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| Collecting pebbles at Muzdalifah |
The Hajj returned to Mina today for the Day of Sacrifice, marking
the start of one of Islam's biggest holidays Eid Al-Adha.
The pilgrims left from Muzdalifah where they had gone to collect pebbles for the Stoning of the Jamarat ritual.
During the "Stoning of Satan," pilgrims hurl seven stones every day for three days at three 18-metre high concrete pillars that symbolise the devil. They stand only 155 metres apart and are mobbed by the crowds trying to get close to them.
Pilgrim Fouad Mehad says some pilgrims insist on trying to hit the pillars and it can get quite dangerous.
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| Stoning the Jamarat |
"These people have saved for years to come to Hajj so they take the instruction to slay the Devil literally and throw sandals, shoes, umbrellas, almost anything they can get their hands on."
It is a dangerous exercise, some pilgrims are hit by flying objects or pebbles, and the ones that throw their sandals often then cut their feet.
In commemoration of the Prophet Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his only son to Allah, hundreds of thousands of animals are then sacrificed.
This year they estimate there will be more than 700,000 animals sacrificed in Mina alone including 700,000 sheep and 8,000 cattle and camels. The livestock comes from all over the world, including New Zealand, Australia, Somalia and Egypt.
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| Livestock in Mina |
Historically pilgrims carried out the sacrifices themselves with a proportion of the meat being gifted to the local poor. As the Hajj has escalated enormous amounts of meat rotted in the sun and had to be buried in huge pits which was both wasteful and a health hazard.
The sacrifices are now carried out by the Islamic Bank in a number of slaughterhouses, some can handle 50,000 animals a day. There are more than 28,000 butchers on hand who work around the clock for three days.
The actual killing is done with a single stroke of a knife. This is the Halal method of killing animals, which is supposed to be quick and painless.
Most pilgrims do not even see their sacrifice occur, they buy a voucher from the Islamic Bank and the sacrifice is carried out in their name. If they want to pilgrims can observe and even assist in their sacrifice though few do.
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| Vouchers signify one sacrificial animal |
This year a sheep sacrifice cost pilgrims SAR 350 (£57). Many lined up for hours in the midday heat to purchase their offering.
Muhamed Iqbal Noor of Pakistan told Arab News, "I threw my money in with two other pilgrims, and we were able to make a sacrifice of one cow."
Some pilgrims opt to sacrifice more than one animal. Fouad Mehad sacrificed five sheep because he likes the idea of people he has never met in places he will probably never go to enjoying his gift.
The meat from the offering is packaged, frozen and shipped to various destinations inside Saudi Arabia and abroad, to feed the poor.
Since 1983, the meat of 8.8 million heads of sheep, camels and cows has been distributed among the poor in Islamic countries including Bangladesh, Sudan, Senegal and Somalia.
The Hajj still has two days to go and tomorrow sees the pilgrims repeat the Jamarat ritual and travel back to Mecca for a final circumnavigation of the Ka'aba.
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Live at the Hajj