MINA, 13 February 2003 — Pilgrims symbolically stoned the devil for a second day yesterday. Chanting “God is Great,” they threw seven small pebbles at each of the three gray stone pillars in the last ritual of the Haj.
The ritual, which symbolizes the rejection of evil, will be repeated today as the Haj winds down.
The pilgrims were in good spirits but at mid-day yesterday many of them were still hesitant to perform the ritual because of massive crowding on the Jamarat Bridge.
“This thing is scary,” said Shadaab Shahadeh, from Tehran, Iran.
“After what happened yesterday to one of the Iranian pilgrims, we are taking our guard. Our guides have advised us to exercise caution and wait for the crowd to thin down before completing the ritual,” she added.
Watched by guards and policemen, pilgrims were directed to approach the stoning site in orderly waves to avoid disasters like Tuesday’s that left at least 14 people dead and a number of others injured.
Following the stampede, the authorities said they had strengthened emergency services. Eight medical units were set up around the pillars to deal with any stampedes.
“We have increased the level of coordination among all concerned authorities to avoid what happened (on Tuesday),” Othman Al-Maimani, Makkah’s provincial health affairs director, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
According to Al-Maimani, ambulances could not reach the site of the stampede quickly because of traffic jams caused by the nearly two million pilgrims converging on Mina.
With just one day to go for the completion of this year’s Haj, many pilgrims were seen engaged in supplication and prayers. Niyaz Hanware from India, who is performing the Haj along with his wife, said the whole exercise required mental preparation.
“Pilgrims should be encouraged to familiarize themselves with all aspects of Haj, memorizing and learning the meaning of the prayers involved, which are recited in Arabic,” he said.
“The more you know about Haj and its obligations and prohibitions,” he felt, “the more comfortable and at peace you will feel during the whole process.”
According to Hanware, overcoming the stress of Haj is a metaphor for what must be done in life.
“The aim is to always seek the peace of Allah,” he said. “It teaches us that all of life is a spiritual quest.”
Save for the blistering weather everything went according to plan yesterday. The pilgrims will stream out of Mina today after performing what for many will be a once-in-a-lifetime journey of faith.
