Steps OF Hajj : Third and Fourth Day of Hajj - 10th and 11th of Dhul Hijjah ( Yaumul Wuquf Arafat )

Before daybreak on the third day, pilgrims move en masse from Muzdalifah to Mina.  There they cast at white pillars the pebbles they have previously collected, a practice associated with the Prophet Abraham.  As pilgrims throw seven pebbles at each of these pillars, they remember the story of Satan’s attempt to persuade Abraham to disregard God’s command to sacrifice his son.

Throwing the pebbles is symbolic of humans’ attempt to cast away evil and vice, not once but seven times - the number seven symbolizing infinity.

Following the casting of the pebbles, most pilgrims sacrifice a goat, sheep or some other animal.  They give the meat to the poor after, in some cases, keeping a small portion for themselves.

This rite is associated with Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son in accordance with God’s wish.  It symbolizes the Muslim’s willingness to part with what is precious to him, and reminds us of the spirit of Islam, in which submission to God’s will plays a leading role.  This act also reminds the pilgrim to share worldly goods with those who are less fortunate, and serves as an offer of thanksgiving to God.

As the pilgrims have, at this stage, finished a major part of the hajj, they are now allowed to shed their ihram and put on everyday clothes.  On this day Muslims around the world share the happiness the pilgrims feel and join them by performing identical, individual sacrifices in a worldwide celebration of ‘Eid al-Adha, “the Festival of Sacrifice.”  Men either shave their heads or clip their hair, and women cut off a symbolic lock, to mark their partial deconsecration.  This is done as a symbol of humility.  All proscriptions, save the one of conjugal relations, are now lifted.

Still so journing in Mina, pilgrims visit Mecca to perform another essential rite of the hajj: the tawaf, the seven-fold circling of the Kaaba, with a prayer recited during each circuit.  Their circumambulation of the Kaaba, the symbol of God’s oneness, implies that all human activity must have God at its center.  It also symbolizes the unity of God and man.

Thomas Abercrombie, a convert to Islam and a writer and photographer for National Geographic Magazine, performed the hajj in the 1970’s and described the sense of unity and harmony pilgrims feel during the circling:

“Seven times we circled the shrine repeating the ritual devotions in Arabic: ‘Lord God, from such a distant land I have come unto Thee....  Grant me shelter under Thy throne.’  Caught up in the whirling scene, lifted by the poetry of the prayers, we orbited God’s house in accord with the atoms, in harmony with the planets.”

While making their circuits pilgrims may kiss or touch the Black Stone.  This oval stone, first mounted in a silver frame late in the seventh century, has a special place in the hearts of Muslims as, according to some hadeeth, it is the sole remnant of the original structure built by Abraham and Ishmael.  But perhaps the single most important reason for kissing the stone is that the Prophet did so.

No devotional significance whatsoever is attached to the stone, for it is not, nor has ever been, an object of worship.  The second caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, made this crystal clear when, on kissing the stone himself in emulation of the Prophet, he proclaimed:

“I know that you are but a stone, incapable of doing good or harm.  Had I not seen the Messenger of God kiss you - may God’s blessing and peace be upon him - I would not kiss you.”

After completing the tawaf, pilgrims pray, preferably at the Station of Abraham, the site where Abraham stood while he built the Kaaba.  Then they drink of the water of Zamzam.

Another, and sometimes final, rite is the sa’y, or “exerting.”  This is a reenactment of a memorable episode in the life of Hagar, who was taken into what the Quran calls the “uncultivable valley” of Mecca, with her infant son Ishmael, to settle there.

The sa’y commemorates Hagar’s frantic search for water to quench Ishmael’s thirst.  She ran back and forth seven times between two rocky hillocks, al-Safa and al-Marwah, until she found the sacred water known as Zamzam.  This water, which sprang forth miraculously under Ishmael’s tiny feet, is springs from the same well from which pilgrims drink today.

Third day of Hajj – 10^th of Dhul Hijjah 

1. This is called Yaumun Nahr, the day of sacrifice. 
2. They go to Mina and throw small pebbles or stones the large Jamratul 'Aqaba (Stone pillar Symbolizing Satan situated in the back).
3. After stoning, they offer sacrifice.
4. They return to Makkah and perform the Tawaf (if they have not performed the Sa’i on 8^th of Dhul Hijjah, then perform the Sa’i also). Then return to Mina and make sacrifice by slaughtering the animal.
5. They trim the hair or shave the head.
   

Fourth day of Hajj – 11^th Dhul Hijjah 

This and the next two days are called Ayyamut Tashriq, which literally means the days of the drying of meat. 

1. The pilgrims stay at Mina
2. They perform Rami by throwing pebbles at all three Jimar.