Muslim pilgrims join one of the hajj rituals on Mount Arafat near Mecca early on Sunday.
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“They could see through their surveillance cameras that Muslims are falling to the ground”.
Muslim pilgrims arrive at Mount Arafat where the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have given his final sermon.
“I am very happy and I hope everything goes well until the end of hajj”, said Saudi pilgrim Bashar Aatabi, 30.
Saudi authorities are using drones to keep an eye on the crowds at the holy site after hundreds, if not thousands, were crushed to death previous year.
“There is no doubt that in Mina tragedy, the Saudi rulers are not the accused but the prime criminals and the guilty ones”, the cleric said while addressing worshipers during the Eid al-Adha (Eid Qorban in Iran) prayers sermons at Tehran University Campus.
The Imam suggested that Saudi Arabia be investigated.
In recent weeks, rhetoric between the two capitals has escalated.
Saudi authorities have tightened security across the holy sites for the five-day Hajj that started on Saturday to prevent the recurrence of a stampede that caused hundreds of deaths past year. The top Saudi religious authority responded by asserting that Iran’s leaders are not Muslims, and on Sunday he condemned Iran’s alternative destination.
Saudi authorities have said that some 1.86 million Muslims from around the world are performing the pilgrimage at Islam’s holiest city, one of the main pillars of Islam which every able-bodied Muslim is required to undertake at least once.
Last year’s stampede was the worst disaster in the pilgrimage’s history.
Among these is the distribution of a bracelet which stores pilgrims’ personal data.
Authorities have limited the number of visas for each country in an effort to control crowds.
Others came on a train that connects the holy sites.
There they collected pebbles in the dark before retreating for the night into Mina, the narrow city of air-conditioned white tents where last year’s crush occurred as pilgrims moved to throw their pebbles in a ceremonial stoning of the devil.
The ritual is being performed by the Hajj pilgrims from over 164 countries as smoothly as ever even as King Salman, who is also present in Mina, is personally monitoring the security arrangement.
“Part of the rituals also includes feeding the poor”, said Tawfik Hamid, a senior fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
“All Muslims on Earth wish they could have been here today”.
The Hajj is followed by Eid al-Adha, which is on Monday.
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Chanting “here I am at thy service, O Lord”, the faithful climbed the craggy hills outside Mecca where Islam holds that God tested Abraham’s faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Ismail and the Prophet Mohammed gave his last sermon.
