MINA: Millions of pilgrims — some in groups, others alone — hurled pebbles at all three wide walls that represent Satan at the Jamrat Bridge on the third day of the stoning ritual yesterday. The packed stoning took place for a third day without any incident at a site that has in the past been the scene of fatal stampedes.
The peak hours of the stoning were between noon and 5 p.m. Security personnel were seen manning the area near the Jamrat complex, guiding the pilgrims to move on with green signs pointing in the direction of the pedestrian traffic. Pilgrims seen turning around to go back were asked to abide by new regulations. This strict one-way traffic control clearly made this year’s Jamrat stoning one of the most organized.
Assisting from the clouds were Civil Defense and Saudi Air Force helicopters, whose personnel monitored the tide of pilgrims to spot bottlenecks or potential dangerous crowding conditions and maintaining communication with ground officers. Though the Jamrat stoning takes place over three days, some of the pilgrims who stayed back in Mina yesterday will repeat the ritual again today.
In the evening, hundreds of buses and cars streamed out of Mina and Makkah, packed with pilgrims heading home after what for many was a once-in-lifetime journey of faith. The devout traveled to Jeddah to catch flights back home or to the holy city of Madinah to offer prayers at the Prophet’s Mosque, the second holiest site in Islam. Others will linger and shop before leaving, or even sell wares that they brought with them. Still others won’t leave at all but rather disappear into the legions of overstayers working and living illegally in the Kingdom.
An overwhelming majority of pilgrims, however, came for one single spiritual mission, and for them this Haj has gone off without any major incident.
“Thank God, I completed the pilgrimage,” said Jan Muhammad, an Afghan pilgrim on his way out of Mina. “I hope I live long enough to come back here again.”
“I pray to God to give every Muslim a chance to do this,” said Indian pilgrim Abdul Rasheed. Kenyan Ahmed Abdul Hamed, who was on his second pilgrimage, said: “It has been a great religious experience for me. It gets better and better each time.”
This same sense of exuberance and fulfillment gripped many others. “I feel that I have been totally purified,” said Sameera Sajjadi from Iran. For Nadia Asghar of Mauritius the thought of leaving was hard to face. “We have almost finished the stoning and our group will be heading to Makkah to bid farewell to God’s House,” she said.
