Haj officers comb all hotels where pilgrims stay to ensure that all pilgrims participating in the \'wukuf\' (gathering) ritual in Arafah. Special services are provided for ill pilgrims.
By
NASRULLAH NARA
·2 minutes read
MECCA, KOMPAS – Around 3 million Muslim pilgrims from all over the world gathered in Arafah in Saudi Arabia on Monday (20/8/2018) for the wukuf ritual, the peak of the haj.
This gathering brings forward a message of equality among all without any consideration of one’s social background.
Indonesian haj pilgrims gathered in tents lined up in 70 maktab (shelters). Each maktab houses around 3,000 pilgrims. They all stayed in white plastic tents with steel frames measuring around 30 meters by 20 m.
Pilgrims moved in phases from 165 hotels in Mecca to Arafah all day on Sunday. Arafah is a plain surrounded by a barren rocky terrain, some 10 kilometers east of Mecca. In order to ward off the heat that can reach 43 degrees Celsius, maktab organizers provided air conditioners inside the tents.
Religious Affairs Ministry data showed that 203,351 regular pilgrims from Indonesia participated in the haj this year; 92 of the pilgrims have died from various illnesses.
Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said haj officers had combed through the hotels where the pilgrims stayed. The ministry deliberately moved all Indonesian haj pilgrims to Arafah one day before wukuf to anticipate possible hurdles.
“Wukuf in Arafah is a required part of the haj. We try to ensure that all pilgrims are in Arafah on 9 Zulhijjah or Aug. 20,” Lukman said.
To help mobilize ill pilgrims, the ministry’s haj management committee (PPIH) provides special “safari wukuf” services, in which ill pilgrims are brought to Arafah in vehicles equipped with medical equipment, including oxygen tanks and IV tubes.
Religious Affairs Ministry director general of haj and umrah management Nizar Ali said 125 Indonesian pilgrims received the service this year.
Pilgrims who have arrived in Arafah were told to directly enter their tents and wait for the wukuf on Monday. After getting some rest, the pilgrims prayed to Allah.
Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) chair KH Masduki Baidlowi, a member of Indonesia’s amirulhaj leading committee, said that wukuf should serve as a moment of self-introspection and gathering at one time and place wearing the same garb. In the gathering of mankind from various nations at the Plain of Arafah, there is a message of equality among men.