Eid-Ul-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, is being celebrated around the world on Friday and Saturday but the celebrations have been muted owing to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Around 10,000 Muslim pilgrims residing in the Kingdom, attended Hajj, an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, after millions of international pilgrims were banned due to the pandemic. Hajj is attended by nearly 2.5 million pilgrims each year from around the world. 

The pilgrims at Hajj on Friday took part in the “stoning of the devil,” using sanitised pebbles. Masked pilgrims threw seven stones at a pillar symbolising Satan. 

Saudi King Salman on Friday said that organising this year’s Hajj ritual needed “double efforts” by the authorities amid the coronavirus outbreak.  

“Holding the ritual in the shadow of this pandemic… required reducing the numbers of pilgrims, but it obliged various official agencies to put in double efforts,” 84-year-old King Salman said in a speech read out on state television by acting media minister Majid Al-Qasabi.

Earlier on Friday, he also tweeted about Eid-Ul-Adha, congratulating people on the occassion and praying for the pandemic to end. 

“I congratulate everyone on the occasion of Eid al-Adha. I ask God almighty …. to lift the pandemic from our country and the world with his grace and mercy,” he tweeted, wishing Happy New Year. 

This year, Hagia Sophia, which has been converted to a mosque from chruch, witnessed the first prayers of Eid-Ul-Adha. Over thousand people from the country prayed at Hagia Sophia, marking the start of Qurban Bayram [Eid-Ul-Adha].

Marking the start of Eid-Ul-Adha, the world’s tallest tower Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, lit up with the message of Eid Mubarak and Eid Takbeer (Allah is the greatest) on Friday. 

Apart from Saudi King Salman, Joe Biden, 2020 candidate for US President, UN Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted on the occassion of Eid-ul-Adha. 

Eid-Ul-Adha has been celebrated around the Arab countries with people wearing masks, offering prayers while maintaning social distance amid the pandemic.