Muslims celebrated one of the most important festivals in the Islamic calendar this weekend.
One of two feast festivals, Eid al-Adha falls on the 10th day of the Islamic calendar’s last month, Dhu al-Hijjah.
The three-day holiday commemorates the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim — or Abraham as he is known in the Bible — to sacrifice his son in accordance with God's will, though in the end God provides him a sheep to sacrifice instead.
Indian Muslims offer prayers during Eid al-Adha at the Vasi Ullah mosque in Allahabad, India, on Monday
Muslims slaughter sheep, cattle and other livestock, and give part of the meat to the poor.
The holiday also saw more than two million pilgrims take part in one of the final rites of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Because Eid follows the Muslim lunar calendar that depends on sightings of the moon, some Muslims celebrated 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 celebrates on Monday.
Muslims perform a morning prayer marking the Eid al-Adha holiday in Jakarta, Indonesia on Sunday
In Mina, a desert tent city just outside the Saudi holy city of Mecca, pilgrims cast pebbles in a symbolic stoning of the devil. Male pilgrims changed out of their white pilgrim robes and shaved their heads as a sign of renewal. Women clipped a lock of hair.
Though pilgrims will repeat the stoning ritual for two more days, they can now be referred to as "hajjis," a term of honour for completing the pilgrimage. The roughly five-day hajj is meant to cleanse the faithful of sin and required of all able-bodied Muslims to perform once in their lives.
"I feel good and satisfied with who I am and for the chance to come to the hajj this year," said Palestinian pilgrim Mona Abu-Raya. "I am so happy that I am here."
