From the WSJ Opinion Archives
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
Stoning the Devil
What's the hajj all about?
The pilgrimage, or hajj, which is obligatory for Muslims at least once during their lifetimes, is not for the faint of heart. During the last month of the Islamic calendar, millions of pilgrims alight at Mecca to carry out the prescribed rites. The crowds are immense, especially at such spots as Mina, the valley some five miles east of Mecca where a stoning ritual occurs and where, this year, 251 hapless pilgrims were trampled to death. Indeed, disaster all too often accompanies the hajj, usually from cook-stove fires that sweep through the tent cities erected by the Saudi authorities to house pilgrims.
To judge by recent press accounts, worship and ritual on such a scale--and with such risks--is baffling to many Westerners, as well it might be. One even saw on the Internet and heard on talk radio the claim that, with the loss of so many pilgrims' lives, Islam involves some kind of "cult of death." This is perhaps not the most nuanced understanding of this week's events.
Despite the risks, the hajj pilgrimage is a joyous and unforgettable occasion for Muslims, not a mere duty, and those who have made it are distinguished by a special title of honor, hajji, which they use for the rest of their lives.
The hajj is composed of stages, each of which must be accomplished in a set way and at a set time, and is not confined to Mecca itself. On arrival pilgrims enter into a state of ritual purity, or ihram, in keeping with the sanctity of the place. Mecca is what is known in Arabic as a haram, a holy precinct that has its own strict rules. No blood can be shed there, and from antiquity it has been a place of asylum, like the Biblical Cities of Refuge referred to in the Old Testament. In Mecca, pilgrims perform "the little pilgrimage," circulating seven times around the 50-foot-high structure of the Ka'ba, the building in which the revered Black Stone is set in a silver hasp. As they circumambulate, pilgrims stroke or kiss the stone, which is worn smooth from their touch.
Stones have always played a significant part in the religions of desert-dwellers. Ancient Arab poets questioned the stones about the fragility of human life but recognized too that even stones, despite their solidity, will be eaten away by time. When Islam arose in the early seventh century in the Arabian Peninsula, many pagan customs and rites were absorbed into its practices, and stones played a signal role.
The boundaries of Mecca are marked out by special stones. The Black Stone itself, whose origin and significance are obscure--it is perhaps a meteorite fragment--is a cultic object of great prestige, though few pilgrims could explain why. And, of course, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, where the sharia, or traditional Islamic law, is enforced, stones are still used in public executions, especially of adulterers.
In the final days of the hajj, the pilgrims throng to Mina. They have had to cover nine miles on foot between sunrise and 10 a.m. from their previous pilgrimage station at the plain of Arafat. The crush is intense. Many pilgrims are exhausted; others experience an intense exaltation, which has been building steadily over the 10 preceding days. Still others are disoriented and confused.
In Mina the ritual stoning of Satan takes place, the holiest moment of the rite. As Muslim scholars themselves have always noted, this practice is a pagan one taken over and transformed by Islam, though others note that it replicates the actions of Adam, the first prophet, when, according to sacred tradition, he drove the devil away with stones. Over three days pilgrims will toss seven pebbles a day at three rough stone pillars, the largest of which represents Iblis, the devil himself. As they do so they will chant "God is most great!"
The stoning is an explicit rejection of evil in the most tactile way; it is a final stage of purification and the culmination of the pilgrimage. Followed by the major festival of Id al-Adha, celebrated by Muslims all over the world (and just concluded for this year), the closing moments of the hajj can be filled with fervor. The pilgrimage is a communal experience of the most intense sort: The pilgrim stands alone before God but in the company of millions of fellow believers. There is a strong sense both of compunction (for the course of the rites is precisely laid down) and of joy.
It is hardly surprising that under such charged circumstances tragedies occur.
Mr. Ormsby is a professor of Islamic Studies at McGill University.
