Pilgrims walked to a complex in Mina on Tuesday to throw pebbles at three columns. Muslims believe the devil tried to talk the Prophet Ibrahim out of submitting to God's will there.
The final days of hajj coincide with the Eid al-Adha holiday, or "Feast of Sacrifice," to commemorate Ibrahim's test of faith. Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor.
More than 2 million Muslims gathered at Mount Arafat on Monday for a vigil to atone for their sins, and then descended to Muzdalifa to prepare for the final stages of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Clad in white robes signifying a state of purity, the pilgrims spent the previous night in an encampment around the hill where Islam holds that God tested Abraham’s faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Ismail and where Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) gave his final sermon.
Other worshippers praying in the nearby Mina area ascended in buses or on foot from before dawn as security forces directed traffic and helicopters and surveillance drones hovered overhead.
Some of the faithful carried umbrellas to block the sun as daytime temperatures surpassed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) following an evening of thunderstorms and high winds. Men and women from 165 countries gathered side by side, while the soldiers handed out bottled water and some people snapped selfies
Saudi Arabia has said more than 2.37 million pilgrims, mostly from outside Saudi Arabia, had arrived for the five-day ritual, a religious duty once in a lifetime for every non-disabled Muslim who can afford the journey.
After sunset, they moved on foot, by bus and in trains to the rocky plain of Muzdalifa to gather pebbles to throw at stone columns symbolising the devil at another location called Jamarat on Tuesday, which marks the first day of Eid al-Adha, or the feast of sacrifice.
In a Hajj message, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, leader of Iran, called for unity among Muslims as a defence against foreign enemies.
“Muslims should be vigilant about America’s malicious war-mongering policy aimed at Muslims killing Muslims,” he said in comments.
Some 86,000 Iranian pilgrims took part this year in the world’s largest annual gathering of Muslims in Hajj.