The Day of Arafat dawned cold and gray. Pilgrims hoping for some comfort from their loved ones in distant lands were to be disappointed. The cellular network in Mina and Arafat did not live up to its promise. The pilgrims had trouble completing both domestic and international calls. Sharif Noor from Alexandria, Egypt, said he had been dialing furiously for hours trying to reach his family to inform them his safety, but his efforts were useless. He acquired a mobile phone and chip especially for this purpose. He stated that he wished he had never thought of getting a phone because it had introduced an element of frustration into his worship. Even pilgrims with ALJAWAL phones are unable to get a connection. For every 20 times dialing a number, the ringing of that number would be heard only once and the connection would frequently be lost even then.
Weather has been the defining factor of this year’s pilgrimage. The weather was cold for the last two days and yesterday the sun hardly peeped through the clouds. For the first time in the five years that I have covered Haj, this is the first year that not a ray of sunlight blazed on the plains at Arafat. In the past, the norm was to see the pilgrims praying in bright sunshine, their faces covered in sweat. This year, even at midday, the pilgrims were shivering in the cold. Women and children tended to take cover inside the vehicles lined up on the outskirts of the area. Men huddled together in tight groups to pray or gathered under trees or around stalls selling hot tea.
Most of the food available was in the form of cold, boxed lunches, so there was little comfort in the meals. Many pilgrims have caught upper respiratory infections, and they coughed and sneezed their way through the afternoon. Paramedics on patrol amidst the clustered pilgrims stated that they had been told to expect an increasing incidence of pilgrims with minor colds, which were not a serious problem, but to be on the lookout for elderly pilgrims suffering breathing difficulties. The elderly did appear especially miserable as the afternoon progressed. There was a nasty nip in the air and the wind blew unceasingly. Dark clouds covered the entire area and sunset approached quickly. Everyone was grateful that the expected rain showers did not materialize.
Vendors hoping to sell cool drinks, fruits and sweets faired poorly this year. Some quick thinking business people had insulated containers of tea shipped to the area and those sold out rapidly. With few takers for sodas and chilled water the amount of garbage thrown on the ground in the vicinity of the pilgrims was greatly reduced. Umbrella sellers had huge losses and in general people were not in a buying mood.
First timers are quite awed by the arrangements and logistics. Everyone is mentioning the wonderful job done by Saudi authorities at this Haj. Even those of us who have been here before are finding this pilgrimage to be the most highly organized event ever witnessed. The area is clean. Transportation is very organized. There are no queues for toilets or ablution facilities. Even frayed tempers are at a minimum this year. Most certainly this is in part due to the cool weather, but with all the logistics under control, the pilgrims are feeling increasingly confident that their journey of a lifetime will be a success.
One improvement from the pilgrims’ side is that the awareness campaigns launched by individual nations appear to be paying off. There is more of an understanding that Haj is a duty that should be completed as early in life as possible. In the past, most of the younger pilgrims were from Malaysia and Indonesia. This year many young pilgrims can be seen from India and Pakistan, too. Improved economies in those nations have allowed more people the opportunity to perform Haj and it is good to see younger Muslims making the effort to put their improved finances to good use.
Part of that use has led to intense prayer. On the plains of Arafat pilgrims had many troubling issues on their minds. One Pakistani, Syed Maamoor Shah said, “My country became free thanks to our forefathers, but now I see that the integrity of my country is under threat. I pray to God to give our leaders the strength to thwart the evil designs of our enemies.” For Sri Lankan pilgrims, recovery after the tsunami devastation was the greatest concern. All Iraqis were focused on praying for an end to occupation. Other Arab pilgrims were worried about the situation in the region.
Said one pilgrim, “Haj is no place for politics. We should be looking within, not without. But we are affected by what is happening all around us. The killing of Palestinian children ... the bombing and humiliation going on in Iraq. This is crushing the psyche of the people in this region. Here at Arafat I have cried and cried and been bereft. I don’t know what to do to stop this misery.”
In the sermon at Arafat, the pilgrims were warned about those who are trying to bring a bad name to Islam. They were urged to remember that unity is the need of the hour. Almost every pilgrim I met on the plains of Arafat said, “If we can come here forgetting our differences, what really stops us from coming together on the issues that concern us outside of this place?”
Many pilgrims pointed out the words of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) mentioning that the entire Muslim Ummah is like one body. If one part of that body is hurt, the whole body feels the pain of it. “So why,” the pilgrims asked, “is it that when Iraq is burning and there is pain in other Muslim countries there is no combined effort on the part of the Muslim world to come to the rescue of those people?” The pilgrims were not talking about providing military support. The concern of all was the lack of moral authority and the reluctance of many to speak up on behalf of the Ummah.
As an Indian, I was proud to see that Indian television station NDTV was on the plains of Arafat covering Haj for the first time. This is the first Indian channel to report the entire event live. NDTV began their live transmissions on Monday from the Grand Mosque in Makkah and they plan to continue their coverage through the conclusion of the rituals. Last year Rajdeep Sardesai of NDTV came to Saudi Arabia and promised that he would find the budget to cover this event that is so important to Indian Muslims. We must thank him for keeping his word. Kamal Khan, one of the most popular and prominent Hindi television journalists in India is anchoring the NDTV coverage. As the Indian media has always been very inward looking, this is a big step forward on the international broadcast stage.
Moving to Muzdalifah everyone was concerned about the cold night ahead, which would be spent in the open. Let us all pray that the pilgrims have the strength to march forward in a calm manner as dawn breaks. And let us also pray that the sound of prayers, not sirens, will fill the air around the Jamarat in Mina.
