Muslim pilgrims stone devil with sterilised pebbles in Covid-era hajj

Muslim pilgrims began a symbolic ritual of stoning the devil using sterilised pebbles on Friday as part of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, which has been drastically limited due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A few thousand people are attending the five-day hajj, which started on Wednesday. That is a fraction of the 2.5 million people who usually gather every year in the holy city of Mecca for Islam's most important rite.

Images on Saudi state media showed pilgrims wearing protective face masks and queuing in groups to cast the pebbles at pillars symbolising the devil. The faithful stood on floor signs so they could keep socially distant inside a multi-level structure in the desert valley of Mina, around 7 kilometres north-east of Mecca. The pilgrims, wearing seamless pieces of white cloth, chanted "God is the greatest" each time they threw a pebble.

The rite is an emulation of the prophet Abraham's casting pebbles at the devil for trying to tempt him into disobeying God's command to sacrifice his son. Upon finishing the stone-throwing ritual on Friday, which also marks the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival, male pilgrims traditionally change out of their robes, shave their heads and slaughter a sacrificial animal. Women cut a lock of their hair. The practices mark spiritual rejuvenation.

Male and female pilgrims then go to Mecca to walk around the Kaaba, Islam's most sacred site housed in the Grand Mosque. Later in the day, they return to Mina to stay overnight and throw pebbles for two more days.

While the pilgrims normally collect the pebbles for the stoning rite, this year Saudi authorities distributed sealed bags with sanitised pebbles as part of health precautions against the coronavirus.

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, also limited the number of pilgrims, to Muslims already living inside the monarchy, to contain the virus.

Saudi King Salman Friday said the measures enforced by his government for this year's hajj were aimed at protecting the pilgrims from the virus.

"Holding the hajj amid this pandemic has dictated curtailing the numbers of the pilgrims. Yet, it has prompted different official Saudi agencies to double their efforts for the hajj," he said in a televised statement.

Saudi Arabia stakes its credibility on providing services that allow the pilgrims to perform the rituals as comfortably and smoothly as possible. The oil-rich monarchy has spent lavishly to boost hajj safety standards and expand facilities at the holy sites.

One of the five pillars of Islam, the hajj is a mandatory duty for all Muslims to complete once in a lifetime, if they have the financial and physical means to do so. During the hajj, pilgrims perform the same rituals in a demonstration of religious unity, equality and pursuit of spiritual renewal. The pilgrimage annually takes place from the eighth to the 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic lunar calendar. (dpa)