Qualla: Stoning of the Devil

Stoning of the Devil: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Omar Chatriwala of Al Jazeera English, CC BY-SA 2.0. Seven pebbles, no bigger than chickpeas, pocketed the night before in the plain of Muzdalifah. A crowd numbering in the millions moves as one current through the valley of Mina, each pilgrim holding their gathered stones, each walking toward three walls that used to be three pillars. The Stoning of the Devil is one of the oldest continuous rituals on Earth, and one of the most dangerous. On 24 September 2015, at least 2,411 pilgrims died here when two converging streams of people met on a narrow road. That figure, from an Associated Press count, made it the deadliest day in the history of the annual Hajj.

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Image: Omar Chatriwala of Al Jazeera English | CC BY-SA 2.0

Stoning of the Devil: The Story Behind the Stones

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fadi El Binni of Al Jazeera English, CC BY-SA 2.0. The ritual is a reenactment. According to the account preserved by the Muslim historian al-Azraqi, when Ibrahim (Abraham) left Mina and walked down toward the defile called al-Aqaba, the Devil appeared to him. Gabriel told him to pelt the tempter. Ibrahim threw seven stones. The ...

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Image: Fadi El Binni of Al Jazeera English | CC BY-SA 2.0

Stoning of the Devil: The Sequence of the Rite

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Al Jazeera English, CC BY-SA 2.0. On Eid al-Adha, the tenth day of Dhu al-Hijjah, pilgrims strike the largest of the three jamarat, Al-Jamrah Al-Aqaba, with seven pebbles. They then cut or shave their hair. For the following two days they hit all three walls with seven pebbles each, moving east to west. The minim...

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Image: Al Jazeera English | CC BY-SA 2.0

Stoning of the Devil: Pillars Become Walls

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fadi El Binni of Al Jazeera English, CC BY-SA 2.0. Until 2004, the three jamarat were tall pillars. They had been pillars for centuries, but century-scale tradition met modern crowd dynamics and did not hold. Pilgrims on one side threw stones that struck pilgrims on the other side. After the 2004 stampede, Saudi authorities repla...

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Image: Fadi El Binni of Al Jazeera English | CC BY-SA 2.0

Stoning of the Devil: What the Numbers Cannot Say

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Fadi El Binni of Al Jazeera English, CC BY-SA 2.0. Crowd management is now the single hardest problem at Hajj. The Stoning of the Devil is the most dangerous part of the pilgrimage, because sudden crowd movements near the Jamaraat Bridge can crush people against barriers or against one another. In 2006, a stampede here killed at ...

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Image: Fadi El Binni of Al Jazeera English | CC BY-SA 2.0

Stoning of the Devil: The Valley That Holds Both

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Angnation, CC BY-SA 3.0. Mina lies just east of Mecca, a valley transformed every year into a tent city that holds roughly three million people for five days. Outside Hajj it is quiet. The infrastructure, the bridge, the walls, the cooled tents, sits waiting. Then Dhu al-Hijjah arrives, and the valley fi...

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Image: Angnation | CC BY-SA 3.0