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Religion

Near end of rite, it's time to fix feasts

MINA, Saudi Arabia - Tens of thousands of Muslim pilgrims hurled pebbles at stone pillars, symbolically stoning the devil Tuesday in a final rite of the hajj. Across the Islamic world, the faithful butchered sheep and cattle to kick off one of their biggest holidays - the feast of sacrifice.

The feast, called the Eid al-Adha in Arabic, commemorates Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son in God's test of the patriarch's faith. At the last moment, God substituted a sheep for the son. The story is shared by all the great monotheistic religions - Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

From the Philippines to Bosnia and across the Middle East, Muslims slaughtered livestock for festive family dinners and meat donations to the poor.

At Islam's holiest sites in Saudi Arabia, the 2.5-million Muslims participating in the annual hajj pilgrimage held the first of three days of a stoning ritual to cleanse sins. They threw pebbles at "al-Jamarat" - three stone pillars symbolizing the devil.

Under the scorching sun, white-robed pilgrims threw seven stones at the pillars at Mina, a desert region outside the holy city of Mecca. On each of the following days they will throw 21 more pebbles, collected earlier on the nearby rocky plain of Muzdalifah.

After Tuesday's stoning, many of the male pilgrims shaved their heads - the mark of a Muslim who has completed the hajj.

BAGHDAD - Shiite and Sunni Arabs celebrated the Islamic feast of sacrifice Tuesday with calls for an end to the bloodshed that has wracked Iraq since elections. Sunni Arabs tempered their appeals with renewed calls for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. In a day with no violence reported, Iraqis nationwide celebrated the opening of the four-day celebration.

[Last modified January 11, 2006, 00:42:11]