Minā

Minā is a narrow valley lying roughly five kilometers east of Makkah, between the city and Muzdalifa, and one of the principal stations of the Islamic pilgrimage.¹ Several of the ḥajj’s defining rites are performed there: the stoning of the pillars (ramy al-jimār), the animal sacrifice (naḥr or hady), the shaving or shortening of the hair (ḥalq or taqṣīr), and the encampment through the Days of Tashrīq. Within the sīra, Minā is closely bound to the Prophet Muḥammad’s ﷺ Ḥajjat al-Wadāʻ (the Farewell Pilgrimage) of 10/632, when he established by his own practice the sequence of rites that pilgrims have followed ever since.