Lessons Drawn from the ḥadith
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Stoning the three jamarāt during the three days of tashrīq is prescribed; these are the appointed days for the rite. Whoever fails to stone during them—whether through excuse or negligence—has missed the act and must offer a compensatory sacrifice (dam).
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One must begin with the jamrah closest to Masjid al-Khīf, then the second, and finally Jamrat al-ʿAqabah. This order is obligatory; if it is disrupted, the stoning is invalid.
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Each jamrah is to be pelted with seven pebbles. This is the view of the majority of scholars. A few, among them ʿAṭāʾ and Mujāhid, permitted stoning with five or six.
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The takbīr is pronounced after every pebble that is thrown.
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After stoning the first jamrah one moves forward; after the middle jamrah one turns to the left, then faces the qiblah and supplicates at length with hands raised, seeking a response and acceptance, for this is one of the places where supplications are answered.
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Jamrat al-ʿAqabah is stoned from the bottom of the valley—Mecca on one’s left, Minā on one’s right—and no pause is made there for supplication. Scholars explained the absence of a prescribed stop by the narrowness of the space at that time. Although the area is now spacious, this does not justify stopping to supplicate, for the underlying reasons are speculative; goodness lies in following the Prophet’s practice, and the best guidance is that of Muḥammad ﷺ.
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The manner of stoning described in the ḥadith is the reported and therefore preferred way, yet it is permissible to stone the three jamarāt from any direction so long as the pebbles land in the designated pit. Al-Nawawī said in his commentary on Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: “Consensus holds that however one stones Jamrat al-ʿAqabah it is valid—whether he faces it, keeps it to his right or left, throws from above or below, or stands in its midst and throws.”
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Al-Shāfiʿī said: “The jamrah is the place where the pebbles collect, not the area where they have rolled away.”