Bright colors blazed through Mina’s white landscape yesterday. Almost all had changed into their native dress and the women seemed to be celebrating the event by wearing scarves and wraps in all the colors of the rainbow. This diarist was particularly attracted by a group of Omanis, who were holding colorful banners as they went off to stone the Jamrat. The sun was out in its full glory. However, there was a mild breeze blowing across the valley all day, so the weather was quite pleasant.
Saudis take immense pleasure in serving the pilgrims. No two opinions about that. Listen to what Culture and Information Minister lyad Madani wrote in a magazine once: “I was born in Makkah and grew up in Madinah, and Madinah was always full of hajis. They shared the city and the mosque with us. We grew up being with hajis, looking at hajis, hearing hajis. When I was a young kid, they were objects of great curiosity: Their different costumes, their food, their features. Everyone developed a feel for the Haj, a built-in image that becomes part of you.” According to Madani, it is the human element that he likes the most about Haj. “When you come to Haj, you become your real self. People take off the layers of pretending, and you see real people as they truly are. People express themselves in the simplest ways: In the way they pray, in the way they find their spot in the mosque, how they react when they are waiting to finish their stoning, the way they ride the buses, the way they find their way to the Mount of Mercy.”
The pilgrims have begun getting back to the business of everyday life. There was a huge demand for newspapers in all languages. Thousands of copies of Arab News were snapped up by the pilgrims, both for news and as a souvenir of the day. Frenzied commercial activity is under way throughout Mina. African women are selling costume jewelry that is popular with all women. These beaded creations are beautiful, artistically made and cost very little. One of the most amusing things was to see South Asian women buying scarves very similar to ones available back home. Asked about their purchases the women explained that what was bought wasn’t important, but buying it in Mina was very important. South Asian Haj organizations are giving their pilgrims souvenirs including small document bags, Islamic literature and diaries.
There is a problem here. And that is caused by pilgrims who continue to insist on personally slaughtering sacrificial animals. Of course, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has installed state-of-the-art slaughterhouses where millions of animals are mercifully killed. Unfortunately, some pilgrims still persist in the belief that they will receive greater blessing if they sacrifice the animal themselves. Thousands buy sheep at the market on the outskirts of Mina. Then they take the animals into the desert and sacrifice them. Without being needlessly graphic, it can be said that this creates a bloody mess. Men are waiting nearby with pickup trucks and they take the slaughtered animals away. It is impossible to know whether this meat is going to charity or to a nearby restaurant.
Kerala journalists, both print and broadcast, are here in huge numbers at the media center in Mina. Malayalees that this diarist has spoken to in Jeddah say Kerala television channels and newspapers are running interesting updates from the Haj. Musafir is covering the event for Doordarshan Kerala (DD Malayalam) and Manorama TV; Muhammad Sadiq for Radio Asia, Dubai; Usman Irumbuzhi for Amrutha TV; Jaleel Kannamangalam for Asianet; Abdurahman Wandoor for Kairali TV; Mujeeb Pookottur for Jeevan TV. Other prominent Keralite journalists here at the Haj include Malayala Manorama’s chief photographer P. Musthafa; Chandrika’s M.K. Syed Muhammad and Mathrubhumi’s E. Salahuddin. According to senior journalist P.M. Mayinkutty, Haj is a major event on the Kerala media calendar. “There is a huge interest, both among readers and viewers,” he said.
Hospitality is at its peak here in Mina. And this has been the case for more than 1,400 years. According to an article in Aramco World, within the Quraysh tribe, clans developed guilds around three major types of Haj-related hospitality: Siqayah, supplying free water, often cooled in earthenware jugs; Rifadah, feeding pilgrims without charge or at only modest cost; and Sidanah, the cleaning and maintenance of the Kaaba and the Grand Mosque. Now, however, these functions are carried out by various combinations of Saudi government agencies, charitable organizations, individuals and — especially in the case of the Siqayah — by the descendants of the guilds that inherited the roles from the original clans. The only role still filled by an original clan is the keeping of the keys of the Kaaba, which is the responsibility of the Bani Shaybah today as it was even in the centuries before Islam. On that interesting note: Maasalama.
