MOUNT ARAFAT: A sea of pilgrims began moving yesterday towards Muzdalifah, where they gather pebbles for the last major rite of Haj. Their symbolic stoning of the devil today will coincide with Eid Al Adha.
Some 2 million pilgrims packed should-to-shoulder for an emotional day of repentance and supplication on Mount Arafat. Many wept as they raised their hands toward the sky, asking for forgiveness and praying for loved ones.
It was on this day some 1,400 years ago that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) delivered his final sermon from Mount Arafat during the Haj, calling for equality and for Muslims to unite.
Throughout the day, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims scaled the hill and prayed facing the Holy Ka’aba. Muslims believe prayer on this day at Mount Arafat, about 20km east of Makkah, is their best chance to erase past sins and start anew.
As the faithful gathered in their hundreds of thousands for noon prayers at Arafat, Saudi Arabia’s top cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Shaikh, used the opportunity to attack Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels, against whom the kingdom has been leading a military coalition since March.
Security officers, heavily deployed along the road, urged walking pilgrims to remain on one side, away from the bus routes as pilgrims headed towards Muzdalifah, where they will remain until dawn. Other pilgrims used the elevated Mashair Railway linking the Holy sites of Mount Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina — a tent city which will be the final stop for pilgrims and where the stoning ritual occurs.
After that, they circumambulate the Holy Ka’aba in Makkah before heading home at the end of Haj. No major incidents were reported on Mount Arafat.
Agencies
