Jamarat (stoning pillars) in the morning during hajj 2006 in Mecca 30.12.06

The Jamarat are the pillars at which Hajjis throw stones on Eid ul Adha, the day after Arafat, as well as on the next 2 to 3 days. For the most part, the stones were collected by the Hajjis during the night in Muzdalifah before going to sleep. Until roughly 10 years ago, the pillars were like cones with square bases. They can be seen in Hajj videos I posted last week in December. But as the number of Hajjis has grown more and more people would be injured by stones because Hajjis throw from all around the Jamarat. And some Hajjis are not careful to pick very small pebbles. And some Hajjis get angry while they throw because they imagine that hitting the stones is literally a strike against the devil, and they want to show their hatred of the devil. So they throw with great force, and throw even their sandals at the pillars. So the Saudi government's solution was to transform the fairly small pillars into long, tall walls and to build a second road on an overpass running along both sides of the now two-story Jamarat. The walls were much safer to throw at because no stones would hit Hajjis on the other side by mistake. But a second problem persisted. At peak throwing times so many people are gathered at such a small spot that there have been a few incidents when the crowd has stampeded. Sometimes it happens merely because people panic when they cannot move forwards. Or when some people try to go against the press of the crowd rather than submit to the direction in which others are moving. Most of the deaths that people here about during Hajj occur during such moments. And there was a small stampede in fact in January of 2006 when I made Hajj. The loss of life is incredibly small, perhaps 200 people out of 3 million Hajjis; the Hajji who dies during Hajj goes to Paradise, in sha Allah; and no one can avert what Allah subhanahu wata ala has decreed. Still the complaints from governments around the world are loud. So, the Saudis have returned to the design table and begun construction on a new Jamarat design which hopes to alleviate further the danger of stampede. You can see signs of the ongoing construction in the background of this video footage of this year's Hajj. Again no Google Video description besides the title. May Allah subhanahu wata ala Bless the Saudis for taking measures to further protect the Hajjis, and may He accept the Hajj and prayer of all the Hajjis, in sha Allah.