Wednesday 10 April 2013

The Pinnacle Part (2)

....hari sudah beransur gelap bila kami sampai untuk bermabit di Muzdalifah, jarak antara Arafah dan Muzdalifah adalah lebihkurang 7 kilometer. Padang luas itu masih kosong kerana kami adalah antara jemaah yang awal tiba di situ.  Hubby and I chose a site a bit further in quite near to the fence to sit for part of the night but later realized our mistake when the time comes for us to leave.... as the night progressed more and more pilgrims arrived and soon enough the field was packed to the brim.  Mula-mula tu tolong jugak hubby cari anak-anak batu untuk dibuat melontar  di Mina nanti tetapi dengan keadaan padang yang semakin sesak dengan jemaah I gave up (actually letih and nak pejamkan mata sekejap) and leave it to hubby to collect the rest of the pebbles...ngepek jugok orang tuo tu hehe..

Di luar pagar di atas jalanraya berduyun-duyun jemaah dari Indonesia berjalan kaki ke arah Mina...meriah jugak suasana ketika itu melihat mereka berarak ramai-ramai sambil melambai-lambai tangan ke arah jemaah Malaysia.  Punyalah susah hendak keluar bila tiba masa untuk tinggalkan Muzdalifah, terpaksa langkah kaki dan belakang jemaah lain untuk sampai ke tempat menunggu bas.  We should have sat nearer to the entrance to make our exit easier. 

Suasana di Muzdalifah dan gambar ini diambil oleh hubby dan kebetulan jemaah wanita ini berpaling dan senyum ke arah kami semasa gambar diambil...tidak ada gambar lain untuk menggambarkan suasana bermabit di Muzdalifah so have to put up this one, hope whoever she is don't mind :)

Jarak antara Muzdalifah ke Mina lebihkurang 6.9 kilometer, kali ni khemah di Mina ada air con dan lantai ada carpet tetapi air con tidak berfungsi dengan baik mungkin banyak sangat debu yang melekat dalamnya.  What could one expect when the tents here are only in use once a year during the haj season. 




At Mina my room mates and I were allocated a patch of space at one end of the tent far away from the entrance and going in and out was not an easy task... where one has to nimbly stepped over bags, legs and heads of others who are resting/sleeping like in the picture I took above.

Mujurlah semasa di Mina 'the call of nature' boleh dikawal dan tidak terasa sangat nak ke tandas.  Beratur panjang setiap kali ke tandas adalah amalan biasa untuk semua jemaah lebih-lebih lagi kena berkongsi penggunaan tandas dengan jemaah Thailand.  Saya perhati dia orang ni (jemaah Thai) suka sangat membasuh pakaian dan mandi walaupun tahu masa terhad untuk semua.  Tandas untuk jemaah lelaki Malaysia pun mereka ceroboh masuk hinggakan keluar satu pengumuman daripada seorang ustazah TH untuk semua jemaah wanita menutup aurat dengan sempurna semasa ke tandas kerana ada seorang jemaah lelaki yang sudah dot dot dot.... hehe. 


Suasana di Jamrah Qubra pada  10 Zulhijjah 1433/26 Oktober2012

Malam 10 Zulhijjah tu selepas  solat jamak tamam untuk maghrib dan  isyak jemaah KT 01 - KT 05  dibawa melontar untuk pertama kalinya di Jamratul Qubro, jamrah yang paling besar sekali.  Terdahulu semasa di Makkah taklimat telah diberi oleh petugas TH  dan  ditetapkan jemaah KT 01 - KT 05 buat Nafar Awal kerana penerbangan pertama pulang ke tanah air ialah pada 15 Zulhijjah/31 Oktober 2012 dan hanya perlu berada di Mina dua malam sahaja sebelum kembali ke Makkah pada 12 Zulhijjah untuk tawaf dan sa'ei haji. 

