Imam Sheikh Mohammad bin Hassan Al Shaikh has urged all Muslims to rid their hearts of hatred and be more kind in their treatment of others, Radio Pakistan reported.

While delivering the Haj sermon on Saturday at Masjid-i-Nimra on the plain of Arafat, he impressed upon the need for showing campassion towards parents, children, relatives and all living beings.

He called upon Muslims to remain united in the bonds of brotherhood.

He reminded them that God's blessings are infinite and one must find solace in this fact and continue to seek them.

More than two million Muslims were gathered at the sacred hill of Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia for an intense day of worship and reflection on what's considered the climax of the annual Haj pilgrimage.

Pilgrims clad in white robes signifying a state of purity spent the night in a sprawling encampment around the hill where God tested Hazrat Ibrahim's (AS) faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Hazrat Ismail. It is also where Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) gave his last sermon.

Some had tears streaming down their faces as the men and women raised their hands in worship on the slopes of the rocky hill.

Pilgrims pray at Mount Arafat on Saturday. — AFP

Other worshippers who had been praying in the nearby Mina area ascended in buses or on foot from before dawn. Some carried food, carpets for camping and fans to keep cool as temperatures rose towards 40 degrees Celsius.

Zaid Abdullah, a 30-year-old Yemeni who works in a supermarket in Saudi Arabia, said he was praying for his own country, where war has killed tens of thousands of people and caused the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and for Muslims around the globe.

“We can tolerate the heat because our sins are greater than that,” he said as he approached the granite hill also known as the Mount of Mercy. “We ask God to alleviate the heat of the hereafter. As for the heat of this life, we can bear it.”

Taxi driver Khaled Maatouq said he was seeking an end to fighting in his native Libya: “I pray that God unites us.”

For others, the pilgrimage is a form of relief. Egyptian merchant Ramadan al-Jeedi said he was grateful to accompany his mother after his father died last year.

“It's the greatest feeling, to feel that God the almighty chose us to be in this place,” he said.

Meanwhile, the covering cloth of the Kaaba, known as kiswa, was also changed at Masjid al-Haram in Makkah as part of a yearly ritual which takes place on 9th Zilhaj.

The kiswa is a heavy silk cloth with verses of the Holy Quran in golden embroidery.

The new covering has been prepared at a cost of seven million Saudi Riyal. Six hundred and seventy kilogrammes of pure silk, 120 kilogrammes of gold and 100 kilogrammes of silver have been used in its preparation.

Saudi Arabia has said more than two million pilgrims, mostly from abroad, have arrived for the five-day ritual of Haj, a religious duty once in a lifetime for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford the journey.

Among them are 200 survivors and relatives of victims of the attacks on two New Zealand mosques in March.

The pilgrims spent the day on Mount Arafat. By sunset they moved to the rocky plain of Muzdalifa to gather pebbles to throw at stone columns symbolising the devil at Jamarat on Sunday, which marks the first day of Eidul Azha.

Saudi plans

Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites, Makkah and Madina, and organising the pilgrimage.

A perennial concern is the potential for disease spreading among pilgrims, who spend five days in close quarters, often eating outside and sleeping on the ground near holy sites.

The world's largest annual gathering of Muslims has in the past also seen stampedes, fires and riots, with authorities sometimes struggling to respond. Hundreds were killed in a crush in 2015, the worst disaster to strike Haj for at least 25 years.

Pilgrimage is also the backbone of a Saudi plan to expand tourism under a drive to diversify the kingdom's economy away from oil. The Haj and year-round Umrah generate billions of dollars in revenue from worshippers' lodging, transport, fees and gifts.

Officials aim to increase the number of Umrah and Haj pilgrims to 15 million and 5 million respectively by 2020 and the Umrah number to 30 million by 2030.