Required: No Fear Attitude

"Hundreds dead in Hajj Stampede"; "Hundreds Killed in Stampede Near Mecca": As the day progressed, the headlines became grimmer. And the thing that Muslims around the world feared had happened again: While partaking in the Hajj ritual of stoning the three pillars in Mina, Saudi Arabia, thousands of pilgrims were injured and hundreds killed yesterday in a stampede on the footbridge that leads to the pillars.

How does it happen? Why do millions of Muslims continue to participate in dangerous Hajj rituals year after year knowing that the sheer size of the crowds sometimes leads to such calamities? Why don't local authorities have stricter safety measures to protect the pilgrims? The non-Muslim public always asks these questions after a tragedy occurs during Hajj. It's happened in the past, with higher death counts.

It's difficult to understand the spiritual high a pilgrim experiences during the Hajj. But having performed the Hajj (for the first time) last year with my husband, I am very familiar with the attitude required to do the Hajj, the location of the

(pillars), and how hard the Saudi government works to ensure the safety of pilgrims during the stoning rituals.

In preparing for the Hajj, my husband and I collected a mountain of information and advice on how to do it properly, what to expect, and how to deal with the crush of humanity. It's no easy task, performing this ancient, multi-part, mandatory pilgrimage along with two million-plus other Muslims from all over the world. It requires patience, love, smarts, and a "no fear" attitude.

One of the last rites of Hajj, stoning the pillars garners perhaps the most advice for any first-time pilgrim. As a woman, I was warned against doing it at all, because females can have a male companion do the stoning on their behalf if they choose. But, being young and spiritually enthusiastic, I was determined that I would do it myself.

Stoning the pillars is a symbolic way of stoning the devil. With each thumbnail-sized pebble (you throw seven at each one, and you do it once a day for two to three days), you are casting out temptation and hammering the devil for hounding you. It's a physical way to fight back and start afresh.

It's also an extremely intense situation with tens of thousands of pilgrims jostling for space so that their stones will hit the pillars. Inevitably, pilgrims nearest to the pillars sometimes get hit on the head. And you've got to be alert and quick, because pilgrims are maneuvering closer to each pillar as other groups are weaving their way out. My husband and I locked arms as we approached each pillar and kept as close as we could to each other when we whipped our stones at the pillars.

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