Mina (), also known as Muna (), and commonly known as the "City of Tents" is a valley and neighborhood located in the Masha'er district in the Makkah Province of Saudi Arabia, southeast of the city of Mecca, covering an area of approximately . Mina incorporates the tents, the Jamarat area, and the slaughterhouses just outside the tent city. Mina is most famous for its role in the Hajj ("Pilgrimage"). To accommodate the pilgrims who stay in Mina over multiple nights in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, more than 100,000 air-conditioned tents have been built in the area, giving Mina the nickname "City of Tents." With a capacity of up to 3 million people, Mina has been called the largest tent city in the world. The three Jamarat, located in the Mina valley, are the location of the Stoning of the Devil, performed between sunrise and sunset in the final days of the Hajj. The stone throwing ritual commemorates the Islamic Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham)'s stoning of the devil, who wanted to prevent him from carrying out the command of Allāh to sacrifice his son, Isma'il (Ishmael). History In Islamic tradition, Ibrahim left his wife, Hagar (Hagar) and their son, Isma'il, in the valley of Mecca when Ishmael was an infant. Upon one of his visits to his family in Mecca, he was ordered by Allah in a dream to sacrifice his son in the Mina valley. While carrying out his sacrifice, he was interrupted by a devil and was commanded by Allah to stone the devil. The ritual of the stoning of the Devil is a commemoration of this belief. Mina is also believed to be the location of the pledges of al-Aqabah. Before the tents were built, pilgrims would bring their own tents to the valley and dismantle them while returning from the Hajj. Sometime in the 1990s, permanent cotton tents were installed by the Saudi government. These cotton tents were especially susceptible to fires, which took many of the pilgrims' lives. After the 1997 Mina fires which resulted in the deaths of more than 340 pilgrims, more than 100,000 permanent tents, measuring , were built. These are constructed of fiberglass with an outer coating of Teflon to protect them from fires. The tents are grouped into camps, each with their own exterior walls, and divided by the nationalities of pilgrims, providing temporary accommodation to up to 3 million