Brief Sequence of Hajj

1. Pilgrims perform cleansing rituals at designated stations outside Mecca. Men and women exchange their street clothes for hajj garments - stripping themselves of social distinctions and embracing their dedication to God.
2. Among other rites, pilgrims circle the Kaaba, a shrine at the center of the Grand Mosque - built by Abraham and his son - seven times counterclockwise in a procession called the Tawaf. It symbolizes placing God's House at the center of their lives.
3. On the first official day of the hajj, pigrims take a three-mile journey into Mina, where they spend the night in a massive tent city.
4. In the morning, pilgrims continue east to the Plain of Arafat, where Muslims believe Adam and Eve were reunited after leaving Eden. A daylong group vigil, in which pilgrims stand in the presence of God, marks the zenith of the hajj.
5. At sundown, the hajj loops back toward Mecca, halting at a patch of hills called the Muzdalifah, where pilgrims stop for the night, participate in a nightlong vigil, and collect stones for the next day.
6. At dawn, pilgrims cast pebbles at the Jamraat, three stone pillars that symbolize temptation - places where Satan tried to tempt Abraham from the path of God. They first throw seven stones at the largest pillar, and then stone the other two over the course of two or three days.
7. Back in Mecca, pilgrims can perform the seven turns around the Kaaba one last time before heading home. The end of the hajj is celebrated with a three-day feast.