Haj 2021 in pictures: Pilgrims follow COVID protocols at Mount Arafat

An official checks the ID and permits of pilgrims as they arrive in the Mina area for the annual Haj pilgrimage, in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is the second consecutive Haj limited to domestic pilgrims due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Pilgrims stand with their luggage as they arrive in the Mina. About 60,000 Muslims, selected by the authorities from 558,000 registered ones, will take part in the 2021 Haj season.

Muslim pilgrims ascended Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat on Monday in the high point of this year's hajj, being held in downsized form and under coronavirus restrictions for the second year running.

The hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam and a must for able-bodied Muslims with the means to travel at least once in their lifetime, is usually one of the world's largest religious gatherings.

Mulism pilgrims pray on Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahma (Mount of Mercy), southeast of the holy city of Mecca, during the climax of the Hajj pilgrimage amid the COVID-19 pandemic,

Muslim pilgrims gather at the plain of Arafat during the annual Haj pilgrimage. The mask-clad faithful, who had spent the night in camps in the Valley of Mina, converged on Mount Arafat . Mount Arafat is the site where Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) gave his farewell sermon. Arafat day occurs the day before the start of Eid Al Adha.

Worshippers will assemble on the 70-metre (230-foot) high hill and its surrounding plain for hours of prayers and Quran recitals to atone for their sins, staying there until the evening.

After sunset they head to Muzdalifah, halfway between Arafat and Mina, where they will sleep under the stars before performing the symbolic "stoning of the devil".

The scene was dramatically different to past pilgrimages, which have drawn up to 2.5 million people, and this year the mountain was free of the huge crowds that descend on it in normal years.

The Holy Kaaba gets a new Kiswa. Saudi workers carry the new Kiswa, the protective cover that engulfs the Kaaba, made from black silk and gold thread and embroidered with Quran verses. – Kiswa is changed every year at the culmination of the annual hajj, or pilgrimage, when the pilgrims have left Mecca to go to Arafat, the starting point of their hajj journey.

The Kaaba represents the metaphorical house of God and the oneness of God in Islam.

Observant Muslims around the world face toward the Kaaba during their five daily prayers.