Hajj is one of the world’s largest religious pilgrimages where 2 to 3 million Muslims from all around the world travel to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam. One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires that every Muslim who can afford to do so take part in the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime. While in Mecca, for five days, they perform a series of rituals. One of these requires that each person walk counter-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba, the most sacred site in Islam. It’s a cube-shaped building that has the Grand Mosque built around it, which can accommodate up to four million people.

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Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam.Millions of pilgrims in Saudi Arabia on Oct. 26 furiously cast pebbles in a symbolic stoning of the devil, carrying out a final rite of hajj, as Muslims around the world celebrated the start of Islam’s biggest holiday, the Feast of Sacrifice.One of the Five Pillars of Islam requires that every Muslim who can afford to do so take part in the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime. While in Mecca, for five days, they perform a series of rituals. One of these requires that each person walk counter-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba, the most sacred site in Islam.

Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba and pray at the Grand mosque during the annual haj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca October 23, 2012, ahead of Eid al-Adha which marks the end of haj. On October 25, the day of Arafat, millions of Muslim pilgrims will stand in prayer on Mount Arafat near Mecca at the peak of the annual pilgrimage

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