
Islam
مُزْدَلِفَة
“A single night under the open sky, the stars for a blanket”
Photo: Arisdp · CC BY-SA 4.0
Scenes
Meaning
On a plain open to the horizon, white-robed pilgrims lie down with the earth for a bed, and dawn spreads beyond the lamplight.
Tradition holds that pilgrims move here after sunset at Arafat to pass a night in the open, and gather the pebbles they will cast at the pillars of Mina the next day. At the Mash'ar al-Haram, the sacred waymark on this plain, they offer the dawn prayer.
Field notes
Sources
Photographs are freely licensed works from Wikimedia Commons and similar sources; the author and license appear beneath each image.