(16 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mina, Saudi Arabia - 16 June 2024
1. Various of people symbolically stoning the devil while performing the Hajj pilgrimage
2. Various of crowd gathered around pillar to symbolically stone the devil
3. Various of pilgrims walking on foot to head to the first pillar to stone it
4. Various of Saudi civil defense members giving assistance to a man who fainted
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdel-Moaty Abu Ghoneima, Egyptian pilgrim:
"We have carried out the great stoning. I feel good and happy, thank God. Thank God, one couldn't want a greater joy than this."
6. Various of woman shaving her husband’s hair as Muslim men are expected to shave their heads in the final days of the Hajj
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Amytab Beigh, Indian pilgrim:
"We did jamarat (stoning) for the big Satan, for the big jamrah (stoning). And tomorrow, (the stoning of the) small, medium and big (pillars representing the devil will be cast). And for after tomorrow, small, medium and big (stoning)."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mecca, Saudi Arabia - 16 June 2024
++NIGHT SHOTS++
8. Various of people circling the Kabaa, the cube-shaped structure to which Muslims face during their five daily prayers.
9. Pilgrims walking between the two hills of Safa and Marwa
STORYLINE:
Masses of pilgrims on Sunday embarked on a symbolic stoning of the devil in Saudi Arabia under the soaring summer heat.
The ritual marks the final days of the Hajj, or Islamic pilgrimage, and the start of the Eid al-Adha celebrations for Muslims around the world.
The stoning is among the final rites of the Hajj, which is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
It came a day after more than 1.8 million pilgrims congregated at a sacred hill, known as Mount Ararat, outside the holy city of Mecca, which Muslim pilgrims visit to perform the annual five-day rituals of Hajj.
The pilgrims left Mount Arafat on Saturday evening to spend their night in a nearby site known as Muzdalifa, where they collected pebbles to use in the symbolic stoning of pillars representing the devil.
The pillars are in another sacred place in Mecca, called Mina, where Muslims believe Ibrahim’s faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son Ismail.
Ibrahim was prepared to submit to the command, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son.
In the Christian and Jewish versions of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac.
On Sunday morning, crowds headed on foot to the stoning areas.
Some were seen pushing disabled pilgrims on wheelchairs on a multi-lane road leading to the complex housing the large pillars.
Most pilgrims were seen sweltering and carrying umbrellas to protect them against the burning summer sun.
Despite the suffocating heat, many pilgrims expressed joy at being able to complete their pilgrimage.
"I feel good and happy," said Egyptian pilgrim Abdel-Moaty Abu Ghoneima, who added that "one couldn't want a greater joy than this."
An Associated Press reporter saw many pilgrims, especially among the elderly, collapsing on the road to the pillars because of the burning heat.
Security forces and medics were deployed to help, carrying those who fainted on gurneys out of the heat to ambulances or field hospitals.
As the temperature spiked by midday, more people required medical help.
AP Video By Bassam Hatoum and Baraa Anwer
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