Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims crowded Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat on Tuesday, the climax of a potentially record-breaking hajj pilgrimage held in fierce summer heat.
As dawn broke, groups of worshippers recited Quran verses on the rocky rise, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his final sermon.
The ritual is the high point of the annual pilgrimage; one of the five pillars of Islam, that officials say could be the biggest on record after three years of Covid restrictions.
More than 2.5 million pilgrims were expected to join the hajj, one of the world’s largest religious gatherings and a source of legitimacy for the oil-rich country’s royal rulers.
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