Ritual of stoning the devil during Hajj
Zainab_M:
BismEm
After getting a question on this topic recently from a relative, I thought it would be a good idea to share the clarification here as well.
Many people think that the purpose of this ritual is to take out the Shaitaan within the individual. This confuses some minds into thinking that why go to a particular pillar that symbolizes the devil? The question I was asked was that isn't designating a particular object to symbolize the devil the "the other side of idol worship?"
The best answer would be --
First of all, the purpose of this ritual is not to take out the Shaitaan within the individual. It depends upon a person's intentions and their devotion to Allah Almighty. If a person truly loves Allah and wants to seek His guidance, then he or she will automatically reject Shaitaan, regardless of stoning.
As we know from the Noble Quran, Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) was commanded by Allah Almighty to sacrifice his son, Ishmael. This, of course, was only a test of Prophet Ibrahim's Faith and obedience to Allah .. Allah never meant to carry out this commandment and He did not. This incident is contained in the Quraan. For references you can check Surah 2, Verses 125, 127, 128 and 129. And Surah 37, Verses 100 to 113.
The ritual on stoning the pillars representing the devil is based on some Hadith narrations about Prophet Abraham. According to these Ahadith, the positions of the three pillars are supposed to be the places from where Satan (or Shaitaan) tried to tempt and misguide Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) three times into disobeying Allah Almighty by dissuading Ibrahim from carrying out Allah's order. But each time Prophet Ibrahim saw (or felt) the presence of the devil trying to lure him, Angel Gabriel told him to respond by throwing a stone (or stones) at Shaitaan (or Iblis). Thus, the devil failed to distract Ibrahim. It is said that the location of the three pillars at Mina mark the points where Satan stood, attempting to mislead Abraham. For this reason pilgrims throw stones on the pillars. The pillars represent the places where Shaitaan stood. Therefore, the purpose of throwing stones on the pillars is to express our contempt for the devil where he was once said to have stood.
It is important to keep in mind that this story and ritual is NOT contained in the Quran. It has its origin either in Hadith or some other non-Quraanic source, most likely Hadith. It is certainly not in the Quran.
For further clarification, I sent this query to Brother Louay Fatoohi, one of the best Muslim scholars of our time, asking him to inform me about the source of this story and tradition. I quote his response as below:
"Dear sister Zainab,
As you know, the pilgrimage to the Ka‘ba dates back to the days of prophet Abraham who built the Ka‘ba with his son prophet Ishmael. Prophet Abraham is thought to have lived around 1900 BCE, that is around 2,500 years before Prophet Muhammad. In that very long time, the original teachings and rituals must have been changed by people and so did their meanings. For instance, it is reported that the Prophet had to ban the circumvention of the Ka‘ba by pilgrims who would do that while they were completely naked — a practice that had become acceptable by his time. The rituals of hajj as we have them today are almost certain as the Prophet himself performed them. But this does not mean that their meanings are more accurate than the accuracy of the interpretation of any practice. How and when and meanings such as the one you cite developed, is difficult to tell. There may be some sources that can tell us that, but I am not aware of them. The task is made even more difficult by the problems that we have with establishing the authenticity of most hadiths that are attributed to the Prophet.
Regards and salam."
Heba E. Husseyn:
Alhumdulilah. That's been put very well, both by you and brother Louay.
I also thought of sharing something else.
A passage taken from Quran-Islam.org website, which is a strictly Quran alone site I came across on the web, on the stoning ritual comments as under. Quran-Islam.org is flatly against Hadith. It believes that the only Quranic way to look upon Satan with contempt is to seek refuge in Allah Almighty, by obeying Him and thus strengthening our Iman and improving our conduct.
I guess the author (or authors) of this website must really be very upset with the interpolations in Islam introduced by humans. So, at times their critisizm of such blind following of rituals may sound a bit angry. However, to me it seems that the ideology and logic expressed in the following excerpt fully complies with the values of the Noble Quran.
Quote
The Stoning ritual
Another issue that is considered by Muslims to be an integral ritual of the Hajj is the stoning of Satan. Not only is this ritual not mentioned in the Quran, but in actual fact there is ample evidence in the Quran to suggest that the stoning is an act of idolatry. All the correct rituals of Hajj are mentioned in the Quran, yet the stoning is not a Quranic ritual of Hajj.
The origin of the stoning ritual comes from a misinterpretation of the word ‘Rajeem’ in the following verse:
"He (God) said, ‘Therefore, you (Satan) must be exiled, you will be ‘rajeem’(banished)" 38:77.
These words also appear in 15:34.
The word ‘rajeem’ which means banished, has been corrupted to mean stoned, hence it is claimed that the stoning ritual during ‘Hajj’ is a Quranic command.
