The pilgrims were making the last important ritual of the HAJ, the devil’s cornerstone, on Friday, while Muslims around the world celebrated the beginning of Eidul Azha.
Pakistan will celebrate Eidul Azha tomorrow (Saturday).
Starting before dawn, the more than 1.6 million pilgrims who participated in the HAJ threw seven stones at each of the three concrete walls that symbolize the devil in the Mina Valley, on the outskirts of the Holy City of Makkah.
Pilgrim drugs had already left their camps and accommodations in the extensive city of the store in mine before dawn, taking advantage of the shadow and cold temperature.
The ritual commemorates the drugs of the prophet Ibrahim del Diablo in the three places where Satan tried to dissuade him to obey God’s order to sacrifice his son.
“Our experience in Mina was easy and simple. We entered and in five minutes we had completed the devil’s drugs in the ‘Jamarat’,” said Wael Ahmed Abdel Kader, 34, from Egypt, after carrying out the ritual at dawn.
Howakita, a pilgrim from Guinea, said that the possibility of celebrating Eid in Makkah filled her with joy.
A day earlier, the pilgrims converged in Mount Arafat, praying and reciting Koranic verses in the 70 -meter rock ascent near Makkah, where the prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) gave him his last sermon.
Many rose to the mountain despite the scorching heat, although the numbers had been reduced by noon after official warnings so that the pilgrims remain within 10 am and 4 pm (12 PM and 6pm PKT)
This year’s HAJ saw the authorities that implemented a variety of heat mitigation efforts along with a wide repression of illicit pilgrims, which resulted in remarkably thinner crowds and a strong presence of safety in the sacred sites in Makkah and the surrounding areas.
The measures aimed to prevent a fatal repetition of the HAJ last year that saw 1,301 people die in temperatures that reached 51.8 degrees Celsius.
The Saudi authorities said that most of those deaths were among the pilgrims that were placed illegally in Makkah and lacked access to accommodation and other services destined to keep the pilgrims safe and protected from the heat of the desert.
This Haj season has registered the least number of pilgrims in more than three decades, except for the years of Covid restrictions of 2020-2022.
Last year, 1.8 million pilgrims participated in the HAJ, according to official figures.
Haj’s permits are assigned to countries on a fee and distributed to people by a lottery system. Pakistan receives one of the highest Haj quotas in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi king, Salman Bin Abdulaziz to the Saud, in a message in Arabic, expressed his gratitude for having the privilege of hosting Haj every year. He prayed to God for the acceptance of the Holy Ritual.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatolá Ali Khamenei, urged pilgrims to keep Gaza people in their prayers. In a message posted in X, he wrote: “You blessed the pilgrims, do not neglect the opportunity to pray and seek the help of Almighty God during the Hajj.”
Khaemeni asked the pilgrims to ask the Almighty “for the victory over the Zionist oppressors and their followers.”
Haj, one of the fundamental pillars of Islam, is carried out every year by millions of Muslims around the world.
