Mount Arafat

A 2012 study classified Mount Arafat as a granodiorite rock which mainly consists of feldspar, quartz and muscovite, among other minerals, using petrographic, fission track dating and γ-spectrometric (HPGe) techniques in order to study the geology, thermal history and the radiological hazards due to the presence of primordial radionuclides. The study yielded fission track age of 9.13 ± 1.05 Ma of the Mount Arafat granodiorite. In addition, the study reported that rifting, magmatism, volcanism and seafloor spreading that resulted in the formation of Red Sea seems to have altered the original age of the Arafat granodiorite under study to 9.13 ± 1.05 Ma. Measured radioactivity concentrations due to Ra, Th and K were found to not pose any radiological health hazard to the general public. == Hajj ==

Arafat rituals end at sunset and pilgrims then move to Muzdalifah for Maghrib prayer and a shortened Isha prayer and for a short rest. The level area surrounding the hill is called the Plain of Arafat. The term Mount Arafat is sometimes applied to this entire area. It is an important place in Islam because, during the Hajj, pilgrims spend the afternoon there on the ninth day of Dhu al-Hijjah. Failure to be present in the plain of Arafat on the required day invalidates the pilgrimage. Since late 2010, this place is served by Mecca Metro. On a normal Hajj, it would be around to walk. File:Arafat pilgrims.jpg|Pilgrims supplicating File:Masjid Namirah - panoramio.jpg|Masjid al-Namirah File:Jabal-e-Rehmat (Mount Arafat).jpg|Pilgrims supplicating during Hajj File:Jabal-e-Rehmat (Mount of Mercy) Mount Arafat.jpg|Entrance of Jabal ar-Rahmah (Mount of the Mercy) File:Jabal-e-Rehmat (Mount of Mercy).jpg|Pilgrims File:Jabal-e-Rehmat Mount of Mercy Mount Arafat.jpg| File:Jabal-e-Rehmat.jpg| File:Jabal-e-Rehmat (Mount of Mercy Mount Arafat).jpg| == In literature ==

The hill is referenced in James Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake and Elias Canetti's Crowds and Power. == See also ==