Masses of Muslim pilgrims in the Saudi city of Mecca on Thursday circled the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site, a day before heading to the nearby desert area of Mina to officially open the Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage that takes the faithful along a route taken by the Prophet Muhammad.
The area around the Grand Mosque in Mecca was overcrowded by midday, with the faithful going back and forth to the holy site to pray and make the circumambulation, or Tawaf in Arabic.
