As with everything else; the bus did not appear as described. Although a few people did make it off the plain of Arafat before sunrise, most of us stayed. It is wondrous to watch busloads of people pouring in all night long and then when they arrive they form prayer lines to make their maghrib and isha prayers well into the night. Then before daybreak, after making fajr prayer, we get to go back to Mina. Good thing too, because we were handed one bottle of water when we left Arafat and no food, and that was it until we get back to Mina.
Two buses came for our group around 9:30 a.m. and people acted like they had spent the night in the desert: they rushed the bus, pushing and shoving each other to be allowed to board. I believed that no matter what we would not be left stranded, so I did not push with the mob. Consequently I was left behind, with about 20 other people from our group. It included two women in wheelchairs, two other handicapped women, one mother with a small boy in a stroller, and a few families who would not be separated just to squeeze onto the buses. We stayed in the desert until all of the nearly five million people had gone. The sun was now over the mountains that had shielded us until that time. Remember that a single bottle of water was all we had been given?
Admittedly, I was outraged: how could the disabled be left on the desert?
The good part of this story is that we ended up on what I called the barakat bus: the bus of blessing. No one ever spoke about our being left behind the first two buses. Ours was the bus where the disabled and mothers with small children boarded first. Our spirit was one of renewal and grace. The other barakat for me was finally getting the company I needed to get through the remainder of the hajj, including, coincidently my own roommate. But first, I had to get through my lowest point.
December 28, 2010—My Lowest Point
The day after I ended my ihram, I headed to Makkah with a South Asian family: a woman nearly my age, her two brothers, and her nephew. She and I had shared a mat at Muzdhalifah. Also, the time I led the salah for a jama'at in our Mina tent she had come to tell me how much she liked that salah jamaat. NO transportation was provided by our tour group for these possible trips to Mina Makkah for people to perform the tawaf ifadah. That is tawaf plus sa'iy after Arafat. I was happy they had found a rickety old bus for 50 riyal. Normally, even a taxi costs no more than 10 riyal. But this is a moneymaking time for many working-class people in Makkah and Madinah, most of whom are not Saudis themselves. So shops, taxis, buses, hotel staff, and restaurant staff all have a lot at stake in the event of the hajj for their profits.
I guess the choices are: find a reduced option, pay as much as you can personally, ignore the cost altogether, or walk. The 50 Riyal bus dropped us off at the opposite end of the Haram Mosque from our hotel and we walked the rest of the way to shower and change before heading to the Mosque. My roommate was in the room. She had returned the previous night with a Bangladeshi family whose daughter was not feeling well. According to her school of Islamic law, it is not mandatory to stay more than one night in Mina. See, how useful it is to be better informed about the options?
We went to the second floor of the mosque to make tawaf and then sa'iy. We chose it 1) because the lower courtyard with the Kaabah was really crowded, and exposed to the sun, and 2) the third floor was exposed to the sun. I held onto the woman, she held onto the three men. The worst part was at the place where the black stone is, the marker for the beginning of each circumference. People would slow up to give salaams, which made a bottleneck every time. Any group had to make a real effort to stay together. The larger the group the more the difficulty of this effort. Being the fifth person in this group was further complicated because they were younger and more able-bodied. They walked very fast. I let go because they were walking too fast for me to keep pace. We'd made plans to meet up in case we got separated and had exchanged phone numbers.
In the middle of the tawaf, the call to prayer came. The guards stopped the tawaf. Some people complied and started to form lines. I found a spot between two women, each with their husbands, and sat down on the line. This seemed an ideal spot until a woman in black niqab squeezed in on my left just as we started the prayer. Okay then. Before we had completed silent rakaat, a call came in on my cell, and Rihanna started singing from my bag in front of me on the floor. Ms. Niqabi nudges me and signals my bag. I wait until we prostrate then switch it off while still in the bag. Phew! Minimal damage, I hope.
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