Almost two point five million Muslim pilgrims took part Sunday in the “stoning of the devil”, the last major ritual of the annual hajj pilgrimage and one that has in past years led to deadly stampedes.
The worshippers who made their way across Mina Valley near Mecca in Western Saudi Arabia to symbolically humiliate the devil.
Muslim tradition holds that pilgrims must throw seven stones each at a pillar representing Satan on the first day of Eid al-Adha, following two days of prayer and meditation.
The hajj, one of the world’s largest religious gatherings, this year officially drew 2.49 million pilgrims to Islam’s holiest sites in Saudi Arabia.
Muslims traditionally slaughter sheep for the three-day holiday in tribute to Prophet Abraham’s sacrifice of a lamb after God at the last moment spared Ishmael, his son.
