When you are going on Hajj through government of your country, you curse or praise your won government due to the facilities provided to you ... Most of the Hajis are not aware of the limitations of the governments of different countries in saudi arabia...
First of all, the transportation and accommodation are the responsibilities of your own government. For example I went on Hajj in 2018 through government package from Pakistan, so the ticket, transportation and food was given by the government of Pakistan. The hotels provided to government based hajis are usually far away from the Haram, specifically in Makkah. Most of the Hajis were placed in Aziziyah, whereas several Hajis were placed in Battha Qureish, a newly developed town in makkah.
24 hours transportation is provided to the hajis living far from Haram and 3 times food was provided to us in the hotels and the quality of food was great. Yes the taste may not appeal most of the people but it was more good than the food available in makkah on different restaurants. Yes it takes almost 40 minutes to reach the Haram from hotel and that is why half of the prayers are usually offered in our own locality.
The maktab is the office which is responsible for facilitating Hajis during the 6 days of Hajj in Mina, Arafat, Jamraat and Muzdalifah. These maktabs are supervised by saudis and there is no role of the government of your country in managing or dealing with your maktabs. Even hotels were also provided to the government from the maktab you are dealing with on Hajj.
My maktab was number 80, which is near to Mina Train Station # 02. However 2 families known to me were placed in maktab # 84 and maktab number 87. Both of these maktabs were adjacent to eachother but far away from the train stations. We were given the train tickets but other people in different maktabs were not given the tickets, specially those whose maktabs are away from the stations.
When we were residing in Mina, food was provided to us from maktab facilitator and there is no role of Pakistani government to instruct them about food. Several time quality of the food was compromised and short of food is also noticed.
One more problem is that your maktab provides you a blanket with a thin foam to sleep and there are several hajis who didnt even get this foam with blanket even. Yes, this is the lackness at maktab's end but you cant do anything there.
If you get the tickets/pass of train, you can travel by your own timings, although maktabs are instructted to carry their hajis on specific timings. But even if you go alone, nobody stops you. It is better to go arafat with your maktab otherwise you may not find the maktab locality in arafat.
Most of the people who travels with the train forget the thing that the whole population will leave arafat at the time of maghrib so it take hours standing on the train station on arafat in the evening. Better time is to leave your maktab at 5:00pm and wait near the train station so that you may leave early when the time of the maghrib reach there. Please note that you are not allowed to leave the boundaries of arafat before maghrib. And all the train stations in arafat exists within the boundaries of arafat so you may not fear for leaving your maktab locality . I saw several Hajis whio left at 7 and reach Muzdalifah around 12 am night. 5 hours waiting in the queue is too much time which should be saved if your management is perfect.
I left at 6:15 whereas the maghrib time was around 6:45 pm and due to leaving the camp late, I had to wait around 2 hours on the station. But still I reached at station earlier so got the train earlier, else it might took 5 hours standing in the queue of train.
It is better to stay whole night in Muzdalifah but keeping in mind the time of Fajr. I saw many people who offered Fajar earlier than the time, although the saudi government fire a cannon at the time of Fajr so that people may hear the sound but several people makes the mistake and leave muzdalifah early dawn before fajr..which is not allowed. Therefore wait for the fajr time, offer the fajr prayer in muzdalifah and then you can leave muzdalifah as you have fulfilled the wajib requirement for staying in muzdalifah.
First of all, the transportation and accommodation are the responsibilities of your own government. For example I went on Hajj in 2018 through government package from Pakistan, so the ticket, transportation and food was given by the government of Pakistan. The hotels provided to government based hajis are usually far away from the Haram, specifically in Makkah. Most of the Hajis were placed in Aziziyah, whereas several Hajis were placed in Battha Qureish, a newly developed town in makkah.
24 hours transportation is provided to the hajis living far from Haram and 3 times food was provided to us in the hotels and the quality of food was great. Yes the taste may not appeal most of the people but it was more good than the food available in makkah on different restaurants. Yes it takes almost 40 minutes to reach the Haram from hotel and that is why half of the prayers are usually offered in our own locality.
The maktab is the office which is responsible for facilitating Hajis during the 6 days of Hajj in Mina, Arafat, Jamraat and Muzdalifah. These maktabs are supervised by saudis and there is no role of the government of your country in managing or dealing with your maktabs. Even hotels were also provided to the government from the maktab you are dealing with on Hajj.
My maktab was number 80, which is near to Mina Train Station # 02. However 2 families known to me were placed in maktab # 84 and maktab number 87. Both of these maktabs were adjacent to eachother but far away from the train stations. We were given the train tickets but other people in different maktabs were not given the tickets, specially those whose maktabs are away from the stations.
When we were residing in Mina, food was provided to us from maktab facilitator and there is no role of Pakistani government to instruct them about food. Several time quality of the food was compromised and short of food is also noticed.
One more problem is that your maktab provides you a blanket with a thin foam to sleep and there are several hajis who didnt even get this foam with blanket even. Yes, this is the lackness at maktab's end but you cant do anything there.
If you get the tickets/pass of train, you can travel by your own timings, although maktabs are instructted to carry their hajis on specific timings. But even if you go alone, nobody stops you. It is better to go arafat with your maktab otherwise you may not find the maktab locality in arafat.
Most of the people who travels with the train forget the thing that the whole population will leave arafat at the time of maghrib so it take hours standing on the train station on arafat in the evening. Better time is to leave your maktab at 5:00pm and wait near the train station so that you may leave early when the time of the maghrib reach there. Please note that you are not allowed to leave the boundaries of arafat before maghrib. And all the train stations in arafat exists within the boundaries of arafat so you may not fear for leaving your maktab locality . I saw several Hajis whio left at 7 and reach Muzdalifah around 12 am night. 5 hours waiting in the queue is too much time which should be saved if your management is perfect.
I left at 6:15 whereas the maghrib time was around 6:45 pm and due to leaving the camp late, I had to wait around 2 hours on the station. But still I reached at station earlier so got the train earlier, else it might took 5 hours standing in the queue of train.
It is better to stay whole night in Muzdalifah but keeping in mind the time of Fajr. I saw many people who offered Fajar earlier than the time, although the saudi government fire a cannon at the time of Fajr so that people may hear the sound but several people makes the mistake and leave muzdalifah early dawn before fajr..which is not allowed. Therefore wait for the fajr time, offer the fajr prayer in muzdalifah and then you can leave muzdalifah as you have fulfilled the wajib requirement for staying in muzdalifah.
