Saturday, June 2, 2012

Alrahmah Mountain - Jabal Rahmah

In this occasion I’d like to write about Alrahmah mountain. It is a hill east of Mecca, exactly in Mount Arafat. In Indonesian transliteration we also call it Jabal Rahmah (Mount of Mercy).
According to Islamic tradition, it was on Mount Arafah that Adam and Eve, separated for 200 years following their expulsion from the Garden of Eden, met and recognized each other and were reunited. Here too they were forgiven by Allah for their transgression after offering their repentance. A main reason of the ritual of pilgrimage is the renewal of that Prayer of Repentance every year standing on the hill of mercy, the climax of Hajj. The pilgrims will spend the whole day on Arafah supplicating to Allah to forgive their sins and praying for personal strength in the future. (wikipedia)
On the top of the hill there is a monument that was built to recall the place where Adam and Eve met. But it’s ironic that there are so many streak made by visitors. Many people visiting Alrahmah mountain inked out the monument as the mark that they had visited the mountain or hoped blessing from this place. People also wrote the name of people they loved in order become couple. Whatever the reason they should not do such thing. Beside making the monument dirty, they had done thing that deviate belief or taught of Islam.
Although people had to climb the rock hill to reach the top of Alrahmah mountain, and of course it’s tiresome especially for old people, but they kept vigorous and enthusiastic. Another irony, some place on the hill were stink.
On the top of the hill we can see whole plain of Arafah, where the pilgrims do wukuf on the day of Arafah. People here also do du’a or sholat. It’s not recommended because the prophet Muhammad didn’t command to pray on the hill. The better place to pray or sholat is in Masjid Al-Haram, especially efficacius place for du’a is in multazam (place between Hajar Aswad and the door of Kaaba).

On the hill there were also many merchant. Most of them sold souvenirs, dates, toys, etc.
On the field under the hill, we can see a large board contains advices for visitors in several languages. We know that  there are many visitors from Indonesia and Malaysia so one of advices board is written in Indonesian language.
On the field of Arafah we can also see camels. They are available for visitors who want to ride them. There are also unique cars that sell foods, drinks, toys, etc.
That's all I can tell about Alrahmah Mountain. Hopefully this post can benefit you and I'm sorry if you found any mistakes in this writing, because I'm still learning to write in English.
Regards, Sahirul Alam.

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