Hundreds of thousands of Muslims crowded into buses, trucks, cars, or headed on foot Sunday to the holy area of Muzdalifah after spending the day praying, reading from the Quran and asking for God's mercy at sacred Mount Arafat.

The Islamic pilgrimage, or hajj, climaxed Sunday with more than 2 million pilgrims spending the day at Mount Arafat outside Islam's holiest city of Mecca, an emotional ritual that retraces the last journey of Islam's seventh-century Prophet Muhammad.

In Muzdalifah, the pilgrims were performing sunset and night prayers and collecting pebbles for the next phase of the hajj, the ritualistic stoning of the devil. After Monday's dawn prayers, they would head for Mina to cast their stones at three pillars representing the devil.

After the stoning, pilgrims may perform the ritual of sacrifice - slaughtering a camel, sheep or cow to mark the beginning of Eid al-Adha, one of Islam's most important holidays.

At midday, 250,000 pilgrims crowded Namira Mosque to hear a sermon from Saudi Arabia's top religious cleric, Sheik Abdul-Aziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheik. He said Jerusalem was in the hands of "Jews who are bullying our Muslim brothers in Palestine under the eyes of those protecting human rights.''

Where are these people who speak of rights, whose mouths spread venom on Islam? Some people speak of human rights and choose to forget the rights of our brothers who have been killed, expelled and had their lands violated."

The WFD wishes everyone a very happy Eid!