Eid al-Adha and the pilgrimage (Haj) to Mecca

Muslims all over the world today celebrate Eid al-Adha after the pilgrims throng Mount Arafat in the Haj's climax .

The pilgrimage must be made by everybody, man or woman, who can pay his own expenses and can provide for his dependents during his absence. A woman must be accompanied by her husband or a male relative.

On arrival at Mecca the pilgrim sets his ordinary clothes aside and dons the special attire prescribed for this occasion. The rituals, lasting ten days, end with the al-Adha feast. The pilgrimage must be performed in the twelfth month of the lunar year and is consummated on the tenth day of that month. It has drawn together Moslems of many lands and has to that extent a unifying effect.

This year in Saudi Arabia, the pilgrimage season is busy, with two million pilgrims performing this year's Haj rituals, while they were making their way slowly on Monday to Mount Arafat marking the climax of the sacred Islamic pilgrimage.

The London-based al-Hayat daily said on Monday that a small fire destroyed 16 tents at the Mouna plain on Saturday night, but there were no causalities. The paper quoted the deputy governor of Mecca, Prince Saud Bin Abdul Mohsin, as saying the fire was "very limited." The paper did not give any other details.

Some pilgrims made their way on foot and others on buses and cars, while other pilgrims are due to leave Mount Arafat by sunset to Muzdalifah where they will spend the night sleeping on rugs in the open.

The pilgrims also collect pebbles there for ritual of stoning the devil, which will take place this morning in Jamraat near Mouna, marking the start of Eid al-Adha (the feast of sacrifice). On this day, Moslems around the world slaughter sheep and cattle to mark the feast and donate the meat to the poor.