MAKKAH, AUG 10 (DNA) –  The annual ceremony to change the Ghilaf-e-Kaaba (Kiswah) held on Saturday at the Grand Mosque of Makkah (Masjid-Al-Haram) in Saudi Arabia whereas millions faithful converging at Mount Arafat today to listen Hajj sermon.

The new Ghilaf has been prepared at a cost of seven million Saudi Riyal. Six hundred seventy kilogram pure silk, 120 kilogram gold and one hundred kilogram silver have been used in it.

The covering cloth of the Kaaba, known as Kiswa, is changed on 9th Zilhaj every year on the day of Arafat. The Kiswah, a heavy silk cloth embroidered with verses of holy Quran in golden embroidery. It is the day pilgrims leave for the plains of Mount Arafat during the Hajj.

The pilgrims started heading towards Arafat after Fajr prayers where they will listen to Hajj sermon to be delivered from Masjid-e-Nimra.

They will stay at Arafat till the call for Maghrib prayer. After Azaan-e-Maghrib, the pilgrims will leave for Muzdalfa where they will offer Maghrib and Isha prayers and spend the night in the open sky.

Muslims from around the world arrived at Islam’s holiest sites for a religious duty and an epic multi-stage journey.

Saudi authorities have mobilized vast resources to successfully manage Hajj pilgrimage.

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and comprises a journey to Makkah to perform religious rituals described in the Holy Quran. = DNA