Pilgrims complete haj rituals, marks end of current haj season

Today marks the end of the haj pilgrimage for the current season upon completion of the "melontar" (stone throwing) ritual by about two million Muslims from all over the world who gathered on this holy land to perform the fifth and final pillar of Islam.

There were also some pilgrims who opted to complete the stone throwing ritual at Sugra, Wusta and Kubra earlier by doing so last night.

Having completed the ritual, the pilgrims, who can now use the prefix "haji" for men and "hajjah" for women before their name, are now back in Makkah from Mina to prepare for their return to their homeland.

However, before leaving the holy land, they would have to perform the Tawaf Al Wida or the Farewell Tawaf, whereby they bade farewell to the Kaabah. It is the last rite performed by non-resident pilgrims in Makkah before leaving for home.

A total of 22,320 pilgrims from Malaysia were on the holy land to perform the haj pilgrimage this season, with the first batch arriving on Aug 4.

They arrived on 47 flights, landing either in Madinah or Jeddah.

Ten Malaysian pilgrims died this Haj season, seven in Makkah, two in Madinah and one was not able to make it to the holy land because the pilgrim died back home.

The first batch of Malaysian pilgrims will return home on Saturday and scheduled to arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 11 am on Sunday.