What Hajj 2014, “the Year of the Selfie,” represents is the democratization of the sacred. In traditional religion, unique places like the black stone Kaaba or the Dome of the Rock in ...

MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — For some, the stoning of the devil ritual at the Hajj in Saudi Arabia marks a solemn moment, a complete submission to God. For others, it represents a victory over evil.

Muslim worshipers observed the first rituals of an historic Hajj on Wednesday, with a small fraction of regular number of pilgrims who adhered to “safety bubbles” over fears of the coronavirus.

The specific steps of Hajj are the same as the ones carried out by the Prophet Mohammad in 632 A.D. in what is known as his “farewell pilgrimage.” But the Kaaba was a sacred site before Islam.

The hajj includes a number of physically demanding rites. It traditionally begins in Mecca, Saudi Arabia with a smaller pilgrimage called the "umrah", which can be performed year-round.

A pilgrim offer prayers after she cast stones at a pillar in the symbolic stoning of the devil, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, June ...

The Hajj: At a Glance. One of the five pillars of Islam is that each believer is called, at least once in their lives, to make the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage that starts and ends in the holy city ...