Do Muslim Really Stone The Shaytan at Hajj?

I heard that on the last day of Hajj people stone the Shaytan on the mountain. I don’t quite understand this, how do the people know that the Shaytan is there and how do they stone it? Doesn’t that make the Shaytan angrier with those people?

This is a misconception where the people say, “We are stoning the Shaytan!” or “We are going to stone the Shaytan!” No you are not stoning the Shaytan; you are actually doing a ritual “Ibadah”, an act of worship. You are following the footsteps of Prophet Ibrahim (Peace be upon him).

What happened is that when Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) was going to slaughter his son Isma’il according to the vision which he had, the Shaytan followed him telling him, “Are you crazy? Are you mad? You are going to kill your own son?!” So Ibrahim stoned the Shaytan at his time in these places.

So we are just remembering what Ibrahim (Peace be upon him) did. So basically we are not stoning the Shaytan; we are doing this act of worship and this Ibadah to remember what Ibrahim did and how he obeyed Allah and how he was about to slaughter his son and Allah sent down the ram. And it is actually wrong to say about the Jamarat “We are stoning the Shaytan”; we say “Stoning the Jamarat” and Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) told us “Do not go to the extreme. Take small stones, small pebbles just in the size of the chick peas.”

You hear that some Muslims say, “We are stoning the Shaytan.” No, Shaytan is there in your body within the blood, Shaytan within yourself. So if you want to stone the Shaytan really, you have to get rid of all these desires and abide by the Law of Allah; that how you stone the Shaytan and that how you will defeat the Shaytan.

Sheikh Salem Al-Amry