In support of such claim, the reference is made to some of the most ridiculous fabricated ‘hadith’, one of which claims that every time a stone is thrown at any of the three Satanic stations, that Satan feels pain and groans in agony!! Believe that and you will believe anything! In actual fact the devil, and who is obviously not sitting at those alters waiting to be aimed at, is probably laughing his head off and rejoicing for succeeding in deviating the millions of idol worshippers from the sole aim of Hajj, which is to ‘Praise and commemorate Allah’. In reality Satan has taken up two or three days of their valuable time during the season of Hajj to utter his name!! The fact that they are stoning him and cursing his name and not singing his praises is totally insignificant, simply because of the following reasons:
1- The devil is made of fire and thus cannot be touched by physical matter (stones).
2- The devil is not sitting in these holes waiting to be stoned!
3- Humans cannot see the devil or to be able to inflict him with physical injury.
The Quran clarifies these in the following verse:
"O children of Adam, do not let the devil dupe you as he did when he caused the eviction of your parents from Paradise……………………He and his tribe see you, while you do not see them" 7:27
Every precious hour and day of the Hajj should be spent in commemorating the name of God Almighty alone, and not to utter the name of Satan. The Quran emphasises that the only duty of believers in the Hajj is to commemorate the name of God. The various verses that speak of Hajj in the Quran constantly emphasises this sole purpose of Hajj:
"And proclaim that the people shall observe Hajj pilgrimage …………… they shall commemorate God’s name during the specified days for providing them with the livestock" 22:27-28
"You shall commemorate God for a number of days" 2:203
"While you file from ‘Arafat’ you shall commemorate God………." 2:198
"As you complete your rites, you shall continue to commemorate God……" 2:200
Furthermore, the command in 6:162 is to dedicate all our rituals to the name of God alone. To dedicate two or three days for the name of Satan is in violation of this command.
Say: Lo! my worship and my sacrifice and my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the Worlds. 6:162
God Almighty has prescribed to us in the Quran the only way to deal with the devil and that is to seek refuge in God and not to throw silly stones!
"Say, ‘My Lord, I seek refuge in You from the whispers of the devils, and I seek refuge in You, my Lord, lest they come near me." 23:98
It is no surprise after this obvious act of idolatry, to find that most of the people who die every year during Hajj in fact die at the location of the stoning, could this be a hint from God to warn the masses of their act of idolatry?
Unquote
Zainab_M:
Thanks sister CAt. I think this particular quote you posted from Quran-Islam.org makes a lot of sense. Very interesting read.
Zainab_M:
On reading this quote again and reflecting deeper, in a certain way it seems the author has misunderstood this practice. The writer is emphasizing too much on the physical side of matters. It maybe so that most of those pilgrims who stone the pillars know that the devil is not actually waiting there to be stoned and that the devil cannot be seen by the human eye. This might be precisely the reason that brings the practice of stoning the pillars which are symbolic of the devil. In the absense of the ability of being able to stone the devil physically, the next closest thing humans can do to express their rejection of him is to use a symbolic structure (or structures) to symbolise the devil's venue and thus express their repugnance of him by pelting the pebbles.
And only Allah knows best.
Heba E. Husseyn:
Yeah, I absolutely get your point, sis. If the ritual has a spiritual or symbolic significance by which the pilgrims openly declare their enmity to the devil, that's absolutely right. But only Allah would know how many pilgrims take this ritual as symbolically expressing their repugnance for the devil and how many believe that the devil in really waiting there at the season of Hajj. Hadith narrations and fatwas bring such unrealistic ideas into the minds of most people that the ideology of many Islamic practices have been altered. I would call this the second alteration. The first time Islam was changed was after Prophet Abraham (pbuh) delivered the Message of Allah to the people, and the second time is now, when our people have brought in so many changes after Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) delivered the final Message of Allah. As I see, a similar point has also been expressed by brother Louay Fatoohi in his quote above.
I would also add that regarding the existence of the ritual of stoning the devil, and whether or not it existed during the times of Prophets Abraham and Muhammad (peace on them both) depends on the authenticity on the story of Prophet Abraham stoning the devil when the devil tried to distract him from sacrificing his son (which of course was only a commandment from Allah to test the faith of Abraham and not meant to be carried out). As we know, the Noble Quran mentions the entire event of Prophet Abraham being tested over this aspect of sacrificing his son, Ishmael, but nowhere does Allah mention that the devil tried to stop Abraham and Abraham chased away the devil by throwing stones at him. As I see it, our imams have a habit of giving too much power to the Shaitan who according to them, constantly keeps interrupting the interaction of Allah with His faithful slaves.
Therefore, in my opinion, it's okay if the pillars at Mina are simply taken as a symbol of Shaitan's presence, stoning which would provide greater satisfaction to believers. But I hope they don't take it in the literal sense thinking that Shaitan is 'physically' present there.
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