Some 3 million Muslims prayed Friday on the desert mountain where Prophet Muhammad delivered his final sermon, in a key ritual of the annual hajj pilgrimage.
The pilgrims flooded into a sprawling tent city at Mount Arafat, outside the holy city of Mecca. Before sunrise, lines of pilgrims made their way up Jebal Rahmah (mountain of mercy) to perform prayers on the rocky hill on the edge of the site.
The prayers at Mount Arafat are the first major rite in the five-day hajj, which started Thursday. The faithful spend the day in prayer and reading the Quran.
The vast majority of pilgrims stayed in ready-made, fireproof tents erected by the Saudi authorities over the nearly 8-square-mile site. The tent city is sectioned off by country.
