Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims massed in a valley near the Saudi holy city of Mina on Monday for the stoning of Satan.
Hundreds of people have been trampled to death in stampedes, which have blighted several previous pilgrimages to the holiest sites when the faithful rush to hurl stones at huge pillars symbolising the devil.
To complete the ritual, a pilgrim must throw 21 pebbles at each of three 25-metre pillars and this year the faithful are being given pebbles in pre-packed bags to spare them of the effort of searching for the stones. The authorities have built bridges at three different levels on the stoning site in a bid to avoid the trampling that caused the deaths of 364 people in 2006, 251 in 2004 and 1,426 in 1990.
After the stoning ritual, the pilgrims go to Baitullah in Makkah for Tawaf-e-Wida “farewell visit” to the Kaaba.
So far this year, no major incidents have been reported, although a record number of pilgrims from abroad travelled to the holy sites, with a total of nearly two and a half million worshippers.
A large security force monitored worshippers headed for the stoning after slaughtering sheep in a ritual for the Feast of the Sacrifice (Eid-ul-Azha) to recall Ibrahim Alaihis Salam’s willingness to sacrifice his son on Allah’s order.
Most pilgrims did not sacrifice an animal themselves, but instead bought vouchers from the Saudi authorities, which then forward meat in the form of aid to poor Muslims in other countries.
The official SPA news agency reported that the most recent statistics put the total number of pilgrims at more than 2.4 million, almost 1.73 million from abroad and 679,000 from within the kingdom, mostly foreign residents.
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