MINA, SAUDI ARABIA, Nov 28, AFP- Pilgrims stoned pillars symbolising the devil to show their defiance on the third day of the hajj Friday as Muslims worldwide marked the Eid al-Adha holy day with mass animal sacrifices.
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| A Nepalese Muslim man sits with a child as he prays in the morning of the Eid-ul-Adha festival at Kashmiri Mosque in Kathmandu on November 28. AFP |
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims filed by the three jamarat pillars in Mina tossing pebbles to mark Abraham's three rejections of the devil's attempts to persuade him to ignore God's instructions to sacrifice his son Ishmael as related in the Koran.Despite a late downpour, the stoning was orderly, fulfilling Saudi hopes that enlarged pillars and a newly built five-storey walkway would end deadly stampedes as the faithful jammed into the area for the required ritual.
“It is a happy day because Eid ul-Adha falls on a Friday, and together there are Friday prayers and the stoning of satan,” said Nabila Ali, and Egyptian pilgrim in Mecca with her son.
“We prayed for the unity of Muslims and for Muslims to triumph over their enemies,” she said.
Faeq Jarada, 60, a pilgrim from Gaza, said she and other pilgrims felt reborn “like a child” after the stoning ritual.
“I was afraid of problems at the jamarat bridge, but it was very easy,” she said.
Officials announced a total 2.3 million people had undertaken the hajj this year, 1.6 million coming from abroad. The figure was 200,000 less than some original predictions.
Some pilgrims, especially those from inside Saudi Arabia, had feared the spread of swine flu, which claimed the life of four pilgrims ahead of the hajj.
But health authorities said proven infections remained only 57 with another 20 or so suspected cases.
Assistant chief of hajj security Khader al-Zaharani told Saudi television there had been no major problems. “The whole world wants to know how we protect the safety of several million pilgrims at the same time,” he said. |
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