There are two sites, other than Makkah and Arafat, where pilgrimage duties take place. These are Muzdalifah and Mina. When the pilgrims had all gathered in Makkah, they go on the actual journey of pilgrimage, which takes them from Makkah to Arafat through Mina on the way out and through Muzdalifah and Mina on the way back. That journey may take one or two days before one arrives in Mina the second time to spend there two or three days. Let us consider what we do in both places.
Muzdalifah is a valley where the pilgrims arrive at night, after they had attended at Arafat on the ninth day of the month of Dul Hijjah. They must not leave Arafat until after sunset. They go to Muzdalifah, which is half way between Arafat and Mina, where they spend the night. On arrival there, they pray Maghrib and Isha together, shortening Isha to two rakaahs only. When they have done that, they need do nothing other than sleep. They may, if they wish pick up small stones, or pebbles, for the duty of stoning which they do on the subsequent days in Mina. The stones should be small, the size of large peas or small broad beans. As they will be stoning the Jamrahs seven or ten times, with seven pebbles each time, they need to pick up 49 or 70 pebbles. If they do not pick these up here in Muzdalifah, they can pick them up in Mina.
Some people may think that this is a great day of pilgrimage, and they may think it suitable to spend at least some of the time in night prayer, or tahajjud. But this is not proper, because in pilgrimage we must follow the example provided by the Prophet, and he did not do any night prayer in Muzdalifah, apart from Maghrib, Isha and witr. The reason is that the very presence in Muzdalifah on that night is an act of worship. If we are not sleeping, we may spend our time glorifying and praising God, or reading the Qur’an, or reflecting on the duty of pilgrimage, or discussing matters of importance to the Muslim community, or to ourselves, but we must refrain from any idle talk or backbiting or frivolous remarks. Having said that, I would like to add that it is better to sleep as long as one can, despite the fact that we sleep on the ground, in the open valley. The reason is that we have a very busy day ahead of us, and a little rest is highly valuable. The time we spend at Muzdalifah should preferably be the whole night, until just before sunrise. However, the Prophet exempted women, elderly and weak people, as well as those who have some tasks to complete for the welfare of pilgrims, allowing them to speed up their departure and proceed to Mina shortly after midnight. This concession remains in force. It may be exercised by anyone, but for those who are able to stay until the morning, such a stay is much better.
When a pilgrim wakes up for Fajr prayer in Muzdalifah, which is also called Al-Mashaar Al-Haraam, one should not depart immediately after prayer. Instead, it is recommended to make an earnest supplication to God, asking Him to grant us any thing we desire, whether it relates to this world or to our life to come. So we pray Him for forgiveness of our sins, and for our welfare in this life, and for our parents and children, relatives, friends and the whole Muslim community. We continue with this supplication and glorification of God until the light of day is very clear, and the sun is just about to rise. We then proceed on our journey to Mina, repeating the phrases of talbiyah, which we maintain while moving from place to place during consecration, or ihraam.
Spending time in Muzdalifah, or staying the whole night there, is a duty of pilgrimage, which requires, if omitted, compensation in the form of sacrificing a sheep and giving all its meat to the poor in Makkah or the Haram area.
Mina is a narrow valley which is very close to Makkah, not more than 10 km from the Grand Mosque. We stop in Mina twice on our pilgrimage journey. The first time is on the eighth of Dul Hijjah, when all pilgrims who have arrived in Makkah should be ready for the journey. Those who are doing the tamattu’ method should get into the state of consecration again, while those who are doing either of the two other methods are already in consecration. Pilgrims then travel to Mina, a tent city that is occupied only at the time of pilgrimage. They arrive there after midday, and spend the day and night there, offering Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha and Fajr prayers. Each one of the 4-rakaah prayers is shortened to two rakaahs only. This stay in Mina is a Sunnah, which means that it is not obligatory. If a person does not go out to Mina on the eighth of Dul Hijjah, but goes from Mina to Arafat on the ninth, he violates no rule and he has no compensation to make.
