2 million Muslim pilgrims gather for pinnacle of hajj in Saudi Arabia

Muslim pilgrims from around the world began gathering before dawn on Wednesday in the valley of Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia for a day of prayer that marks the pinnacle of the annual hajj pilgrimage. Some 2 million pilgrims will be packed should-to-shoulder for an emotional day. Many wept as they stretched their hands out toward the sky in supplication to ask for forgiveness and pray for loved ones. It was on this day some 1,400 years ago that Islam’s Prophet Muhammad is believed to have delivered his final sermon from Mount Arafat during the hajj, calling for equality and for Muslims to unite.

We feel blessed. I got goosebumps, a feeling that cannot be explained, when reaching the top of the mountain.

Ruhaima Emma, a 26-year-old Filipina pilgrim

Muslims believe prayer on this day at Mount Arafat, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Mecca, is their best chance to erase past sins and start anew.The five-day hajj pilgrimage began Tuesday. Islam requires that able-bodied Muslims perform the hajj once in their lives. While following a route the Prophet Muhammad once walked, the rites are believed to ultimately trace the footsteps of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they are named in the Bible. The hajj also includes circling Islam’s holiest site the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure in Mecca’s Grand Mosque that observant Muslims around the world face in prayer five times a day.

Middle East Hajj