Holy Hajj starts today. The main formalities of the Holy Hajj are being held in Arafat Maidan at Mecca in Saudi Arabia. More than 1.5 million Muslim pilgrims have crowded Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat, a potentially record-breaking hajj pilgrimage.
Millions of Muslims responded to the call of Allah and appeared in Mecca from different parts of the world.
The holy ground of Arafat is resounding with the sound of “Labaik Allahumma Labbaik”. As dawn broke, groups of worshippers recited Koran verses on the rocky rise, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his final sermon.
The ritual is the high point of the annual pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam. One of the world’s largest religious gatherings, it involves a series of rituals in Mecca and its surroundings in western Saudi Arabia that take several days to complete.