Three Shaitans

[jamanpasand]

One of the rituals of Hajj is stoning three shaitans.

Who are these three shaitans and the history of the ritual.

[Humsafar]

JP,
You are an agent provocateur. Please do not ask questions that may logically lead one to question the roots of religion. And, as you have shown, you do not have the stomach for that kind of thing. I'd suggest that you remain within the parameters of your received wisdom, and do not, do not, never ever ever read books. Those are dangerous things - and may actually provide answers to your questions.

[anajmi]

Humsafar,

You are assuming that you are the only one who knows the answer to that question and have figured out the truth, which leads me to assume that as far as Islam is concerned you have no idea what you are talking about.

jp,

do a search on google if you are looking for answers.

[anajmi]

Humsafar,

Surprisingly, you were able to complete an entire post with typing "pagan ritual".

[Humsafar]

anajmi, you're funny
No, I haven't figured out the truth - and perhahps never will. But that doesn't stop me from tyring. I'm still searching, learning and reading - ahem! - the "wrong" books.

[anajmi]

Humsafar,

If the only answer you have for everything is "pagan ritual", I can safely say that you will never figure out the truth. Besides doesn't look like you've actaully read a lot of books, only one, I think, called "Pagan Rituals".

[jamanpasand]

My post was out of curiosity and not with any intention as observed by my friend Hamsafar.
On the net I could not find much details except that Hazrat Ibrahim was misled by them.
I thought its history will be a good addtion on this forum.

[anajmi]

Hazrat Ibrahim (as) was commanded by Allah in his dream that he should sacrifice his son Hazrat Ismail (as).

Hazrat Ibrahim (as) decided to obey Allah's command when shaitan approached him and tried to convince him not to obey Allah's command. Hazrat Ibrahim (as) threw stones at him and drove him away. The shaitan then approached Hazrat Ibrahim (as)'s wife and tried to convince her to save her son from this sacrifice. She too threw stones at him and drove him away.

The shaitan then approached Hazrat Ibrahim(as) and asked him not to obey his father and let him be sacrificed. Hazrat Ibrahim(as) too threw stones at him and drove him away.

The shaitan tried to stop the sacrifice at three different places and so we throw stones at those three symbols of shaitan.

By the way, Allah causes the pain of the stones thrown at the symbols to actually reach the entity which they symbolise.

Now get ready for the enlightened comments of thick skinned non faith based people.

Remember, in these modern times these people exactly represent the shaitan which tried to prevent hazrat Ibrahim (as) from carrying out Allah's command. Shaitan has appeared today as them trying to prevent us from carrying out Allah's command. Throw some stones and drive them away.

[anajmi]

Some correction.... the shaitan's last approach was to Hazrat Ismail(as) and not to Hazrat Ibrahim(as) as I mistyped.

The shaitan then approached Hazrat Ismail(as) and asked him not to obey his father and let him be sacrificed. Hazrat Ismail(as) too threw stones at him and drove him away.

[accountability]

anjmi: what is the difference between ortho bohra and ortho sunni.

[tahir]

Originally posted by anajmi:

By the way, Allah causes the pain of the stones thrown at the symbols to actually reach the entity which they symbolise.

You are right. Mina, near Mecaa, is the area where the historical incidence happened and not only the symbol but the spirit of shaitan still haunts the place. At times, when God is not looking, he(shaitan) is able to punish the people who try to hurl pebbels at him. Here is how he has retaliated in recent years:

1990 - 1426 pilgrims were trampled or asphyxiated to death in a stampede in a tunnel in Mina.

1994 - a stampede kills 270 pilgrims

1997 - A fire in Mina tore through the sprawling, overcrowded tent city , trapping and killing more than 340 pilgrims and injuring 1,500

1998 - 118 were killed and more than 180 hurt

2001 - 35 died

2003 - 14 pilgrims, including six women, were killed in a stampede during the first day of the stoning ritual.

2004 - Some 244 pilgrims were trampled to death during the "stoning of Satan" ritual at Mina, near Makka, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Moral of the story: When you go for stoning the shaitan, make a queue.

[porus]

Interesting Anajmi,

Could you please tell us what type of pain-inflicting punishment has been specified for Shaytan?

Since Shaytan, like all the other malaikat, has been created out of fire, narul-jaheem will not have any effect on that entity.

