Nearly 2 million Muslim pilgrims ascend Mt Arafat for climax of Hajj pilgrimage

MECCA / ISTANBUL 

Nearly two million Muslim pilgrims converged on Mount Arafat in western Saudi Arabia on Thursday at the peak of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The pilgrims, wearing white clothing, began to gather at Arafat at sunrise after spending a night of meditation and introspection in the tent city of Mina, which marked the first leg of their five-day-long Hajj.

The pilgrims would spend the day on the Arafat plateau in supplicating to God to forgive their sins. They then would descend back to Muzdalifah, halfway between Arafat and Mina. They would go back to Mina, where they will take part in the symbolic stoning of the devil.

After the stoning on Friday, pilgrims would sacrifice animals to mark the four-day Eid al-Adha, which begins on the same day

The Hajj pilgrimage is the fifth pillar of the Islamic faith – a ritual that must be performed by all Muslims, if financially viable, at least once in their lives.

The ritual includes several rituals meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith and to commemorate the trials of the Prophet Abraham and his family.