Muzdalifah: The Plain of Gathering and Prayer After Mount Arafat in the Hajj Pilgrimage

Muzdalifah is a plain, open ground in the Hejazi area of Saudi Arabia, near Mecca, and associated with the Ḥajj (“Pilgrimage”). It is in the area between Mina and Arafat and to the southeast of Mina.

The celebration at Mount Arafat consists in reciting glorification to Allah, performing the dua (Supplication), repenting to Allah, and asking for forgiveness before proceeding to Muzdalifah. At Arafat, Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr prayers are performed in a combined and abbreviated form during the time of Zuhr. People go to Muzdalifah at night after Maghrib prayer on the ninth day of the Islamic month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah as it gets congested. After arriving in Muzdalifah, pilgrims perform Maghrib and ʿIsha prayers collectively, and the ʿIsha prayer has been shortened to two rakats only. Pebbles for the Stoning of the Devil romanized: Rami al-Jamarat, literally ‘the descent of the prayers’. It depicts two events: ‘The Stoning of the Place of Pebbles’ where pilgrims collect pebbles at Muzdalifah.