Muslim pilgrims symbolically stoned the devil in the Mina valley, near Mecca, yesterday, as they launched into the final rituals of the hajj, the world’s largest annual pilgrimage which this year has drawn around 2.8 million devotees.
Having on Tuesday focused on throwing pebbles at the Jamarat al-Aqaba, the largest of three adjacent walls representing Satan, pilgrims yesterday cast their stones at all three sites.
The stoning rituals continue today before the hajj winds up the following day.
“Thank God. I have fulfilled one of the duties of hajj,” said Ibrahim al-Asaad, 27, from Syria, as he emerged from the Jamarat complex.
“I felt I was really stoning Iblees (an Arabic name for the devil). I felt I was insulting him and declaring that I shall not follow him,” he said.
Iblees in Islamic tradition is a wicked angel who refused Allah’s order to prostrate to his creature, Adam, claiming that being created from fire made him superior to Adam, who was made from the soil.
The angel who fell from grace told God he would work endlessly to divert Adam and his offspring from obeying God. He was kicked out of heaven, along with Adam and Eve, after he convinced them to eat the forbidden fruit, according to Islamic tradition.
“I am keeping him away from me,” said Khalaf Bayoush, 30, from Syria, after he cast pebbles at the three walls representing Iblees.
“Thank God. I fulfilled my duty,” said Yemeni Antar Ahmed, 21.
Crowds surged later in the day as many appeared to follow the prevailing tradition of doing the stoning in the afternoon.
“I cast my stones in the morning. But after I asked scholars they told me that I should repeat,” said Arif al-Shuaibi, 21, from Yemen.
Officials sprayed mist over the faithful as they arrived to cast their pebbles in a bid to reduce the blazing heat.
The ritual is an emulation of Ibrahim’s stoning of the devil at the three spots where he is said to have appeared trying to dissuade the biblical patriarch from obeying God’s order to sacrifice his son, Ishmael.
Pilgrims had returned overnight to Mina, a tent town that comes to life only during hajj, from Mecca where they had on Tuesday performed the Tawaf circumambulation around the Kaaba, a cube-shaped stone structure towards which Muslims worldwide face for prayer.
They had also on Tuesday performed Sa’i, going back and forth between the two stone spots of Safa and Marwah in seven lengths.
The ritual is meant to copy the desperate walks of Hagar, wife of Ibrahim, who was seeking water for her infant Ishmael after he left them in the barren spot.
Saudi statistics revealed on Tuesday that a total of 1,799,601 pilgrims from outside Saudi Arabia and 989,798 from inside made the hajj this year, for a total of 2,789,399.