Days Four, Five, and Six – The return to Mina also marks the commencement of a three-day feast, the Eid ul-Adha. The celebration is observed throughout the world, but nowhere with greater energy than in Mecca.

The days spent in the Mina Valley desert, where we leave behind our private lives, our usual comforts, our concrete walls and ceilings, air-conditioning and heating, one's own bath and toilet; where we trade all this for a canvas tent and a campfire, for life in a great camp--all this serves to slow down your life's pace and return you to a sense of REAL TIME.

This simplicity clears the mind, leaving the pilgrim ready to savor the basic gifts of life: a cup of water, a cooling breeze, a helpful direction from a stranger. In this sense, the Hajj is a direct invitation to give thanks for life on a primary level. We came here to live for a few days in a community of several million people, all determined to get back to basics, all determined to strengthen our connection to God. And we have done it. True to the ever-present chant that echoes in the background, "We Are Here."