The answer is: In any direction. Accordingly, it is valid for you to stay on the side toward Mecca, beyond Jamrat al-‘Aqabah, and there is no harm in this so long as the tents remain connected.

His statement, “until after midnight”: according to the well-known position in the madhhab, this marks the end of the obligatory period for staying overnight. Thus, once midnight has passed in Muzdalifah, the obligation ends and you may depart, with no distinction between one who is unable and one who is able. Is midnight calculated from sunset until dawn, or until sunrise—which is more cautious? The more cautious view is until sunrise, because it is longer by approximately an hour and a half. Therefore, we say: wait an additional forty-five minutes after the midpoint between sunset and dawn; thereafter, you may depart.

However, the correct view, as mentioned previously, is that departure should only be in the latter part of the night. Asma’ bint Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with her, would wait for the moon to set; once it had set, she would depart, go to Mina and stone the Jamarah, then return to her place in Mina and pray Fajr. (1)

Since no specific text has been transmitted concerning the nights at Mina, what is required is to remain there for most of the night—whether its beginning, middle, or end. Thus, if we assume the night to be twelve hours, most of it would be seven hours, whether at its beginning, middle, or end.

His statement, “and the stoning”: this is the fifth obligation, namely, stoning the Jamarat: one Jamarah on the Day of Eid, and during the three days thereafter