The Jamarat Bridge Project An exceptional achievement of Crowd Control

The Jamarat are three sites located close to each other on a straight line in Mina. Pilgrims stone the Jamarat as a sign of obedience to God. Stoning of the Jamarat is one of the duties of the Hajj and follows the example of the Father of Prophets Ibrahim Peace Be Upon Him.

In response to the huge increase in the numbers of pilgrims year after year, the Saudi authorities sought ways to remove the obstacles created by the increasing crowds at the Jamarat and thereby enable the pilgrims to perform their rituals with ease and in a safe way.

The first Jamarat Bridge was built in 1975 in order to facilitate the stoning ritual by providing two levels for pilgrims carrying out the ritual, one beneath the bridge and another on the bridge itself. However, as pilgrim numbers continued to increase, this bridge became incapable of handling the huge numbers of pilgrims. Consequently, the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia decided to demolish it after the Hajj season of 2006 and to replace it with a new multilevel structure capable of accommodating greater numbers of pilgrims and thereby facilitating stoning of the pillars in a safe and effective manner.

The new Jamarat Bridge is 950 meters long and 80 meters in width and consists of five levels, each of which is 12 meters high. To facilitate movement, the bridge has 12 entrances and 12 exits, distributed among all four directions, in addition to emergency exits. This will enable authorities to accommodate 300,000 pilgrims an hour for stoning. The structure is equipped with surveillance cameras throughout which are in constant operation, and which are used to pinpoint areas where fast intervention and provision of emergency medical assistance is necessary. Finally, the Jamarat Bridge facility also includes two helicopter pads for emergency use.

In order to provide a more pleasant environment for pilgrims, the Jamarat Bridge project also includes an air conditioning system accompanied by water sprinklers, capable of lowering the air temperature to around 29 degrees Celsius.

On the fifth floor of the bridge, huge awnings have been constructed which cover all three Jamarat areas, thereby enabling pilgrims to perform their rituals easily and to protect them from the oftentimes fierce sunlight.

Construction of the Jamarat Bridge took several years, and all precautions were taken so that work did not interfere with the rituals performed every year by the pilgrims.

It is worthy of note that the Jamarat Bridge project was designed with future needs in mind also, as it can be expanded to a total of 12 levels capable of accommodating more than 5 million pilgrims. In 2008, it was awarded the Makkah al-Mukarramah Prize for the best project serving the needs of pilgrims.

www.kapl-hajj.org

Official Key Dates for Hajj 2012

24th April 2012

- First day of arrival in the Kingdom for pilgrims is 1/11/1433 H (27th September, 2012).

- Last date for arrival of pilgrims in the Kingdom by air, at the King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah, or at the Prince Muhammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport, Madinah is 4/12/1433 H (20th October, 2012).

- Last date for pilgrims to travel from Jeddah to Madinah by bus is 25/11/1433 H (11th October, 2012)

- Last date for pilgrims to travel from Jeddah to Madinah by air is 2/12/1433 H (18th October, 2012).

- Last date for pilgrims to travel from Madinah to Makkah by bus (before Hajj) is 5/12/1433 H (21st October, 2012)

- Last date for pilgrims to travel from Madinah to Jeddah by air (before Hajj) is 6/12/1433 H (22nd October, 2012).

- Final date for departure (return trip) is 15/1/1434 H (29th November, 2012)

Saudi Arabian Ministry of Haj

http://www.hajinformation.com/display_news.php?id=3184

Prophet's Mosque New Expansion: '' Multistory buildings and 4 Minarets planned ''

Info from article 7 July 2012:

Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, head of the Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, described the new expansion work of the Prophet’s Mosque as unprecedented.

He said the first phase of the expansion would cover construction of multistory buildings within the periphery of the existing northern courtyard, and the flat roof of the entire mosque structure after the expansion would have a total area of about 1.1 million square meters.

There will be a main gate for the new building with two main minarets and two side minarets at the corners of the building.

The first phase will add prayer space with a capacity to accommodate 800,000 worshippers.

