Saudi Arabia Hajj: Millions at Mount Arafat for ceremonies

The annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia has reached its climax with 1.5 million Muslims gathering at Mount Arafat to offer day-long prayers and recitations from the Koran.

The pilgrims congregated from sunrise at the site and the vast plain which surrounds it, about 15km from Mecca.

Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad gave his last sermon at the location.

The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, which all Muslims are called upon to perform at least once.

On Saturday it emerged that Saudi Arabia’s top cleric, Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, would not deliver the traditional Hajj sermon for the first time in 35 years because of health complications.

It follows controversy sparked by his remarks that Iranians were “not Muslims”.

The comments came after Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denounced Saudi Arabia’s management of the Hajj.

Iran has boycotted this year’s pilgrimage., instead endorsing an alternative event on Saturday at the holy city of Karbala in Iraq.

Tensions between the two countries have risen after a crush in last year’s pilgrimage killed at least 2,426 people, including 464 Iranians, according to an unofficial count.

Saudi Arabia and Iran do not have diplomatic relations and are at loggerheads over a series of regional issues including the conflicts in Yemen and Syria.

BBC