Passing through Mina

Continued from Views from the hill called Jabal Rahmah.

The Jabal Rahmah lies within a vast plain called the field of Arafah. From there our bus took us towards a place called Mina.

Here you can see tents almost everywhere.

The tents are for people making the compulsory one night vigil in Mina. This is part of a number of acts that must be done to complete the Muslim pilgrimage act of hajj.

The hajj however could only be done within a certain period of days in a year. Outside its season Mina is practically empty and so does a nearby area where lies the jamrah.

The jamrah are three pillars representing evil within the complex seen here. Hajj pilgrims must throw stones at the pillars as a symbolic act of fighting evil.