Huge crowds of Muslim pilgrims scaled the Mount Arafat in Mecca early this morning (Friday), the high point of the biggest hajj pilgrimage since the pandemic forced drastic cuts in numbers for two years in a row.
The Muslims gathered in Mecca to offer one of the key obligations of Islam, will be performing Hajj-e-Akbar today as the day of pilgrimage falls on Friday. The Hajj performed on Fridays is considered to have a greater significance.
As many as 1 million pilgrims are performing Hajj this year. Of these 1 million Muslims, 83,433 pilgrims are from Pakistan.
The worshippers, capped at one million including 850,000 from abroad chosen by lottery, spent the night at camps in the valley of Mina, seven kilometres (four miles) from Mecca’s Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site.
In the early hours of Friday, they converged on Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) delivered his final sermon, for the most important rite of Hajj, Day of Arafat.