{"id":1105,"date":"2008-12-08T17:57:26","date_gmt":"2008-12-08T17:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele.php"},"modified":"2008-12-08T17:57:26","modified_gmt":"2008-12-08T17:57:26","slug":"hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele","title":{"rendered":"Hajj Pilgrims Stone Devil, Celebrate Feast"},"content":{"rendered":"

MINA, Saudi Arabia – The young Iranian threw stones at symbols of the devil Monday and had his beloved black locks shorn – one of 3 million Muslims on the hajj pilgrimage performing rituals to symbolize rejection of temptation and a new, purified self.
\nThe Iranian, Mohammad Kheirkhah, later joined other pilgrims in a feast of freshly slaughtered sheep, goats and camels at a huge tent city in Mina, a desert valley east of Islam’s holiest city, Mecca. Similar sacrifices, marking the start of the Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, were carried out by Muslims around the world.
\nThe holiday commemorates a story celebrated by Muslims, Jews and Christians in which God asked the prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son to prove his faith, but then in the end offered a sheep to kill instead.
\nMuslim tradition says it was at Mina, 3 miles (5 kilometers) from Mecca, that the devil tried to tempt Abraham to disobey God by refusing to sacrifice his son. Hordes of pilgrims dressed in their white robes streamed across Mina valley Monday toward three walls symbolizing the devil known as the Jamarat, chanting “at thy service, my God, at thy service.”
\nThe massive crowds streamed through a four-story platform the size of an airport terminal built around the walls, and each pilgrim stoned the largest wall with pebbles collected earlier on the nearby rocky plain of Muzdalifah. They will return on each of the final two days of the five-day pilgrimage, which ends Wednesday, to stone all three walls.
\nThe stoning ritual has caused frequent stampedes that have killed more than a thousand pilgrims in past pilgrimages. More than 1,400 people were killed in 1990 in a stampede in a tunnel leading to the Jamarat. In 2006, over 360 people died in a similar incident while they were on a platform performing the stoning ritual.
\nCol. Khaled al-Mahmadi, the head of security at the Jamarat, said precautionary measures have been taken to avoid a stampede – including expanding the Jamarat platform from two to the current four stories to provide more room for the pilgrims.
\n“We have become experts in crowd management after handling enormous gatherings on the Jamarat over the years,” he said.
\nAl-Mahmadi said authorities have banned pilgrims from carrying baggage during the stoning because it can cause people to stumble and fall, causing panic and injuries. Police have also set up one-way routes to and from the Jamarat monitored by cameras to avoid congestion.
\nHelicopters flew overhead Monday to monitor the crowd, and policemen and volunteers on the streets called out, “Yalla, ya hajj” – “Hurry up, pilgrim.”
\nAfter the stoning, many of the male pilgrims shaved their heads – the mark of a Muslim who has completed the hajj. Female pilgrims cut a clip of their hair.
\n“Now, I feel the burden of sin is off my shoulders. I feel free and purified,” said Kheirkhah, the Iranian pilgrim. Bunches of hair littered the pavement around him at the foot of the Jamarat platform.
\nIslam requires that all Muslims who are financially and physically able to perform the hajj at least once in their lifetime. The pilgrimage is supposed to cleanse Muslims of their sin.
\nThe hajj begins and ends in the holy city of Mecca, the birthplace of the 7th century Prophet Mohammed and the site of Islam’s holiest shrine, the Kaaba.
\nAssociated Press – December 8, 2008
\nCopyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MINA, Saudi Arabia – The young Iranian threw stones at symbols of the devil Monday and had his beloved black locks shorn – one of 3 million Muslims on the hajj pilgrimage performing rituals to symbolize rejection of temptation and a new, purified self. The Iranian, Mohammad Kheirkhah, later joined other pilgrims in a feast…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nHajj Pilgrims Stone Devil, Celebrate Feast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hajj Pilgrims Stone Devil, Celebrate Feast\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MINA, Saudi Arabia – The young Iranian threw stones at symbols of the devil Monday and had his beloved black locks shorn – one of 3 million Muslims on the hajj pilgrimage performing rituals to symbolize rejection of temptation and a new, purified self. The Iranian, Mohammad Kheirkhah, later joined other pilgrims in a feast…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-12-08T17:57:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"nsymmonds\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Hajj Pilgrims Stone Devil, Celebrate Feast","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Hajj Pilgrims Stone Devil, Celebrate Feast","og_description":"MINA, Saudi Arabia – The young Iranian threw stones at symbols of the devil Monday and had his beloved black locks shorn – one of 3 million Muslims on the hajj pilgrimage performing rituals to symbolize rejection of temptation and a new, purified self. The Iranian, Mohammad Kheirkhah, later joined other pilgrims in a feast…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2008-12-08T17:57:26+00:00","author":"nsymmonds","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele","name":"Hajj Pilgrims Stone Devil, Celebrate Feast","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-12-08T17:57:26+00:00","dateModified":"2008-12-08T17:57:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f960b23e9c3a51222269c557a209b4f2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/12\/hajj-pilgrims-stone-devil-cele#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hajj Pilgrims Stone Devil, Celebrate Feast"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/","name":"Beliefnet News","description":"Top Religious News From Around the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f960b23e9c3a51222269c557a209b4f2","name":"nsymmonds","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/13d\/13ddfa3407d6847bc2fbd32a13b67708x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/13d\/13ddfa3407d6847bc2fbd32a13b67708x96.jpg","caption":"nsymmonds"},"description":"Nicole Symmonds is Beliefnet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Prayer editor and also covers Christianity. A New Yorker by birth but a Floridian by tenure, Nicole graduated from Florida A&M University with a B.S. in Public Relations and a minor in Sociology. She moved to NY to pursue a career in journalism which started at In Style magazine. There she learned the ropes of magazine reporting, researching, and writing\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand became exponentially more stylish. But what seemed like a deep interest in fashion and entertainment would soon be revealed as merely the vehicle that moved her closer to discovering her purpose, writing and covering matters of the Christian faith. While in her purpose-driven vehicle she can be found traveling between Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens for life, work and worship, respectively. From fashion to faith and the journey isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t over yet\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/author\/nsymmonds"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}