Pilgrims commence the final rites of Hajj as Muslims celebrate Eid al-Adha
Saudi Arabia. The ritual marks the final days of Hajj pilgrimage and the start of the Eid al-Adha celebrations for Muslims around the world. The stoning is among the final rites of the Hajj, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. It came a day after more than 1.8 million pilgrims congregated on a sacred hill in Mount Ararat outside the holy city of Mecca, which Muslim pilgrims visit to perform the annual five-day rituals of Hajj.
The pilgrims left Mount Arafat on Saturday evening to spend their night in a nearby site known as Muzdalifa, where they collected pebbles they have used in the symbolic stoning of pillars representing the devil.
The pillars are in another sacred place in Mecca, called Mina, where Muslims believe Ibrahim's faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Ismail. Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son. In the Christian and Jewish version of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac.
Pilgrims will spend the next three days in Mina, where they walk long distances on pedestrian-only streets toward a multi-story complex housing large pillars. There, they cast seven pebbles each at three pillars in a ritual meant to symbolize the casting away of evil and sin.
While in Mina, they will visit Mecca to perform «tawaf,» circumambulation, which is circling the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque counterclockwise seven times. They will make another
