REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia's Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said that Murur (overnight stay) during the Hajj pilgrimage has helped speed up the mobilization of pilgrims from Arafah, Muzdalifah, and Mina (Armuzna) in Saudi Arabia.

"In previous years, at 10 a.m., the pilgrims should have moved from Muzdalifah to Mina. Because of Murur, at half past 8 in the morning, Muzdalifah was empty," he said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

However, when the pilgrims arrived in Mina, they experienced crowded conditions, he said. For that reason, the Indonesian government has asked the Saudi Arabian government to provide more tents for pilgrims.

"While we had tried our best to ask for more space for our pilgrims, it was the decision of the kingdom, not us," he said.

The Murur allows elderly and sick pilgrims to spend a night at Muzdalifah after performing wukuf (standing in prayer on the Plain of Arafat)—the peak of Hajj pilgrimage—in Arafah. They remain on the bus while traveling through the Muzdalifah area, and thereafter, the bus takes them directly to their tent in Mina.

The movement in Armuzna has been a critical point during the Hajj. Many elderly pilgrims experienced heat strokes, got separated from their group, or suffered from extreme exhaustion.  

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