Hajj (pilgrimage) by H.E. The Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah

One of the lessons and goals of Hajj is the ritual that is represented by throwing a number of stones on the devil. It reminds us about the struggle with the devil in a symbolic way that is not far from the real life. You do not envisage a devil that lives inside you which you do not know its nature, but you think about all devils focusing on their thought and not their size.
You try to find the devil in you as well as in your social and political life and How big its position is in power.
Hajj is a training session in which the pilgrim graduates with a knowledge of the ways and means of the devil and the way to deal with him that is restricted to cursing and throwing stones at him.
Therefore, you ought, dear pilgrim, to be filly ready to this vast experience and training session.
There you stand to throw stones at the devil, seeing in front of you all the devils of unbelief, tyranny and arrogance in the entire world… Then you go back to your life to confront all its idols ,problems and devils.
Hajj, thus, does not end when you finish its rituals; it is the beginning and not the end. The Islamic life is waiting for many a pilgrim in various Muslim fronts all over the world, so that the religion will be entirely to God and life would be dedicated for His service.
It is the success of the pilgrim afterwards, not at the end of Hajj but at the end of life, when Man has to be held accountable before God.
This is the story of man when he worships God by all his feelings, in a responsible and aimed manner and not of a feeling of emptiness. This is the real dimension of Hajj, to make the Muslim man who loves Allah, fellow men and life, as a result of his pious and responsible attitude towards Allah.