RIYADH: Over two million pilgrims are converging to Mina as the ceremonial activities of annual hajj pilgrimage scheduled to begin on Friday.

Hajj, the fifth pillar of Islam, held in Zulhijjah, the last month of the Islamic calendar. It requires pilgrims to perform ten rituals before and during the holy journey.

Pilgrims will perform Hajj-e-Akbar this year. Because it is generally presumed that the Hajj performed on Friday is called`Hajj-e-Akbar'. It is a superior kind of Hajj as compared with the Hajj performed on other days of the week.

Pilgrims from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have been barred from performing Hajj this year in a bid to reduce the risk of the Ebola virus in the kingdom.

Men wear a seamless two-piece white garment, symbolising a state of purity and emphasising their unity regardless of social status or nationality.

Women also generally wear white, exposing only their faces and hands to commemorate the acts of Prophet Abraham and his family during the pilgrimage.

Pilgrims stay in Arafat until sunset offering prayers. They later spend the night at Muzdalfa, before they head back to Mina to perform the symbolic stoning of the devil.

The stoning stage falls on the third day of hajj, which marks Eid ul-Azha, a feast celebrated by Muslims, and where animals are slaughtered to mark the sacrifice of Abraham and Ishmael.

BDST: 1026 HRS, OCT 03, 2014