So after our pilgrims had a comfortable rest in their air conditioned tents with proper beds, okay so I am exaggerating, they probably spent all day and all night praying. And you know the Islamic prayer, we don't sit and pray, No! No!, we stand, bow, prostrate,stand, bow .... repeatedly. If you still don't get my meaning, let me show you in pics.
We stand for Allah
We bow for Allah
We prostrate for Allah. (pics from bbc)
We do it very humbly as if he is standing right in front and above us. People back in the days, would bow and prostrate to Kings. If you could do it to a fellow Human being out of respect and fear, why not humble yourself even more to the one who created you, your world, the universe and who drives it. It is a beautiful and rewarding experience.
So tomorrow, October 25th our pilgrims leave Mina just after dawn and are going to the plains of Mt.Arafat.Here they spend the whole day near the mountain of mercy, asking for Allah's forgiveness and help. Muslims all around the world who are not performing the Hajj, join them in spirit by fasting for the day.
Centuries later people are still responding to prophet Ibrahim's (Abraham) calling.
Mt.Arafat is where Prophet Ibrahim (AS) stood to call the people to Hajj upon God's command, after he completed building the first structure of Ka'bah, that's the black box you see centered in the Mecca mosque, it was the first mosque to be built in Mecca, before Prophet Mohammed's time.
(Ka'bah)
After Sunset, the pilgrims travel to a nearby open plain called Muzdalifah, which is located between Arafat and Mina. Here they spend the night praying and collecting small stones to be used the following day. I am posting this early. So we are all fasting tomorrow? Yes?
I leave you with these hadith quotes on Day 2....
The Prophet(Peace Be Upon Him) said: "There is no day on which Allah frees more of his slaves from fire than the Day of Arafat, and He verily draws near, then boasts of them before the angels, saying: "What do they seek?" (Sahih Muslim)
In another hadith: "Verily Allah boasts of the people of Arafat before the angels in Heaven saying: "Look to my servants who have come to me disheveled and dusty.""
Asalam-O-Alaiakum! How are you all? Well, I must say that the services were really good, but the guidance was not as great as it should be. We had some issue in Makkah, when we were doing Tawaf, due to the misguidance of the staff members, although the other things were really good. Hajj umrah packages
ReplyDeleteWaaleykum Salaam. I hope everyone is okay. I wish they had some kind of feedback forms for the pilgrims, we have much to tell them.
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