Pilgrims launch into final Haj rituals

Some 2.8 million Muslim pilgrims symbolically stoned the devil in the Mina valley, near Mecca, on Wednesday, as they launched into the final rituals of the hajj.

Having on Tuesday focused on throwing pebbles at the Jamarat al-Aqaba, the largest of three adjacent walls representing Satan, pilgrims on Wednesday cast their stones at all three sites.

The stoning rituals continue on Thursday before the hajj, the world's largest annual pilgrimage, 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 walked out of 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.
The ritual is an emulation of Abraham'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.

Saudi statistics revealed 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.
The increase was most likely due to a flood of pilgrims without permits. Authorities on Sunday put the number of permits issued to Saudis and citizens of other Gulf states at just 200,000.

On Monday, the hajj peaked with the assembly of all pilgrims in the plain of Arafat, where the prophet Mohammed is believed to have delivered his final sermon, on a hill in the plain known as Mount Arafat, or the Mount of Mercy.
No major incidents have so far been registered, a pay-off for Saudi investments in expanding infrastructure at the sacred sites.
The stoning ritual at the Jamarat was marked in the past by deadly stampedes, with hundreds trampled to death in several incidents.

To control the crowds, Saudi authorities built a five-level structure around the three sites, allowing a smooth flow of pilgrims.

The complex stands like a car park in the middle of the barren valley that is surrounded by rocky hills.
Pilgrims who are in a hurry will leave by Thursday afternoon, after they finish their stoning rituals and a farewell circumambulation of the Kaaba. Others stay for a further day. The Haj ends on Friday.

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