Al Abideen

Red workers, green trains make Hajj easier - for some

More than two million people kick off the Hajj pilgrimage today by heading out east from Mecca to Mina, a tent city on a majestic scale that’s only in use once a year. 

Once there, a series of rituals take place, involving visits to the valley of Muzdalifa, Mount Arafat to sincerely ask for forgiveness and erase one’s previous sins, and the Jamarat where pilgrims will stone the devil - satan or al-shaytaan in Arabic.


“Symbolic” stoning is the intention theologically, to provide a physical outlet for each pilgrim’s personal battle with the temptations of worldly possessions, the ego and other such evils that hinder submission to God and purity of heart.