The Hajj at Mecca

I guess things could be worse. Instead of living in a country where the predominant religion is Christianity, I could live in one where it’s Islam.

The AP reports on the festivities in Mecca.

“Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims hurled pebbles at three huge stone pillars before dawn Tuesday in a symbolic stoning of the devil, one of the final rituals of Islam's hajj that has drawn more than 2.5 million people to the holy city of Mecca.”

A stoning of the devil? Come on guys, if Allah is all powerful and all merciful, then why doesn’t he keep the devil from causing problems? What does he need your help for?

“On Monday, the mass of pilgrims made the climactic ascent to Mount Arafat, Islam's most sacred site, to pray for salvation, and Saudi Arabia's top cleric called for Islamic unity in the face of what he called the West's war on Islam.”

Well that sounds like a call for co-operation and peace. Aren’t you SO happy that Saudi Arabia is our ally and that the problem with terrorism isn’t Islam?

“After offering prayers on the mount, tens of thousands of the faithful rushed down the hill to the Muzdalifah, a few miles away, where they collected pebbles to use in the ritual stoning, which stretches over two more days.”

Oh, it can’t just be any old pebbles, you need special pebbles. Do you suppose that they have to restock the pebbles in Muzdalifah like game wardens have to restock trout? Is a restocked pebble from someplace else as holy as one that naturally comes form Muzdalifah? What would happen if I got a whole bunch of pebbles from West Virginia and dumped them there? Would that screw up the stoning festival?

“The seven pebbles thrown at the pillars Tuesday were from 49 collected by each pilgrim, with 21 of the stones to be cast on both Wednesday and Thursday.”

Boy, what a complicated set of rules. Why can’t you just throw one pebble on one of the three days? What’s with the number 49? Is this related to the 72 virgins? What happens if you spill your hoard of pebbles before you get to throw them? Do you have to go back and get more or can you just pick them up? How could you tell the difference now between the ones you dropped and the ones that were there to begin with?

Thousands of people throwing 49 pebbles each is a whole lot of pebbles. What happens to them after they’re thrown? Are they just left to pile up or does somebody scoop them up and haul them back to Muzdalifah? What not just bag them and sell them to pilgrims with their travel package? I can see it now, all inclusive Hajj travel package. Includes air fare, hotel accommodations, 49 pebbles guaranteed to originally be from Muzdalifah and sheep coupon.

Here’s where the sheep coupon comes in.

“The completion of dawn prayers Tuesday also marked the start of the Eid al-Ahda, the feast of the sacrifice, which recalls Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son.”

If God was all knowing then he should have known that Abraham would be willing to sacrifice his son so what the hell was the point of the test? Can’t God read what is written in each man’s heart? And what would be the point of sacrificing a sheep provided by the God to be sacrificed to? How come the Lord and Creator of the universe gets a kick out of burning sheep flesh anyway?

“And as a reminder of Abraham's test, each pilgrim should buy a sheep for slaughter as a blood sacrifice. Saudi authorities have instituted a system whereby pilgrims purchase a coupon costing about $120. Sheep purchased through the system are slaughtered at special facilities and distributed to the needy.”

$120 per sheep! Wow, multiply that by the tens of thousands of pilgrim per year and somebody is making a lot of money. Compared to these guys Christianity, with its collection plates, is a piker. Is there anybody auditing the books? How do we know that all of that cash gets translated into a slaughtered sheep the meat of which goes to the needy rather than ending up in somebody’s pocket?

I’m sorry, but I find this utterly ridiculous as I find all religions utterly ridiculous. Can someone please explain to me the benefit of this ritual? Or at least the benefit beyond keeping the economy of Mecca booming.