By Tanko Mohammed Rabiu
Mina
Pilgrims from Ghana who couldn't locate their tents after returning from Jamarat ( Stoning of the devil) in Mina on Hajj day three and the first day of Jamarat got saved by the help of the Ghana flag being flagged by Ghanaian pilgrims at vantage points to assist Ghanaian Pilgrims.
The Jamarat is one of the rituals of Hajj and is expected to be performed by pilgrims immediately after observing Arafah and sleeping at Muzdalifa respectively. It is a commomeration of the event that happened between Prophet Ibrahim the father of Ismail and the devil when Allah directed Ibrahim to sacrifice his son ( Ismail) which Prophet Ibrahim obeyed Allah after several attempt by the devil to convince Prophet Ibrahim to disobey Allah.
But pilgrims from other African countries like Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Togo and the rest who were also returning from the stoning of the devil made use of the Ghana flag to assist them in identifying their tents. These pilgrims asked for direction from the bearers of the Ghana flag for further location of their tents.
Mina, the city of the tents as it is popularly called due to the tent infrastructure in Mina accommodating millions of pilgrims for the five days of Hajj pilgrimage are very identical to each other in terms of shape, color, architecture design and same civil engineering models which has high tendency to mislead any pilgrim. Despite a well planned city renaming,Tent numbering and GPS directions, millions of pilgrims both literate and 'illiterates' still get lost especially after returning from the ritual sites.
By design, Ghana is among the None Arabia African countries tents with Nigeria Senegal, Mali, Togo, Burkina Faso, Kenya and many African countries except countries in Northern African who are of Arabia descent and thus makes it simple and easier to identify a country's tent using the Ghana flag in this case, because it is the most visible Africa flag among the thick crowd on the streets of Mina.
According to one of the Ghana flag bearers, the wavering and self hoisting of the Ghana flag has really rescued Ghanaian Pilgrims and many African pilgrims.
" As we are here, this our flag is helping our pilgrims from going to our tents because not everyone followed the organized group to Jamarat and the numbers are huge so this issue is bound to happen and that's why we are well stationed at different points leading from Arafah to the various tents", he explained.
He continues, " Our African brothers and sisters are also making good use of our flag to reach out to their tents because Ghana's flag is sinanimous to most flags in Africa like Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Mali and others. In fact, we are proud and happy that our national flag is helping African pilgrims in Mina".
Pilgrims acrose the participating countries here in Mina for the Hajj pilgrimage will continue with the stoning of the devil until June 18, 2024 ending their stay in Mina for the Hajj.
END.
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