Some pictures from the annual Hajj pilgrimage that started on July 17

A long exposure photograph shows Muslim pilgrims circumambulating around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in the holy Saudi city of Mecca during the annual hajj pilgrimage on July 17, 2021. (AFP photo)

Muslim pilgrims gather around Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahma (Mount of Mercy), southeast of the holy city of Mecca, during the climax of the Hajj pilgrimage amid the Covid-19 pandemic. (AFP photo)

Labourers put the new Kiswa, the protective cover that engulfs the Kaaba, made from black silk and gold thread and embroidered with Qur’an verses, in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca . (AFP photo)

Muslim pilgrims circumambulate around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in the holy Saudi city of Mecca during the annual hajj pilgrimage. (AFP photo)

A Muslim pilgrim prays in front of the rocky hill known as Mountain of Mercy, on the Plain of Arafat, during the annual hajj pilgrimage, near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. (AFP photo)

Muslims pilgrim register at a tent camp in Mina, near the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. (AFP photo)

Saudi police guard the entrance to Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat,  southeast of the holy city of Mecca. (AFP photo)