1/10
  • Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca during Hajj pilgrimage
    Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.Reuters
  • Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca during Hajj pilgrimage
    Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.Reuters
  • Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca during Hajj pilgrimage
    Muslim pilgrims circum-ambulate around the holy Kaaba during the ritual pilgrimages of Hajj and Umrah at the Grand Mosque, during the annual haj pilgrimage in Mecca.Reuters
  • Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca during Hajj pilgrimage
    Muslim pilgrims pray near the holy Kaaba (not seen) at the Grand Mosque, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.Reuters
  • Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca
    Muslim pilgrims pray around the holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.Reuters
  • Muslim pilgrims perform Friday prayers around Namirah mosque during Hajj pilgrimage
    Muslim pilgrims perform Friday prayers around Namirah mosque on the plains of Arafat during the annual haj pilgrimage, outside the holy city of Mecca on 3 October 2014.Reuters
  • Muslim pilgrims gather to pray on Mount Mercy during Haj pilgrimage
    Muslim pilgrims gather to pray on Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, outside the holy city of Mecca on 3 October 2014.Reuters
  • Muslim pilgrims pray on Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat during the annual haj pilgrimage, outside the holy city of Mecca
    Muslim pilgrims pray on Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, outside the holy city of Mecca.Reuters
  • Muslim pilgrims walk towards the Grand Mosque during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca
    Muslim pilgrims walk towards the Grand Mosque to pray during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.Reuters
  • muslim pilgrims shop during Hajj pailgrimage
    Muslim pilgrims buy gifts at a shop near the Grand Mosque during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.Reuters

Muslims around the world are wishing each other "Eid Mubarak" and celebrating the start of Islam's biggest holiday, Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, which Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail – to follow God's command. In remembrance, Muslims around the world slaughtered sheep and other livestock on Saturday, and distributed it among the poor.

Wearing unstitched folds of white cloth, more than two million pilgrims gathered around the cube-shaped Holy Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Saturday as they took part in one of the final rites of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

Hajj is one of the largest gatherings of people in the world and every adult Muslim is required to complete the pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime as long as they are physically and financially capable of doing so.

However, several thousand West Africans Muslim pilgrims from the three Ebola-stricken nations, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, were banned from making the Hajj Pilgrimage this time round. The ban also includes anyone who has recently visited the three countries most affected by the Ebola virus, which has killed more than 3,000 people and infected twice as many.

Because Eid follows the Muslim lunar calendar that depends on sightings of the moon, some Muslims will be celebrating the first day of Eid on Sunday, including Iraqi Shiites and the majority of Indonesians in the world's most populous Muslim nation of 240 million. Pakistan and India will celebrate on Monday.