Saudi Arabia - Two million Muslims
gathered at Mount Arafat on Thursday for a vigil to atone for
their sins and ask God's forgiveness as the annual hajj
pilgrimage reaches its climax.
Pilgrims clad in white robes spent the night in an
encampment around the hill where Islam holds that God tested
Abraham's faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Ismail
and where the Prophet Mohammed gave his last sermon.
Other worshippers who had been praying in the nearby Mina
area ascended in buses or on foot from before dawn as security
forces directed traffic and helicopters hovered overhead.
Some pilgrims carried umbrellas to protect themselves from
the sun. Temperatures were approaching 40 degrees Celsius
(104°F).
Men and women from nearly every country in the world
gathered side by side, some crying on their neighbour's
shoulder.
Even if Ur not in Arafat it is still #ArafatDay So fast if you can, PraySalat on time, Forgive, Donate, Make Du'a &Dhikr &Make someone Happy pic.twitter.com/VYrHIuMWi4
— HSlimi (@ihslimi) August 31, 2017
Today over 2 millions of pilgrims are starting Hajj rituals by standing the whole day in #Arafat, #ArafatDay
#Hajj2017 pic.twitter.com/9FzWbF0LQi
— Abdulrahman (@1Alrezqy) August 31, 2017
An elderly Syrian pilgrim sitting on the hilltop shouted
out, "Oh God, take revenge on the oppressors". Others assembled
around him responded, "Amen."
Awfa Nejm, from a village near Homs, said: "We ask God to
protect Syria and its people and return it to the way it was
before."
Twenty-seven year old Amin Mohammed from Nigeria said he was
praying for peace in his country.
Saudi Arabia has said more than two million pilgrims, most
of them from outside Saudi Arabia, have arrived for the five-day
ritual, a religious duty once in a lifetime for every
able-bodied Muslim who can afford the journey.
The pilgrims will spend the day on Mount Arafat to atone for
their sins and seek God's mercy.
By sunset they will move to the rocky plain of Muzdalifa to
gather pebbles to throw at stone columns symbolising the devil
at another location called Jamarat on Friday, which marks the
first day of Eid al-Adha (feast of sacrifice).
A crush in 2015 which killed hundreds occurred when two
large groups of pilgrims arrived together at a crossroads in
Mina, a few kilometres east of Mecca, on their way to Jamarat. It was
the worst disaster to strike hajj for at least 25 years.
Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of
Islam's holiest sites - Mecca and Medina - and organising the
pilgrimage.
Officials say they have taken all necessary precautions this
year, with more than 100 000 members of the security forces and
30 000 health workers on hand to maintain safety and provide
first aid.
Saudi state television on Thursday showed a new kiswa, the
cloth embroidered with verses from the Qur'an, being placed over
the Kaaba in Mecca's Grand Mosque. Pilgrims will return to pray
there at the end of hajj.