Muslim pilgrims threw pebbles in the “Stoning of the Devil” ritual that marks the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday on Saturday, as this year’s extended Hajj pilgrimage drew to a close.
From first light, small groups of believers made their way through the Mina Valley near Mecca in western Saudi Arabia to throw stones at three concrete walls depicting Satan.
The ritual mimics Abraham’s stoning of the devil at the three points where Satan is said to have tried to dissuade him from obeying God’s command to sacrifice his son Ishmael.
The stoning ritual has sparked deadly stampedes in recent years as millions of participants crowded together.
Usually one of the largest annual religious gatherings in the world, the Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed by all Muslims with the means at least once in their lifetime.
In 2019, around 2.5 million Muslims from all over the world took part.
However, that number dropped to just a few thousand in 2020 and 60,000 in 2021, all Saudi nationals or residents, as the kingdom sought to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This year participation has been capped at one million fully vaccinated believers. Authorities said Friday nearly 900,000 attended, nearly 780,000 of them from abroad.
Hosting the pilgrimage is a matter of prestige and a powerful source of political legitimacy for the Saudi rulers, custodians of Islam’s holiest sites.
The exclusion of overseas pilgrims for the past two years has caused deep disappointment among Muslims around the world, who typically save for years to attend.
The Hajj, which costs at least US$5,000 per person, and the Umrah pilgrimages that take place at other times of the year are a major driver of the tourism sector in Saudi Arabia.
In normal times they generate about 12 billion US dollars annually and keep the economy in Mecca running.
– virus and heat –
After the stoning ritual, pilgrims return to the Grand Mosque in Mecca for a final “tawaf,” or circumambulation of the Kaaba, the cubic structure that is the focal point of Islam.
Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, which begins on Saturday, marks the end of the Hajj.
Muslims around the world are buying cattle for slaughter to commemorate Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son to show obedience to Allah.
On Friday, huge crowds of robed Muslim pilgrims prayed on Mount Arafat, the culmination of the annual pilgrimage.
Groups of believers, many holding umbrellas against the scorching sun, recited verses from the Koran on the rocky knoll where the Prophet Mohammed is said to have delivered his final sermon.
After sunset, they traveled the short distance to Muzdalifah, where they slept under the stars before performing the stoning ritual.
– Covid fears –
The large crowd has fueled fears that Covid will spread, especially after many pilgrims went maskless despite claims by Saudi authorities that masks would be mandatory.
The hajj came amid a resurgence of cases in the region, with some Gulf states tightening restrictions to keep outbreaks at bay.
All participants were required to provide proof of vaccination and negative PCR tests.
Since the pandemic began, Saudi Arabia has registered more than 795,000 coronavirus cases, over 9,000 of them fatal. About 67 million vaccine doses have been administered in the country of over 34 million people.
The Hajj, whose schedule is determined by the Islamic lunar calendar, can be physically demanding even under ideal conditions, but worshipers faced an extra challenge this year: scorching sun and temperatures soaring to 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit).
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