Pilgrims cast pebbles in the stoning of the devil ritual marking the start of the Eidul Azha holiday on Saturday, as this year’s expanded Haj pilgrimage was winding down.
From first light, small groups of worshippers made their way across the valley of Mina, near Makkah in western Saudi Arabia, to throw stones at the three pillars symbolising the devil.
The ritual is an emulation of Hazrat Ibrahim’s (AS) stoning of the devil at the three spots where Satan tried to dissuade him from obeying Allah’s order to sacrifice his son, Hazrat Ismail (AS).
In 2019, some 2.5 million Muslims from around the world took part. But that figure slumped to only a few thousand in 2020 and 60,000 in 2021, all of them Saudi citizens or residents, as the kingdom tried to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, participation was capped at 1 million fully vaccinated worshippers. Authorities said Friday that almost 900,000 were in attendance, nearly 780,000 of them from abroad. Hosting the pilgrimage is a matter of prestige and a powerful source of political legitimacy for Saudi rulers, the custodians of Islam’s holiest sites. Barring overseas pilgrims for the past two years had caused deep disappointment among Muslims worldwide, who typically save for years to take part.
The Haj, which costs at least $5,000 per person, and Umrah pilgrimages that occur at other times of the year are a major engine of Saudi Arabia’s tourism sector.
In normal times, they generate about $12 billion annually, keeping the economy humming in Makkah.
After the stoning ritual, pilgrims return to the Grand Mosque in Makkah to perform the final tawaf.
Eidul Azha began on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, North America and Europe and marks the end of Haj.
On Friday, huge crowds of pilgrims prayed on Mount Arafat, the climax of the annual pilgrimage. Groups of worshippers, many holding umbrellas against the fierce sun, recited verses from the Holy Quran on the rocky rise where Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) gave his final sermon. After sunset, they travelled the short distance to Muzdalifah, where they slept under the stars before performing the stoning ritual. The large crowds have spurred fears that Covid will spread, especially after many pilgrims remained without facemasks, despite claims by Saudi authorities that masks would be mandatory.
The Haj has been taking place against the backdrop of a resurgence of cases in the region, with some Gulf countries tightening restrictions to keep outbreaks in check.
All participants were required to submit proof of vaccination and negative PCR tests. Since the start of the pandemic, Saudi Arabia has registered more than 795,000 coronavirus cases, over 9,000 of them fatal. Some 67 million vaccine doses have been administered in the country of over 34 million people.
