2nd Day of Hajj - Arafat

Today is the Day of Arafat - the most important day of the Hajj. Arafat is Hajj - and if one has not gone to Arafat, then his Hajj has not been fulfilled. Today is the day that all pilgrims will bring their baggages of sins in front of Allah (swt) seeking His forgiveness. A day of begging our Lord and Master to forgive us our sins, a day to sincerely repent to the one who created us, a day to reflect on the real meaning of the life of this world.

Allah's Messenger (saw) said,
'When the day of Arafah comes Allah descends to the lowest heaven and praises them to the angels saying,
"Look at my servants who have come to Me disheveled, dusty and crying out from every deep valley. I call you to witness that I have forgiven them."
The angels say, "My Lord, so and so was suspected of sin, also so and so and such and such a woman."
He said that Allah Who is Great and Glorious, replied, "I have forgiven them."
Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said, "on day have more people been set free from Hell than on the day of Arafah."
[Tirmidhi]

We boarded the buses and set out, each with his own thoughts, each hoping for the forgiveness of his Lord. The Saudi Authorities provides transportation for the pilgrims from location to location. It's no trivial matter to relocate 2 million+ pilgrims from one spot to another within hours!We arrived at about 9:30 am - the atmosphere was hazy and the desert air was beginning to warm up quickly.

Arafat (literally means To Know or To Recognize) was the place where Prophet Adam (AS) and his wife Hawa (AS) met after they were both sent down from paradise.
The tents at Arafat were just that - tents, real tents, no AC or power switches like those in Mina. Every direction one looks, he sees pilgrims dotting the landscape in every direction - on the plains, on the hilltops, each absorbed with his thoughts, attempting to unload his burden to his Lord.
There is something about being alone high on a hill in solitude with the wind only around you that allows one to come to grip with his thoughts. Perhaps that is why our Noble Prophet(saw) himself sought solitude on the Mountain of Light. And so, I sought a hilltop for myself as well.
We all made sincere supplications, for ourselves, our families, our relatives, our friends, the Muslim Ummah - tears stream down the faces of the pilgrims, bodies shook with sobs seeking the forgiveness of the Almighty.
The pilgrims continued the entire day in a state of prayer seeking the pleasure of the Almighty.
The sun wan beginning to set now and we would have to leave and once again Arafat would become desolated until next year. Everyone was hurrying to make additional supplications and with the setting of the sun we boarded the buses once again to set out for Muzdalifah where we will spend the night - praying/sleeping out in the open air - with no tents.

MUZDALIFAH
We arrived at muzdalifah around 8:30 pm or so. We immediately prayed salaatul Maghrib and 'Isha' and proceed to gather the pebbles we would be using for the Stoning ritual.
Like I said, there are no tents here - some had sleeping bags - but most just had a few blankets. The night was cold - about 55 degrees F - with a steady 15 mph biting wind.
We made up our beds and proceeded to settle down. Sleeping was difficult with the cold constant wind but we managed. The men were still wearing our ihrams (2 pieces of cloth) and we were not allowed anything else.

We woke at fajr, prayed and proceeded to get back to the camp at Mina. Most of the brothers and some sisters, too, decided to walk instead of waiting on the bus. The walk was about an hour long.