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Mount Arafat, Saudi Arabia, December 18, 2007—More than two million Muslim faithful gathered this week to pray around Mount Arafat, southeast of the holy city of Mecca, as part of the annual hajj pilgrimage.
Prayers and a sermon on the Plain of Arafat are meant to evoke a sermon made at the site by the prophet Mohammad in A.D. 632. Observers also pray for forgiveness and participate in a ritualistic stoning of the "devil," represented by three pillars.
The culmination of the hajj is Eid al-Adha, a three-day feast that commemorates the prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son at God's command.
