Muslim pilgrims used the early morning hours of Monday to carry out the second day of the symbolic stoning of the satan as noontime summer season warmth led to heatstroke amongst 1000’s concluding the Hajj pilgrimage.
The last days of the Hajj coincide with Muslims worldwide celebrating the Eid al-Adha vacation.
The stoning ritual, which entails casting pebbles at pillars representing the satan, happens in Mina, a desert plain simply outdoors Mecca in Saudi Arabia. A 3rd stoning is scheduled for Tuesday, adopted by the Farewell Tawaf, or circling of the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca.
The Hajj pilgrimage is without doubt one of the Five Pillars of Islam. All Muslims are required to make the five-day Hajj at the very least as soon as of their lives if they’re bodily and financially ready.
More than 1.83 million Muslims carried out Hajj in 2024, barely fewer than the earlier 12 months’s determine of 1.84 million, in keeping with Saudi officers.
The rites largely commemorate the Quran’s accounts of Prophet Ibrahim, his son Prophet Ismail and Ismail’s mom, Hajar. The rites have taken place below hovering summer season warmth, which is anticipated to succeed in 49 levels Celsius (120 levels Fahrenheit) in Mecca and surrounding areas, in keeping with the Saudi National Center for Metrology.
More than 2,760 pilgrims suffered from sunstroke and warmth stress on Sunday alone firstly of the primary spherical of stoning, in keeping with the Health Ministry. Jordan introduced Sunday that 14 Jordanian pilgrims died from heatstroke through the Hajj.
The variety of pilgrims on the roads resulting in the pillars on Monday morning decreased considerably in contrast with Sunday’s rites. Security forces, medics and first responders have been deployed in and round Mina, particularly on roads and open areas, to assist pilgrims.
“I am really impressed by the preparations,” mentioned Sani Abdullah, a Nigerian pilgrim. “I have never encountered any problems. Everything is going smoothly.”
Mina is the place Muslims consider Ibrahim’s religion was examined when God commanded him to sacrifice his solely son, Ismail. Ibrahim was ready to undergo the command, however God spared his son. In the Christian and Jewish variations of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his different son, Isaac.
The stoning started Sunday, a day after the pilgrims visited the sacred Mount Arafat, the place they spent their day in worship and reflection. The ritual in Mount Arafat, generally known as the Hill of Mercy, is taken into account the height of the Hajj pilgrimage.
The pilgrims collected the pebbles they used within the symbolic stoning of pillars from Muzdalifa, an space situated just a few kilometers from Mount Arafat.
The rituals formally began Friday when the pilgrims moved from Mecca’s Grand Mosque to Mina, then to Mount Arafat. They then returned to Mina, the place they spent as much as three days, every casting seven pebbles at three pillars in a ritual to represent the casting away of evil and sin.
While in Mina, the pilgrims visited Mecca to carry out a “tawaf,” or circumambulation, which is circling the Kaaba within the Grand Mosque counterclockwise seven instances. Then, one other circumambulation, the Farewell Tawaf, marked the tip of the Hajj as pilgrims ready to depart the holy metropolis.
Once the Hajj was over, males had been anticipated to shave their heads, and ladies had been anticipated to snip a lock of hair as an indication of renewal.
Most of the pilgrims then left Mecca for town of Medina, about 340 kilometers away, to wish in Prophet Muhammad’s tomb, the Sacred Chamber, a part of the prophet’s mosque, one of many three holiest websites in Islam, together with the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
This 12 months’s Hajj got here towards the backdrop of the devastating Israeli assaults on Gaza, which pushed the Middle East to the brink of a regional battle.
The battle has killed greater than 37,000 Palestinians within the besieged strip, in keeping with Gaza well being officers, whereas a whole bunch of others have been killed in Israeli operations within the West Bank.
It started following Hamas’ Oct. 7 incursion on southern Israel, killing about 1,200 folks and taking round 250 hostages.
Palestinians within the Gaza Strip weren’t capable of journey to Mecca for the Hajj this 12 months due to the closure of the Rafah crossing in May when Israel prolonged its floor offensive to town on the border with Egypt.
Source: www.dailysabah.com