[anajmi]

tahir,

You are right, people should make a queue. But hey, death during hajj is a guaranteed entry into heaven. Only for those who believe, I might add.

porus,

don't know. Allah knows best.

[anajmi]

accounts,

don't know.

[anajmi]

porus,

May be Allah will drown him in water.

[anajmi]

or maybe Allah converts each stone thrown at the symbols into those small water balloons and then those get thrown at the real shaitaan. I am sure he must feel the pain of water since he is made of fire.

[tahir]

IMHO, believers should try to go for hajj before they turn 40. That in when they have zeal and physical endurance. The idea of reserving hajj for old age is an erronous one, both from physical and spiritual POV. Turks, Iranians and Indonesians seem to have realised this.

[anajmi]

Actaully Hajj becomes mandatory as soon as you have enough money to do it. And that means you could do it at 25 even.

[Average Bohra]

That's what the Saudi Tourism ministry is counting on...

[anajmi]

I am sure after Bush establishes a democracy over there we will all be able to go for Hajj for free.

[porus]

Well! Satan has retaliated. 345 dead at Jamarat and counting.

Satan has the last laugh. He also gets his own sacrifice, human ones.

Remember, no human has yet worshipped God like Satan did. He worshipped God for 70,000 years, each year equivalent to 70,000 solar years. And God is going to reward him on the Day of Judgement for carrying out His will perfectly. After all, He Hmself has assigned him the task to tempt men (and women).

[anajmi]

porus,

I am not too sure about that. Remember those dead are going to end up in heaven. That wouldn't be a success story for Shaitan. He doesn't want to kill people and send them to heaven, he wants to let them live and tempt them to turn away from Allah and take them to hell with him.

Success stories for Shaitan would be people like yourself, humsafar, kalim, average bohra and others.

[anajmi]

One other thing, if Allah can do what he is going to do to his greatest worshipper, imagine what he might do to you, you for whom HE is going to do what HE is going to do to his greatest worshipper.

[anajmi]

You know in the last 3 years, more than 120 thousand people have died in Iraq because of shaitan. It really boils me up when smart educated thick skinned non faith based folks seem to care more about butchered animals that will provide food for humans than with butchered humans. Freaking hypocrites.

[anajmi]

And this hypocrisy is shown only by murtads. Shaitan is a murtad too.

[porus]

Anajmi,

I liked your first two responses. In the other two, your emotions got the better of you. I will join you in your prayers for the dead at Jamarat.

You are letting me off very lightly if you think my punishment will be the same as Shaitan's. Shaitan is a robot and has no free will. He cannot stop doing what he is doing. He can only be rewarded, unless God denies him His perfect justice.

For me, I fear I will see Shitan laughing at me from the best seat in heaven!!

[anajmi]

porus,

I am sorry about letting myself go just then. I loose it when people make fun of the dead. And I am not sure why you say that shaitan has no free will. He is of the jinn. You need to study more about the jinn.

If he had no free will, he couldn'tve refused Allah when ordered to prostrate before Adam.

[porus]

Some say Shaytan is of the jinn.

But Quran states he is of the malaaikat.

Refer to 2:34.

As to free will, malaaikat are aware of free will but cannot act out of free will unless God gives them permission.

In 2:32, malaaikat say that they have no knowledge except what has been revealed to them by God. This means that, unlike man, malaaikat are very much aware of God's wills and wishes. (Man has to learn or be taught by other men.) Shaytan's apparent free will in disobeying God was nothing more than God's creation of good-evil polarity. Having given Shaytan his task, Shaytan can't disobey, even if he wants to. If he did, then God's drama would be meaningless.

Creation of evil Shaytan by infinitely good God is one of those philosophical parodoxes yet to be resolved by religious people.

[anajmi]

I am afraid the paradox is the creation of fitnatis and nothing more than that.

Let us assume for a second that satan is the angel and he is doing this because God commanded him to. Doesn't it scare you for a second that you may actually be going to hell either way? That is assuming you actually believe in satan and Allah.

So take my advise, forget worrying about whether satan is an angel or a jinn and start praying.

[anajmi]

For me, I fear I will see Shitan laughing at me from the best seat in heaven!!

You don't want that to happen do you? Tomorrow is friday, go to the mosque, say the shahadah and inshaallah you will be sitting next to shaitan in paradise laughing at humsafar.