Islamic State is 'evil', Saudi religious leaders warn haj pilgrims
Religious leaders in warning to millions of Muslims performing annual haj
Taking aim at Islamic State, Saudi Arabia has mounted a battle for hearts and minds at this year's haj, warning pilgrims that the hardline group is "evil" and seeking to recruit their children to fight in Iraq and Syria.
As millions of pilgrims visited the holiest sites in Islam on the second day of the annual pilgrimage this weekend, religious leaders condemned the fourth beheading of a Westerner by Islamic State insurgents.
Saudi Arabia declared Islamic State a terrorist organisation in March and sharply stepped up denunciations of the group after its fighters made rapid territorial gains in Iraq in June.
US-led air strikes on the group have allowed some of the lost territory to be recaptured, but the well-armed militants continue to make gains in Iraq and Syria. Last week, Saudi air force planes pounded militant targets in Syria.
The group's radical Sunni Islamist ideology is gaining traction elsewhere in the Muslim world. A group in Algeria pledged allegiance before killing a French hostage last month, and the Pakistani Taliban also declared its support on Saturday.
Saudi Arabia follows the ultraconservative Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam, which disdains Shiites as heretics and demands a strict interpretation of Muslim sharia law.
Although Islamic State, like al-Qaeda, draws some of its ideology from the Wahhabi school, it rejects the legitimacy of the Saudi government and has vowed to topple the ruling Al-Saud dynasty.