The Stoning of the Jamarat

Mina sits in a narrow valley a short distance east of Mecca, and for most of the year it is empty ground. During the days of the Hajj it becomes one of the most densely occupied temporary settlements on earth, its more than one hundred thousand fire-resistant tents housing several million pilgrims who pass through in stages. The central rite performed there is the stoning of the jamarat, in which pilgrims throw pebbles, traditionally seven at a time, at three walls that stand where tradition says Ibrahim was tempted by Satan to abandon God's command that he sacrifice his son. Pilgrims cast stones at the smallest jamrah on the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah and at all three, in order, on each of the following days of their stay, a rite understood as a renewed rejection of temptation performed with the whole body rather than merely affirmed in speech.

The stoning also marks the day of Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, when pilgrims and Muslims worldwide slaughter an animal in memory of the ram God provided in place of Ibrahim's son. Because so many pilgrims converge on the same walls at the same hours, Mina has also been the site of the Hajj's worst disasters, most severely the 2015 crush that killed more than two thousand people, and Saudi authorities have since rebuilt the jamarat as tall multi-level walls reached by a dedicated bridge specifically to spread the crowd across a larger area and more time.