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| Reporting for Saudi Television |
Fouad Mehad is performing Hajj for the seventh time and says it is hard to explain how it feels.
"You have to experience it to understand."
It's Fouad's job to try and explain Hajj to the masses, he is a reporter for Saudi Television and when not participating in the rites of Hajj he is amongst the throng interviewing fellow pilgrims.
"You start Hajj as an ordinary person but when you meet people you feel like you've known them for 100 years."
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| Mount of Mercy in Arafat |
With more than two million other pilgrims Fouad left Mina at dawn this morning for Arafat for the Day of Standing, one of Islam's holiest of days, where hajjis pray all afternoon in the baking sun and listen to the annual sermon.
He says he is amazed by the depth of feeling Arafat evokes in him.
"When I think of Arafat it is of a sweet surrender. It's almost a bittersweet memory because all I want to do is go back there."
He says he feels an incredible amount of goodwill after Arafat and feels like he is doing something very positive.
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| One of the many varied faces
of Islam |
"There's a feeling of charity, you want to help and give and not get anything in return, it's like Christmas, that's very much how Arafat feels."
Fouad loves walking through the crowd and hearing the different languages and seeing the varied faces of Islam.
"There's all different colours; Africans, Europeans, Bosnians, Turks, Asians and me an Arab, that's the essence of Hajj."
"Black, white, red, yellow we're all the same."
Fouad says you hear many different tongues during prayer, he prays in a mixture of Arabic and English and says he thinks "God would understand".
The ihram, the white sheets male hajjis wear, is an incredible leveller.
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| The ihram, two unstitched white sheets |
"You can't tell who's rich or poor, whether someone is a company CEO or a porter. We all look and feel the same."
Fouad does admit that the Ihram is quite uncomfortable, as the male hajjis do not wear underwear but that it makes you feel clean and pure.
Many pilgrims end up making lifelong friends at Arafat. He still keeps in touch with fellow Hajjis from previous years and tells of his mother remaining friends with a fellow pilgrim for 40 years after meeting there.
"That is the beauty of Islam, we feel like everyone is a brother."
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Live at the Hajj