Around two million Muslims from across the world including about one lakh 70 thousand from India gathered today at plains of Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia for the main ritual of Haj. <br/><br/>With temperatures pushing 40 degrees Celsius under the desert sun, the faithful climbed the hill east of Mecca where Muslims believe the Prophet Mohammed gave his last sermon some 14 centuries ago. <br/><br/>The pilgrims wearing Ehraam or seamless white robes listened the Haj Sermon and offered afternoon and mid-day prayers together at Nimra mosque. <br/> <br/>Haj pilgrims will now leave for Muzdalifah and offer evening and night prayers together. The pilgrims will collect the pebbles for stoning the three concrete pillars representing devil. They will spend the night there under the open sky and will return to Mina tomorrow morning for animal sacrifice and symbolic stoning of the devil.<br/><br/>This year's Haj has seen the return of pilgrims from Iran following a diplomatic row and a deadly stampede in 2015. But thousands who would normally make the journey from neighbouring Qatar are absent apart from a few dozen because of the diplomatic crisis shaking the Gulf.<br/><br/>Saudi Arabia's Red Crescent said it had deployed 326 ambulances along the pilgrimage route to handle health emergencies. Riyadh says, it has deployed more than one lakh security personnel to keep pilgrims safe. At the foot of Mount Arafat, mobile barriers have been installed to control the movement of the crowds.