Hajj pilgrims in Saudi Arabia mark Eid al-Adha with rituals and sacrifices

More than one million Hajj pilgrims on Monday marked the holy Muslim festival of Eid alAdha, the ‘Festival of the Sacrifice’, with rituals and sacrifices in Mina, 5 kilometers east of the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, an epa journalist reports.

The devotees spent the previous night in Muzdalifah a level open area that lies between Arafat and Mina where they gathered pebbles for the ‘Stoning of the Devil’ ritual, known as Jamarat alAqabah.

Today they traveled to Mina for the stoning ceremony, which is one of the key ritual acts that must be performed during the Hajj pilgrimage as a symbolic reenactment of Abraham’s rejection of challenges thrown at him by the Devil.

After morning prayers, the pilgrims took part in the ritual in which they must throw seven pebbles at three walls installed by authorities in 2004 to replace pillars (jamarat) to minimize risk of stampede that represent the temptation to disobey God.

Following the stoning ritual, the devotees will take part in more prayers and sacrifice animals like sheep, cows and goats, symbolizing Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son Ismail on God’s command.

They will spend two nights in Mina before traveling to Mecca to perform a Tawaf (circling ritual) around the Kaaba, an ancient stone building in the center of the Masjid alHaram (Grand Mosque), the most sacred Muslim site in the world.

Saudi authorities have implemented strict safety and crowd control measures during the Hajj to prevent a repeat of last year’s tragedy, when around 2,000 pilgrims died in a stampede that occurred as crowds were traveling to perform the stoning ritual.

The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the ‘shahada’ (profession of faith), almsgiving, prayer and fasting during Ramadan.