MINA – As the Haj draws to a close amid tight security, millions of pilgrims completed their ritual stoning at the Jamarat, sacrificed animals and performed their obligatory Tawaaf of the Ka’ba.
These are among the last rituals to be performed by pilgrims. By Monday, many will have completed their Haj and left Makkah. They will have prayed that Allah has removed all their sins and left them as pure as newborns.
Over the last two days, pilgrims have been streaming onto the Jamarat Bridge to stone the devil. They also sacrificed animals yesterday to mark Eid Al-Adha – the Day of Sacrifice. Security was tight in Mina, with military helicopters continually flying overhead at the Jamarat Bridge and surrounding areas. Pilgrims were prevented from bringing large bags into the Jamarat area to make it safer for everyone.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims pelted the largest Jamarat pillar, Al-Aqaba, in Mina with seven stones.
According to the Qur’an, this marked one of Prophet Abraham’s three rejections of the devil’s attempts to persuade him to ignore Allah’s instructions to sacrifice his son Ishmael. Prophet Abraham obeyed, but at the last moment, Allah substituted an animal for Ishmael.
During the three days of Tashriq starting Saturday, pilgrims will pelt all three pillars. They are allowed to skip the third day of Tashriq and leave Makkah by Monday.
Pilgrims around the Al-Aqaba Jamarat smiled and waved at television cameras.
“I was afraid of problems at the Jamarat Bridge, but it was very easy,” Faeq Jarada, 60, a pilgrim from Gaza told AFP. After the stoning, Jarada said “pilgrims feel as pure as a child, like they are reborn.”
Assistant chief of Haj security Khader Al-Zahrani told Saudi television on Friday that there had been no major problems.
“The whole world wants to know how we protect the safety of several million pilgrims at the same time,” he said.
The stoning was orderly during the early morning on Friday. The SR4.2 billion enlarged pillars and newly-built five-story pilgrim walkway at the Jamarat have eased the ritual for the faithful and averted the deadly stampedes of previous years.
The design of the new bridge has forced all pilgrims to move in one direction. A number of exits have also helped to prevent stampedes.
After throwing the pebbles, many pilgrims took advantage of dozens of barbers around Mina to shave their heads as part of their purification, at SR10 per person.
With a freshly shaven head, Jordanian Nadil Novany, 42, took off his white Ihram clothes and was back in his jeans, having completed all the key rituals.
“We have finished the most important steps of the Haj. Early in the morning we went to the Grand Mosque in Makkah and walked around the Ka’ba seven times. We came back to Mina, threw stones at the Jamarat and prayed the dawn prayer. Then we shaved our heads, and sacrificed sheep as thanks.”
Following the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of heads of livestock according to Islamic Shariah, pilgrims flocked to the Grand Mosque in Makkah to circle the Ka’ba seven times for Tawaf Al-Ifadah, an essential part of the Haj rituals.
It is estimated two million Muslims from all over the world have been performing Haj. They have braved swine flu which killed four pilgrims. They also had to face a heavy downpour Wednesday that caused mass flooding in nearby Jeddah, killing at least 83 people.
An estimated 100,000 Saudi police and security personnel have been deployed to marshal the crowds at this year’s Haj. – SG with input from AFP