In the second and third phases, the eastern and western courtyards will be added to the mosque and thus increasing the capacity by another 800,000 to add the capacity of the mosque to accommodate another 1.6 million.

http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia...rea-be-tripled

Possible render for the new expansion
multistory buildings + 2 main minarets + 2 side minarets

Semangat perintis haji Indonesia 500 tahun lalu

Jumat, 10 Agustus 2012 03:00:00
Jauh sebelum kedatangan kapal dagang Portugis di perairan Nusantara, tercatat pada tahun 1503, sudah ada kapal pribumi yang berlayar mengarungi lautan luas hingga akhirnya berlabuh di Jazirah Arab untuk menunaikan ibadah Haji.

Sejarawan M Shaleh Putuhena dalam bukunya Historiografi Haji Indonesia mengatakan, kedatangan pribumi Nusantara di Mekkah itu, besar kemungkinan menjadi orang-orang pertama yang melaksanakan haji.

"Mereka yang datang dengan kapalnya sendiri, bukan jamaah haji yang sengaja berangkat dari Nusantara untuk melaksanakan ibadah haji. Mereka adalah pedagang dan pelayar yang berlabuh di Jeddah, dan berkesempatan untuk berkunjung ke Mekkah," kata Shaleh.

Arus pelayaran perdagangan orang-orang pribumi ke Jeddah, terus berlangsung hingga tahun-tahun berikutnya. Bahkan ketika bangsa Portugis berlabuh di Nusantara pada tahun 1512 dan menjajah serta menjarah hasil alam, bangsa pribumi masih bisa berlayar mengarungi samudera.

Meski perjuangan untuk mengecoh bangsa Portugis tidak mudah, namun dengan segala upaya mereka bisa meloloskan diri untuk berdagang ke Jeddah sambil menyempatkan diri menunaikan ibadah haji.

"Mereka pergi ke Hijaz (Jeddah) dengan maksud untuk berdagang atau melaksanakan tugas dari pemerintahnya, dan mereka memiliki kesempatan untuk melaksanakan ibadah haji. Mereka ini kemudian dianggap sebagai angkatan perintis haji Indonesia," lanjutnya.

Memasuki abad XVII motivasi umat Islam Nusantara melaksanakan haji semakin kuat, sehingga jamaah haji selalu mengalami peningkatan setiap tahunnya. Namun semua terkendala dengan peraturan Portugis yang berusaha mengekang, dan membatasi ruang gerak Muslimin Nusantara berdagang ke luar.

Tetapi tradisi menuntut ilmu yang mulai berkembang, menjadi sebuah pemahaman penting dalam masyarakat Nusantara waktu itu. Menyadarkan mereka untuk memanfaatkan celah tersebut, dengan berpura-pura menjadi pelajar untuk bisa pergi ke Mekkah.

Kesadaran mereka akan pentingnya menuntut ilmu terbentuk, setelah mempelajari hadits Nabi Muhammad SAW yang menetapkan kewajiban untuk setiap muslim menuntut ilmu. Dan pada waktu itu, Mekkah sudah menjelma sebagai pusat studi ilmu Islam terbesar.

Akan tetapi, memasuki abad XVIII sampai XIX, ketika Hindia-Belanda menjajah Nusantara, orang-orang pribumi sudah tidak lagi menggunakan media berdagang atau menuntut ilmu untuk pelaskanaan ibadah haji. Muslimin sudah berani terang-terangan dan leluasa beribadah setiap tahunnya.

Bukan tanpa alasan Hindia-Belanda menerapkan kebijakan pembebasan tersebut, para penjajah memanfaatkan kegiatan tahunan tersebut sebagai komoditas baru meraup untung mengembangkan perekonomian negaranya.

Waktu itu memang transportasi menjadi kendala utama Muslim Nusantara melaksanakan ibadah haji, tidak semuanya memiliki kapal untuk berlayar. Sehingga kesempatan ini yang dimanfaatkan pemerintahan Hindia-Belanda untuk menyediakan alat transportasi.

"Strategi pengembangan perekonomian yang dilakukan oleh Hindia-Belanda melalui pemanfaatan pelaksanaan ibadah haji menjadi momen penting dan berkelanjutan, sebab ibadah haji merupakan kegiatan tahunan yang berlangsung sampai kapanpun," terangnya.
[war]
http://klimg.com/merdeka.com/i/w/news/2012/08/09/77352/540x270/semangat-perintis-haji-indonesia-500-tahun-lalu.jpg