THOUSANDS of Muslim pilgrims massed in a valley near the Saudi holy city of Mina yesterday for the stoning of Satan, the last and most dangerous rite of the annual hajj.

More than two million Muslim pilgrims made the climactic ascent to Mount Arafat, Islam’s most sacred site, today to pray for salvation, and Saudi Arabia’s top cleric called for Islamic unity in the face of what he called the West’s war on Islam.