Congratulations Hajj'is

Well Hajj has officially begun. I remember when I went a couple of years ago. All I could think about all day today was all the memories of my experience. Then I thought about the post I did a couple of days ago. So I thought why not give everyone a place where they can experience the Hajj along with the Hajj'is. So here goes: in Saudi Arabia its Friday morning around 5:00 am just before Fajr prayer(Morning prayer). At around there time last night they officially would have been staying in Mina before leaving for Arafat . However, because of the number of people most people running the caravans know the travel takes several hours. So, most people get into ihram (two piece white cloth) and then they simply travel through a part of Mina on there way to Arafat, only maybe pausing to meet the requirement of "staying" in Mina. They usually reach Arafat by morning the next day (that is about this time in Mecca). They will stay in Arafat until after sunset on this day. In Mina for those who actually spend the night, they pray their Maghrib and Isha prayer and the rest of their time they spend in personal supplication. Ok so I will explain what happens at each stage as the time arrives. But I also want to leave you with some pics to be able to visualize some of the ceremonies.

This is a satellite image of the area from the kaaba to Arafat (the entire hajj site). This is thanks to google maps and a little creativity from me:

(Click on the picture to get a high resolution image)

So Masijid Haram is on the left side next to the crossbar. The area boxed in blue is the tent city Mina and the area in yellow is the Plain of Arafat.

Ok coming up in my next post staying at Plain of Arafat and visiting Jabal ar-Rahma.