An estimated 2 million Muslims begin pilgrimage

Some 2 million Muslims from around the world today begin pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Pilgrims will go through certain rituals over the next five days, including walking around the Great Mosque in Mecca and visiting Mount Arad.

Haxhiku is considered to be one of the five pillars of Islam, and any Muslim who could possibly have at least once had to go to this ritual.

This year nearly 900,000 Iranians are expected to participate in the pilgrimage, having boycotted the ceremony after a crash in 2015, with more than 2 thousand people being killed.

This year, the pilgrimage is held in the period of diplomatic crisis between Qatar and several other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, and at the time when the extremist group, the Islamic State (IS), has lost part of the broad territories once under control in Iraq and Syria.