The pilgrimage is required of all Muslims to perform once in their lifetime.
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Afterwards, the pilgrims will stay in Arafat till sunset spending their day in prayers and repenting on their sins, to complete the Wukoof-e-Arafat ritual of Hajj. Some of them were seen crying while praying. Whole night will be spent in Mazdalfa under open sky and will offer Fajr prayer on 10 Zill Hajj, after which they will travel back to Mina.
The numbers, about 1.5 million, are down because of the absence of tens of thousands of Iranians over tensions between the Shi’ite nation and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia, which is home to the sites in Mecca and Medina.
“I am in the most attractive place in the world, where more than one billion Muslims around the world dream of being”.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday said it launched a television channel to broadcast the Hajj rituals in the Persian language, also known as Farsi, spoken in Iran.
Iran says Saudi “incompetence” caused a crush and stampede during last year’s hajj that killed more than 460 of its citizens.
On September 5, Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the Muslim world should challenge Saudi management of Islam’s two holiest sites in Makkah and Madina.
Muslim pilgrims pray on a rocky hill called the Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 23, 2015, during the Hajj pilgrimage.
Saudi Arabia announced an investigation but no results have ever been released, although a number of safety measures have been taken. They will also drink the alkaline water from the Well of Zamzam, believed to have healing qualities, and perform a symbolic stoning of the devil.
For the first time in nearly three decades, Iranians will not participate in this year’s pilgrimage to Makkah after talks on logistics and security fell apart.
Among the changes, government facilities have been moved out of Mina to free up space, and roads in the Jamarat area expanded, Saudi newspapers reported. Many Muslims who are not performing the hajj fast from dawn to dusk on this day, for similar reasons.
Meanwhile, Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki spoke of “great efforts being exerted by the kingdom, not only in maintaining the security and safety of the pilgrims, but in facilitating performance” of the rites as well.
Many of the Iranians who would have travelled to Mount Arafat wound up instead in Karbala to visit the Imam Hussein shrine.
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As part of the preparations, the Saudi authorities said they have deployed a fleet of 177 ambulances to the critical cities where the pilgrimages are being held.
