The Stoning Tragedies during Hajj

Almost every year or so we hear about fatal accidents during Hajj at the site of the stoning that claim the lives of many pilgrims while they are observing the stoning ritual. The victims are crushed and trampled over under the stampede of thousands who rush to the stoning pillars. Many people wonder why would God the Most Merciful allow such a cruel death for those who are only observing their religious duties? And, more significantly, why always at the stoning site?

However, those who know the Quran and follow its guidance know that this ritual of stoning was never authorised by God in the Quran. Consequently, those thousands and thousands are in fact performing an idolatrous ritual that has no authorisation in the Quran.

The following reports detail some of the worst tragedies that have taken place during the last few years:

July 2, 1990:

1,426 pilgrims, many of them Malaysians, Indonesian and Pakistanis, killed in Mecca stampede in overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to holy sites. It was worst hajj tragedy of modern times.

May 23, 1994:

270 pilgrims, most of them Indonesian, killed in stampede in Mecca as worshippers surge toward cavern for symbolic ritual of "stoning the devil."

April 15, 1997:

Fires driven by high winds tear through a sprawling, overcrowded tent city at Mina where pilgrims go to for the stoning ritual, trapping and killing more than 340 pilgrims and injuring 1,500. Aid workers and diplomats said the death toll was at least 500.

April 9, 1998:

About 180 pilgrims were trampled to death when panic erupted after several fell off an overpass during the stoning of the devil ritual in Mina.

March 5, 2001:

CNN.com - Hajj crush kills pilgrims - March 5, 2001

MECCA, Saudi Arabia -- A stampede on the third day of the Hajj in Saudi Arabia has killed at least 35 Muslim pilgrims, Saudi media reports.

The deaths occurred during the ritual of the symbolic stoning of Satan that was performed by more than two million Muslims on a desert plain outside Mecca.

Saudi authorities were on high alert to avoid a repeat of a 1998 stampede in which more than 100 pilgrims were trampled to death during the stoning ritual.

Feb. 1, 2004:

[Rueters] February 1st, 2004,

Saudi medics evacuate an injured pilgrim in the city of Mena during the third day of the Haj in Saudi Arabia, February 1, 2004.

At least 244 Muslim pilgrims from around the world were killed in Sunday's tragedy. Another 244 were injured. Pilgrims aim their pebbles at stone pillars representing Satan in the city of Mena on the third day of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, February 1, 2004. At least 244 Muslim pilgrims were crushed to death and the same number injured in a stampede during the ritual, a Saudi minister said. [Reuters]

January 12, 2006:

345 dead and 1000 injured when a crowd rushed to stone a pillar representing the devil on the last day of the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi paramedics help some of the 1,000 people injured when a crowd rushed to stone a pillar representing the devil on the last day of the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. More than 345 pilgrims were reported killed in the incident