On the first day of stoning, the Day of Sacrifice (Dhul Hijjah 10), pilgrims perform the ritual of Jamarat Al-Aqaba.
During the following two or three days, known as Ayyam Al-Tashreeq, pilgrims throw seven stones each at three pillars:
”first at Jamarat Al-Sugra (the small pillar), then at Jamarat Al-Wusta (the medium pillar), and finally at Jamarat Al-Aqaba (the largest pillar)” seven times each.
This year, more than 1.8 million foreign and domestic pilgrims performed Hajj.
In an interview with Radio Nigeria some of the Jigawa state pilgrims Alhaji Haruna Wada Global from Hadejia, Engineer Suleiman Babani and Alhaji Yusuf Musa from Dutse shed more light on their experience shortly after stonnig the Jamrat.
They explained that they do not encounter any challenges during the stonnig of the Jamrat.
The pilgrims commended Saudi authorities for a well coordinated routes in order to avoid stampede for the pilgrims.
Those who performed the stoning rituals on these three days would have used more than 90 million pebbles, with each pilgrim using a total of 49 pebbles while those pilgrims who stayed back in Mina to perform stoning ritual on the fourth day using a total of 70 pebbles.
This means that over one 100 million pebbles were used during the Hajj pilgrimage of 1445 that ended on Wednesday 19th June 2024.
Many people must be wondering about the fate of more than 100 million of these pebbles, asking where do these pebbles go after the departure of all pilgrims from Mina by Wednesday evening with the Mina valley and Jamarat becoming empty once again until the arrival of pilgrims for the Hajj next year.
The search to find an answer to this question comes to a conclusion about the highly scientific and meticulous arrangements made by the Saudi authorities to handle these pebbles in the most hygienic and exemplary way.
The process of dealing with the stones collected on the first, second and the third days of stoning will begin immediately after the pilgrims complete the rituals of stoning the Jamarat.
The pebbles fall vertically downwards on the three pillars of all the four levels of the Jamarat facility with a depth of up to 15 meters and settle down in the Jamarat facility’s basement.
A number of conveyor belts will be tasked with collecting stones thrown by pilgrims to the sieving process and spraying them with water, removing dust and dirt stuck to the pebbles.
Finally, the cleaned pebbles will be transferred to vehicles taken to specific areas to be stored for further handling after the end of the Hajj season.
Last year, the organization provided more than 80,000 bags of pebbles to throw at the Jamarat.
It had also distributed the pebbles at over 300 contact points for pilgrims on the walking route in Muzdalifah, in addition to the Jamarat Bridge facility in Mina.
COV/USMAN MZ
