Arafat

We had an evening where our friends from Jeddah came up. They took us on a sightseeing trip - that was a really enjoyable evening.. so many things I had only read about, seeing them with my own eyes was a treat.

The cave of Thor.. so very high on the mountain.. where the Prophet, s.a.w., and Hazrat Abu Bakr, r.a., hid, on their way to Madina. The place is marked right on the top by a white something... so as to have an idea of exactly where it is. Small shops sell snacks and postcards and prayer beads. They have huge signs in different languages, telling the people not to touch any stones and not to climb the mountain as it was forbidden to do so by the Prophet s.a.w.



Then off to the cave of Hira, in the Jabl e noor. This is where the first revelation came to the Prophet, s.a.w., and where he spent so much time in meditation and prayer. This too is extremely high up, though we saw people going up. Its all mountain terrain, people have built houses on the mountains as and where the place has been available.

Our car made the scary ride quite far up. They have small tea shops and sovernier shops.. we had some tea and I bought postcards from there..

We reached there by fading light and what with getting out of the car and balancing myself, I could not shoot pictures. Or rather, I did, but they are too dark.. nothing to be seen. But nevermind, I have the images in my mind... which is good enough.

What I find very fascinating is the fact that people build houses on the mountains and live happily at such high places..

I asked my friend how the Prophet s.a.w, managed that high climb? I cant imagine how long that would have taken, especially cave Thor.. and she gave a very reasonable answer:

We see Makkah as it is now, a city under construction. But fact is, most of the roads coming in or going out, are built through mountains. They have been bulldozered and roads carved out. Especially the tunnels. On our way in, we were practically ON a mountain, only on a road of tar. So she said, could be that in olden days it was just mountains all around. It would be very much easier to climb a succession of mountains, rather than just try and climb one very high one.

Makes sense... though I'd still have loved to see how they did it..

Off we went to the plains of Arafat... well actually, we were there before cave Hira..



I think I mentioned this in an earlier post. It was quite a dissapoinment to see.. the Jabal Rahmah looks dwarfed down by the surroundings... people have thrown litter all around, grafitti on the rocks... carpet sellers, with their wares surrounded all around them.. and added to that all the filth that comes with camels and horses...

It looked like a place for partying, rather than a sacred place. Jabal Rahmah is a sacred hill in the middle of the plains of Arafat. Riding his she camel near it, the Prophet, s.a.w., delivered his famous sermon on the occasion of the Farewell Hajj.



Right on top of it, there is a tall stone pillar, which was white sometime I think, but which has blackend around the lower part. I was told that this is the place where Hazrat Adam, ahs., and Hazrat Hawwa, ahus., met, after they had been sent down from the heavens in different places..
That place was marked and a piller erected.



I dont know how true that is - could be, could not be. But its a good thing to imagine when u're standing up there...

Here again, people were praying nafl, even though it was nigh on Maghrib time. .




Anyhows, spent some time there, lost in thought, lost in contemplation. I wondered what moved people to disrepect such places? Why did those, who threw rubbish - empty bottles, squeezed out juices, empty crisp packets - why didnt those people consider - this is the place where the Prophet, s.a.w., stood, walked, maybe rested.. maybe prayed and slept? Why has the spirit of the place been lost?

I came away in a slight depression - which lifted however, when on the way back I looked around and saw the view...




After that we drove to cave Hira, but I've already mentioned that...