I just read the sad news about the stampede which left 35 people dead during the Islamic "stoning of Satan" ritual. Can anyone help me understand the role of the pillars in this ritual? Aren't they being used emblematically, and therefore a sort of icon? I realize the pillar is not a depiction per se of Satan, rather it is an abstraction, but doesn't the human mind in most cases move very quickly from abstraction to imposed image? How would these pillars fit into the scheme of injunctions against images? Thanks. Margaret