The fourth obligatory act of Hajj is “Ramy al-Jamarah al-Aqaba”, on the day of Eid of Qurban (festivity of sacrifice). The meaning of this is to throw seven pebbles to a place which is placed at the end of Mena in the side of Mecca that is called “al-Jamarah al-Aqaba”
There are some things obligatory is Ramy “al-Jamarah”:
1- Having the intention of closeness to Allah, and it is enough to have the intention in the heart that he/she has the intention of throwing seven pebbles to the Jamarah for obeying Allah and performing rituals of Hajj and it is not necessary to say this intention by words.
2- The pilgrim should use seven pebbles (not being very large and not being very small, it is enough that each of them to be in size of a finger nail).
3- Pebbles should be hurled one by one and throwing two pebbles together is considered is throwing only one.1
4- Pebbles should strike Jamarah and if there is a doubt in this matter, it is not enough and the act should be performed again.
5- Pebbles should be hurled not being placed in the place of Jamarah and it is not enough that pebbles strike Jamarah with assistance of other person or thing (for example if a pilgrim throws a pebble and this pebble strikes Jamarah by assistance of other pebble which has been hurled by another person, then this is not enough).
6- The time for performing the throwing of the pebbles is from sunrise until sunset of the day of the Eid, but as we said before “women” and “old men” and those who are afraid of the congestion of the crowd can perform Ramy al-Jamarah at the night of the Eid.
7- Pebbles have three conditions:
“First”, they should be stone, not clod or clay or anything else.
“Second”, they should be collected from “Haram” (attention that all of Mash'ar al-Haraam and Mena are placed in Haram but Arafat is out of Haram), but it is better to collect the pebbles from Mash'ar al-Haraam in the night of the Eid, also collecting from “Mena” and “Mecca” has no problem.
“Third”, pebbles should be untouched; it means that nobody or even the pilgrim himself/herself had not used them for Ramy al-Jamarat before.
Therefore, pebbles which are fallen around Jamarah and have been used cannot be used for Ramy al-Jamarat. But of the pilgrim sees pebbles in other than that place and doubts that if these have been used or not, he/she can use them.
It should be considered that 49 pebbles are needed for three days (and if the pilgrim has to stay the thirteenth day then he/she needs 70 pebbles) that is better to collect them in the night of the Eid from Mash'ar and bring them in a bag with himself/herself, but it is better to have some more pebbles because it is possible that some of them may not strike the Jamarah.
It is an obligatory precaution not to collect the pebbles from mosques in there.
Ramy al-Jamarah can be performed ride or afoot, with the right or the left hand, also there is no specific method for throwing them and having ablution is not a condition, although it is better to perform Ramy al-Jamarah afoot with ablution and with the right hand, and in that state it is better to praise and pray to Allah.
Performing Ramy is not permitted in the night, except for women and ill persons and those who are afraid of the congestion of crowd in the day, or people who are busy in days managing and arranging the tasks of Hajjis in caravans (there is no difference in performing Ramy in the night before or after).
Ramy al-Jamarah al-Aqaba and other Jamarat can be performed from any side, although it is famous that it is Mustahab to stand back to Qibla and facing Jamarah when performing Ramy al-Jamarah al-Aqaba, but it is Mustahab to face the Qibla in performing Ramy of other Jamarat.
Whenever a pilgrim doubts about the number of pebbles which have been hurled, he/she should take the lesser number and perform the rest, and if he/she is sure about performing less than seven, he/she can perform the rest if the sequence has not been past and if it has been passed it is precaution to perform the rest and then perform it again by other seven pebbles.
Whenever a person renounces Ramy al-Jamarah because of forgetfulness or ignorance about the matter, it is necessary to perform that whenever he/she remembers or informed about the matter until the thirteenth day, and it is better to perform the Ghazaa of the previous day before the noon and the duty of that day in afternoon; but it has no problem to perform them both in one time (first the Ghazaa of the previous day and then the duty of that same day).
If a pilgrim finds out that he/she had not performed Ramy al-Jamarah after returning to Mecca from Mena, he/she should return to Mena and perform that, and if the thirteenth day has passed he/she should perform that in the next year in the same days or if it is not possible, he/she should take a proxy for performing that.
If a person renounces Ramy al-Jamarah deliberately, his/her Hajj is not invalidated but he/she should act according to the previous article.
The sequence of Jamarat should be observed in the eleventh and twelfth days which Ramy of all three Jamarat is obligatory; it means that the pilgrim should perform Ramy first on the place of “Jamarah al-Uula”, then “Jamarah al-Wusta” and after that the “Jamarah al-Aqaba” which is the last Jamarah (this is for the eleventh and the twelfth day; but in the tenth day which is the day of the Eid only Ramy al-Jamarah al-Aqaba is performed).
Whenever sequence has not been observed in Ramy al-Jamarat, the pilgrim should return and perform it in the way that sequence is observed, but if he/she has hurled four pebbles or more to each Jamarah, he/she returns and performs the rest sequentially, and if he/she has not hurled four pebbles, then he/she should return and perform from the beginning and throw seven pebbles, and if he/she has missed three pebbles or less from one of Jamarat, he/she should complete only that Jamarah and there is nothing else obligatory for him/her in this matter.
If the pilgrim has not observed the sequence deliberately, it is obligatory precaution to return and perform that from the beginning and there is no difference between four pebbles or less.
It is obligatory to observe the “sequence without interruption”; it means that the pilgrim should hurl the pebbles sequentially and with a little pause between them to the place of Jamarah, but as we said before, if a pilgrim has hurled four pebbles or more to the Jamarah sequentially and has renounced the rest because of forgetfulness or ignorance about the matter, then he/she can hurl the rest in another time although the sequence has been passed.
As it has been mentioned before those who cannot perform Ramy in the day because of an excuse should perform it in the night, and if they are incapable of performing it in the night or there is fear of a danger or harm, they should take a proxy to perform Ramy in behalf of them in the day.
Today, upper levels have been constructed for Jamarat, and it seems that performing Ramy from the upper level also suffices and it is enough when pebbles are hurled into the holes around the Jamarah and falls on the ground.