More than two million haj pilgrims headed back to Mecca for final prayers on Thursday (August 23) as organizers said the world's largest annual gathering of Muslims had gone smoothly in the face of political tensions and huge logistical challenges.
For five days, Muslims have walked miles in Islam's holiest sites to perform the annual haj pilgrimage.
Haj retraces the route Prophet Mohammad took 14 centuries ago.
Attendance is a religious duty, once in a lifetime, for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.
Circling the Kaaba, pilgrims kissed and touched its walls, leaning against it as they prayed. Others looked to the sky, crying while asking for God's mercy.
Performing the haj means that if accepted by God, a person's sins will be wiped away, as if they have been reborn. And many pilgrims believed they were.
“I have this wonderful, beautiful feeling, it's great, I feel like I've just been born,” said Egyptian pilgrim, Azza Mahmoud
Senior Saudi officials said the rituals - which have been marred in the past by deadly stampedes, fires and riots - had passed without incident.
Mecca province governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal, who heads the central haj committee, said staff had used new technologies to run the massive event.
Pilgrims were given electronic bracelets this year to help manage the flow of people through the sites.
Thousands of worshippers participated in a symbolic stoning of the devil, part of the haj rituals, in Jamarat before returning to Mecca where the Grand Mosque filled with worshippers preparing to depart.
Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites - Mecca and Medina - and its organization of the pilgrimage.
Reuters
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