The second stay in Mina is after the pilgrim has finished with the attendance at Arafat and Muzdalifah. If one proceeds from Muzdalifah shortly before sunrise on the tenth of Dul Hijjah, which is the Day of the Eid, one begins a busy day with four duties to fulfill. The first is the stoning at the grand Jamrah, where he throws seven little stones which he had collected in Muzdalifah or picked up in Mina. When he arrives there, he holds the pebbles, one by one, in his hand, glorifies God, and throws the pebble trying to aim at the Jamrah itself. One should get near enough to make sure that his pebbles do not fall away from it and do not hit people who are doing this duty. When one has finished throwing the stones, one turns toward the Kaaba and supplicates. He then moves on to attend to his other duties. The timing of this duty on the first day is from Fajr to sunset. However, because of the overcrowding that takes place at the Jamrah, women may do their own stoning at night. Alternatively they may ask one of their men companions to do it on their behalf. The same applies to weak, elderly or disabled people, men or women.
On the second, third and fourth days of the Eid, a pilgrim carries on with the duty of stoning. However, on these days he must do the stoning at the three Jamrahs, beginning with the one nearest to Mina and finishing with the one nearest to Makkah. This last one is also called the Jamrah of Al-Aqabah. It is the same one we stone on the first day. If one does not stay in Mina until the fourth day, that is perfectly all right and he has no duty of stoning on that day. However he must leave Mina before sunset on the third day, i.e. the twelfth of Dul Hijjah. The time range for stoning on these days is from midday till sunset, but this is creating much overcrowding because of the large volume of pilgrims. Therefore, people who are unable to reach the Jamrahs at this time may do their stoning at night, particularly women, elderly and weak persons.
The stoning is a duty of the pilgrimage which must not be missed. If it is omitted, it may be compensated for by slaughtering a sheep. However, it is possible for a person who misses the stoning on the second and third day of the Eid to do it on the fourth day, provided he stones at the three Jamrahs for one day, then he goes back to the first Jamrah and stones at all three again for the second day, then he repeats that starting at the first and moving on to the second and third for the third day. This concession means that no body needs to miss the stoning at all.
It is also a duty according to most scholars to stay the nights of these days in Mina. This means that one spends most of the night, each night in Mina until 12 or 13 Dul Hijjah, stoning on the last day at the three Jamrahs. Some scholars, like Imam Ibn Hazm, consider staying in Mina a Sunnah. This means that if one does not stay the nights there, one does badly but does not need to compensate for it in any way.
The other duties which one normally performs in Mina are shaving one’s head or trimming a bit of one’s hair. A woman only cuts a bit of a small portion of her hair. This duty should be done on arrival in Mina on 10 Dul Hijjah, preferably after stoning at the Grand Jamrah, but it may be done before it. When one has done the stoning and the shaving, one may release oneself from consecration, but this is a first release. Every thing that has been restricted during consecration, or ihraam, is now permissible again, with the exception of sexual intercourse with one’s wife. This becomes permissible again only after the tawaf of ifaadhah, which is another duty that falls due on that day. Its time range is from dawn on the Day of the Eid until its fourth day. Imam Malik considers that it may be offered until the end of the month of Dul Hijjah. Imam Al-Shafie and Ahmad say that there is no end limit to its time range. This means that if one travels without doing it and comes back after a couple of months or years, one may still do it, but in the meantime he remains in partial consecration which bars him from sexual relation with his wife.
Slaughtering a sheep in gratitude to God for enabling one to do the Umrah and the pilgrimage in the same season is a duty required of every pilgrim who opts for the qiran or the tamattu’ method. A pilgrim doing the ifraad method is only recommended to offer a sacrifice. This is the fourth duty which falls due on the day of the Eid. The voucher system has made the sacrifice much easier to attend to. The sacrifice could be done after stoning at the Grand Jamrah on the Day of the Eid which is also called the Day of Sacrifice. However, it may be delayed until the fourth day of the Eid.
Arab News Islam 27 January 2003
