf al Kodoom and Sa`ee Al Hajj.
I found going striaght to Mina is better,so you can choose the sleeping area that is best for you.

It is necessary for you to wear an Ihram before you enter Mina, during your Hajj.
These are two pieces of unsewn cloths wrapped around the lower and upper parts of your body.
as you can see in the pic its simple but effective and brings you back to the basics!
You can bring a bag with you containing your sleeping bag and some or necessary stuff.
Be sure to bring some chocolate or muesli bars and bottles of water as you will certainly need this!