 Kaki hubby yang bengkak semasa di Arafah sudah surut sikit so dengan langkah yang tidak berapa cepat kami ikut rombongan ke jamrah.... I am such a slow coach when it comes to walking and could not keep up with the others who were really testing their speed walking.  Soon enough the man carrying the flag up front was lost to our sight, and we found ourselves walking in the midst of the Indonesian pilgrims and I think we walked about 20 - 25 minutes to reach the jamrah.  When we reached it most of the other pilgrims had already cast their pebbles at the jamrah pillar and leaving the area.  Kami buat tahallul awal malam itu dengan menggunting rambut sikit dan terlepaslah 10 larangan daripada 13 larangan berihram.  Ada dua pasangan room mates kami yang terus ke Makkah selepas melontar pada malam itu untuk selesaikan tawaf dan saei haji...mereka masih muda dan bertenaga so tidak ada masalah buat begini lebih-lebih lagi untuk jemaah wanita yang bimbang kut kut datang bulan kerana hendak tawaf kena berada dalam keadaan suci.  Yang lain seperti kami akan tunggu sehingga 12 Zulhijjah untuk selesaikan rukan haji ini di Makkah.  Perjalanan balik ke khemah daripada jamrah terasa amat jauh kerana kena lalui dua terowong kali ini.

 I cannot remember how long we walked and felt so relieved when at last I saw the white tips of the tent and the lights of Mina approaching my view.  It was only after 11 pm that night when I finally dropped my weary body and sore feet to have a bit of rest and sleep before waking up again around 3 am the next morning  to prepare for Subuh prayers and to face the long walk again to the jamrah to cast pebbles at all the three jamrah pillars this time.  It was quite refreshing having to walk to the jamrahs in the early morning but walking back to the tents when the sun is already up  is another matter.  That morning while I was casting the pebbles at Jamratul Ula  a sound of many running feet and loud shouts/screams  came from behind, it was a group of Indon pilgrims with orange scarves flying around their necks running up to the jamrah pillar and started to push and shoved their way roughly into the crowd, men and women alike screaming at the top of their voices and violently hurled the pebbles as if  hurling the pebbles at the syaitan itself.  I managed to push/shoved my way out of the wild crowd unharmed. It was disgusting they way they behaved maybe their ustaz back home taught them that's the correct way to stone the devil.

The long walk back to the tent with the sun getting hotter by the minute was exhausting and the soles of my feet was burning and I was dragging my feet most of the time, hubby's swollen toe started to give him trouble too maybe from all the walking the night before.  I really need to rest my aching and burning feet for a while when hubby caught sight of 3 Afghan pilgrims sitting and having an animated conversation on a mat by the roadside and asked their permission to let me sit for a while on their mat.  They graciously let hubby and I sit and we caught snippets of their conversations...tak faham apa yang dia orang cakap tapi ada dengar mereka sebut Amerika, Amerika dalam perbualan mereka itu.  Kebetulan saya ada bawa bekalan biskut dan sebagai tanda terima kasih hulur bungkusan biskut kepada mereka walaupun pada mula-mulanya mereka menolak tapi akhirnya terima jugak.  We limped back to our tents in Mina after making several short stops in the tunnels to rest our aching feet past 10 am.

The next morning the 12th of Zulhijjah was our last day in Mina and we were already informed by TH to be ready to leave for Makkah at 10 am.  I was worried if we can make it back to camp from the jamrah at the stated time.  However that morning I felt a certain vigour and after completing the ritual of  casting the stones at the three jamrahs and saying our doas  we quickly leave the place and I don't know where I got the extra energy and just quickened my steps and Alhamdulillah managed to reach camp way before 10 am..

...and it was there in Mina the significance and the whole of the haj rituals dawned upon me what real sacrifice means for the One and Only Almighty.

2 comments:

Al-Manar said...

Indeed it is the mother of all journeys.

naniasda said...

You sum it up correctly Pakcik Al-Manar, all other journeys elsewhere paled compared to this ultimate journey.

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