JEDDAH/DUBAI: The Eid-ul-Azha was celebrated in Saudi Arabia, Middle East, Gulf countries, Afghanistan, European countries and other countries Tuesday.
Grand Eid prayer congregations were held in Masjid-al-Haram and Masjid-e-Nabwi (PBUH) and were attended by millions of people.
Similar congregations also occurred in Indonesia, Malaysia, US, Canada and European countries. Special prayers were offered for unity of Muslim ummah, peace and stability in the world.
On Tuesday morning, millions of pilgrims, who spent the whole night in the open sky offering prayers in Muzdalifah proceeded to Mina after Fajr prayers.
After reaching Mina, they performed stoning at Jamarat Al-Aqba, sacrificed animals, shaved their heads and then left for Makkah to perform Tawaf Al-Ifada and Sai’, two other pillars of Hajj.
In the remaining days of Hajj, pilgrims will perform the only ritual of stoning at each of the three Jamarat in Mina.
In Dubai, the massive crowds had spent the previous night camped out in Muzdalifah, having performed the most important of the Hajj rituals, visiting mount Arafat, where they believe the Prophet Muhammad gave his last sermon.
They had also endured poor weather conditions, which ranged from the intense heat of the summer sun, rain and sandstorms.
On Tuesday the 2.4 million pilgrims walked to a complex in Mina to throw pebbles at three columns. NNI
