JAKARTA, March 24 (UPI) -- "Thanks God, I was able to perform and conclude my hajj without any serious obstacle and returned home safe," said Ahmad Zaini, an Indonesian devout Muslim, who returned from a 37-day hajj pilgrimage.
Zaini expressed his satisfaction and gratification he could conclude the performance of the hajj because a number of people fell unconscious or even passed away during the journey to the holiest place in Mecca.
And Zaini was one among some 200,000 Indonesian Muslims performing the hajj pilgrimage this year to join more than two million fellow Muslims from around the world in the holiest places in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
The journey is expensive for many Indonesians who pay up to $2,700 each for round-trip airfares and living costs during their stay there. The destination is dusty and hot.
Before traveling for the hajj, the pilgrims have to know about various conditions, restrictions and obligations before and during the pilgrimage, visiting the Ka'bah to perform various deeds to fulfill God's call.
"I have sold a part of my land to pay this cost," said another pilgrim, Angkot from east Jakarta suburb of Cakung.
"But I'm very happy I was able to perform a hajj. I had planned it long ago but it seemed that God just allowed me and my wife this year to perform it," he added.
After arriving in Jeddah from a nine-hour non-stop flight, the Indonesian pilgrims continue their six-hour journey to Medina to perform a 40-time prayers during an eight-day stay.
Performing the hajj pilgrimage at the Mecca's dusty and hot locale is exhausting, in particular during the Plain of Arafat on the eve of the feast of sacrifice. There all Muslims -- no exception for those with ailments and elderly persons -- were crowded and do what they can to prepare to avoid serious illnesses, because it is a "must" for the pilgrimage to travel there.
Wearing a two-piece cloth for a man -- no underwear -- while staying overnight at the plain of Arafat, is another obstacle. In addition to that the pilgrim is "forbidden" to kill animals, to cut trees or otherwise violate the prescriptions and be liable for a fine -- either to have to a 10-day fast or slaughter a goat or camel.
But Angkot and many other Indonesian pilgrims expressed their pride and surprise to see the holiest of Islamic places in Mecca and Medina, especially if it is possible to get close or even kiss the Ka'bah or could visit the Prophet Muhammad's graveyard at the Nabawi Mosque complex. Many of the pilgrims could not stop crying in addition to performing a solemn of ritual.
Performing the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca is the dream of any Muslim around the world, because a Muslim is only obliged to complete the journey once in a lifetime -- though performing the hajj several times is not taboo in Islam.
Spending more than 24-hours at the Plain of Arafat, millions of people begin moving out to Mina to stay there for a three-night stay before returning back to Mecca.
More than 300 Indonesian pilgrims, many elderly, have died as of early this month from various ailments.
During the journey, the greater challenge of all the obligations is when the pilgrims are gathered in the plain of Minna, where hundreds of thousands of Muslims assemble for the ritual in which pilgrims symbolically stone the devil, or "jumrah throwing."
An organizer among the Indonesian pilgrims announced that overcrowding took place on the second day at Minna, and appealed to the pilgrims to slightly delay their ritual until the situation improved.
Most of the Indonesians remember the worst-ever accident in the early 1990s when over 1,500 hajj pilgrims -- including more than 600 Indonesians -- were killed in a tunnel in Mina. But now the situation is much improved. The Saudi Arabian government built an additional 500-meter-long tunnel to avoid a repeat.
A similar accident took place in 1998 when 118 Muslims were killed in a stampede on the plain of Minna. It took place when some elderly pilgrims stumbled and people panicked.
Despite the heavy obstacles many of the Indonesians who just returned home expressed their desire to return and re-perform the pilgrimage in the near future.
"If God permitted, I would like to go back for another hajj pilgrimage. I feel not enough this time and I would soon begins saving money for the another trip to Mecca," said Muhammad Nasir, another Indonesian who also just returned from the pilgrimage.
Like most of his fellow Indonesian Muslims returning from visiting the holiest places in Mecca, the performance of the hajj pilgrimage has added to Nasir's devoutness.
