Hajj 2009, Grand Prayer and Stoning

This page is one of two that look at one of the greatest religious gatherings, the Haj, when millions of Muslims from around the world make a pilgrimage to Mecca and the Kaaba.

This journey is known as "Hajj," one of the Five Pillars of Islam. According to the Islamic tradition, every Muslim - as long as he is in good health and is financially able - is obligated to take this pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime. Although the date of Hajj changes from year to year on the Gregorian calendar, the rituals are performed each year on the 8th-12th days of the Islamic month Dhu al-Hijah (the month of the Hajj). On Wednesday, millions of Muslims will begin Hajj 2009.

With the help of Arasikere Mukesh we learn that the main events for Haj are as follows:
1. On 26th Nov Thursday all people gather on the Arafat Mountain from morning to 6 pm.
2. On 27th Nov Friday people gather for grand prayer in Mecca from morning 6-1 pm.

The GCP event for the 27th was set for the time specified, 6 am to 1 pm, which is 0100 to 0800 UTC. The result is Chisquare 25391 on 25200 df, for p = 0.198 and Z = 0.850.

It is important to keep in mind that we have only a tiny statistical effect, so that it is always hard to distinguish signal from noise. This means that every "success" might be largely driven by chance, and every "null" might include a real signal overwhelmed by noise. In the long run, a real effect can be identified only by patiently accumulating replications of similar analyses.