Analyzing the Impact of Social Distancing on the Stoning Ritual of the Islamic Pilgrimage

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a profound impact on large-scale gatherings throughout the world. Social distancing has become one of the most common measures to restrict the spread of the novel Coronavirus. Islamic pilgrimage attracts millions of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia annually. One of the mandatory rituals of pilgrimage is the symbolic stoning of the devil. Every pilgrim is required to perform this ritual within a specified time on three days of pilgrimage. This ritual is prone to congestion due to strict spatiotemporal requirements. We propose a pedestrian simulation model for implementing social distancing in the stoning ritual. An agent-based simulation is designed to analyze the impact of inter-queue and intra-queue spacing between adjacent pilgrims on the throughput and congestion during the stoning ritual. After analyzing several combinations of intra-queue and inter-queue spacings, we conclude that 25 queues with 1.5 meters of intra-queue spacing result in an optimal combination of throughput and congestion. The Ministry of Hajj in Saudi Arabia may benefit from these findings to manage and plan pilgrimage more effectively.