Muslim pilgrims gather for peak of haj east of Mecca

ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia, July 8 (Reuters) – Round a million Muslim pilgrims gathered at dawn on Friday at Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat for a vigil to atone their sins and to wish for peace again house because the annual haj pilgrimage neared its climax.

Pilgrims clad in white robes climbed the rocky Mount of Mercy, which oversees the plain of Arafat the place the Prophet Mohammad held his final sermon. Beneath the burning desert solar, many sought no matter pure shade they may or sheltered beneath parasols.

“I really feel very glad, it’s unusual feeling with a non secular ambiance. It is rather good non secular ambiance certainly,” mentioned Tunisian pilgrim Afif Ghanmi, 58.

“I ask God for good well being, security and stability in all international locations and Muslim nations. For my nation Tunisia, God keen, it’s going to get higher economically, socially and politically,” Ghanmi mentioned.

Pilgrims will keep till sundown earlier than shifting to Muzdalifa plain the place they are going to collect pebbles to throw at stone columns symbolising the satan. The ritual stoning, generally known as Jamarat, marks the primary day of Eid al-Adha, or the feast of sacrifice, which will likely be celebrated by Muslims throughout the globe on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia has mentioned as much as a million pilgrims, principally from overseas, will attend the haj season this 12 months after two years of disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic throughout which the authorities allowed solely Saudi residents to carry out haj.

In 2019, the final season earlier than the pandemic, some 2.6 million pilgrims visited Islam’s two holiest websites in Mecca and Medina, and a few 19 million attended umrah, a minor pilgrimage that may be carried out at any time all year long.

Hani Jokhdar, an official on the Saudi well being ministry, mentioned authorities had been utilizing a monitoring system to look at for the unfold of infectious ailments with the intention to anticipate any early well being warning and perform fast intervention and help.

Safety officers roamed amongst pilgrims as concrete partitions topped with metallic bares protected restricted areas within the foothill of the Mercy Mount. Pilgrims, sporting government-issued wristbands with private information barcodes, prayed with their arms held up in direction of the sky.

Others snapped selfies.

“Reward be God, our Lord, who made us carry out haj after years of attempting,” mentioned Farhana Amin, an Egyptian pilgrim.

“I could not even dream of this.”

Reporting by Soha Gado, Mustafa Abu Ghaneyeh and Mohammed Salem, writing Aziz El Yaakoubi, Modifying by Raissa Kasolowsky

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