The Hajj: Day Two

Day 2
Mina: The Day of Tarwiyah

(Mission for the day: Pray all the prayers in Mina, supplicate, remember God, continure to recite Talbiyah )

Did not get much sleep since we only got in late to Mina. The call for morning prayer woke us all up. Long lines formed at the bathrooms. There were four built toilets, and three portable ones. Why wasn’t anyone going to the portable ones? I did not bother to find out. There were about 10 sinks, where my dad and I brushed our teeth today. Some people were giving us bad stares, as if we should not be brshing our teeth because we are still in ihram. Thankfully, the lines at the toilets were not too long, so our turn came rather quickly. Coming back to the tent, I saw some people still asleep. In particular, I saw a rather cute young boy, all wrapped up in his white ihram, sleeping away ever so peacefully. There were also some adults who were snoring away.

After prayer, there was a lecture by our imam, who told us everything what Hajj would comprise of, giving a brief “what to do and what not to do” while in state of ihram. Due to the heavy Urdu being spoken, I began to drift off and went to sleep immediately. I guess when you are really tired, you are willing to sleep anywhere, even in a tent filled with 60 other men. The AC was off on our side, but was on the other side. The cool air blew all the way up into the slope of the tent, to the center, then down to our side.I remember breakfast being served, but I slept all the way through to the next prayer in the afternoon. Again, the whole process of lining up for the toilets, doing the ablution and praying in congregation. Still there were some people sleeping, including that young guy, I think he’s been sleeping for 24 hours now!

Lunch was served. Lunch surely made me appreciate the home-cooked meals a lot more. Goodness, I appreciate even my own cooking! Lunch was not spectacular, but it was important to remember that I was on Hajj, which is a time focused more the spirital aspect, and not worldly matters. So keeping that in mind, I did not mind eating the rice and under-cooked chicken. I guess I was not in a position to demand a vegetarian pizza or chicken fajitas!

I talked briefly with the guys who were sleeping next to me. One of them was a Pakistani who had come to Saudi Arabia from the UK. I over heard his strong British accent, and it somewhat annoyed me, But, being in a state of ihram, I had to learn to drop all my prejudices and learn to accept people for who they are. The other two guys were Pakistanis, who grew up in Jeddah, went to America and came back as born-again Muslims. They spoke with a typical American accent. We did not talk for long, but the little that we did talk, it was fun.

For the rest of the day in Mina, we prayed the other three prayers. My parents and I later took a small tour by foot of the city of Mina. It was a sight to see. Mina is the place where all the pilgrims come to stay the night on the first day of Hajj. I could very well imagine how close to a 3 million people were all in this city. It was filled with tents after tents. There were just so many people, I simpy could not grasp the sitation in its entirety. Tonight, I was prepared for the upcoming Hajj. Today was a relatively easy day, for we stayed in Mina and prayed the prayers. Tomorrow, we go to Arafat. There were also quite a few young enterprising Saudis who were using their motorbikes as taxis, picking and dropping passengers.

I am getting used to my ihram. It’s not a bad dress after all. It’s very liberating (if you know what I mean.) The tent is getting cold now as I go to sleep at 11pm. Mina is cold anyways. That kid is sleeping! When will he get up? I think I should poke him to see if he is alive.

Mansur