WASHINGTON (AFP)  — President Barack Obama sent greetings on Wednesday on behalf of the United States to pilgrims performing the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia, and to Muslims worldwide celebrating the Eid-ul-Adha holiday.

“The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world’s major religions,” read a White House statement.

“On behalf of the American people, we would like to extend our greetings during this Hajj season — Eid Mubarak,” Obama said, using a traditional Muslim greeting.

A sea of pilgrims from around the world, dressed in white robes and towels, began the five-day hajj late on Tuesday and early on Wednesday, circling the Kaaba shrine inside Mecca’s Grand Mosque.

Few people appeared concerned over the main threat to the hajj, swine flu, despite the news that four pilgrims had died from the disease before the rites officially began.

Obama said in the statement that the US Department of Health and Human Services partnered this year with the Saudi Health Ministry “to prevent and limit the spread of H1N1” during the hajj.

“Cooperating on combating H1N1 is one of the ways we are implementing my administration’s commitment to partnership in areas of mutual interest,” the president said.

Swine flu has killed some 6,750 people around the world this year, the World Health Organization said on Friday, and Saudi authorities have deployed as many as 20,000 health workers.

Eid-ul-Adha is the holiday that marks the end of the hajj.