MECCA: A million Muslim pilgrims had been converging on Saudi Arabia‘s holy metropolis of Mecca on Wednesday for the biggest haj because the coronavirus pandemic severely curtailed entry to one in all Islam’s 5 pillars.
Saudi Arabia’s choice to permit some 850,000 Muslims from overseas to make the annual pilgrimage, which begins on Thursday, marks a significant step towards normalcy after two years of a drastically scaled-down haj restricted to Saudi residents.
The 1 million international and home pilgrims continues to be far lower than the two.5 million Muslims who traveled in 2019 for the pilgrimage, sometimes one of many world’s largest gatherings. These performing the ritual this 12 months have to be beneath 65, vaccinated towards the coronavirus and have examined adverse for COVID-19 inside 72 hours of journey. The pilgrims are chosen from hundreds of thousands of candidates by a web-based lottery system.
Saudi officers inspected the holy web site on Wednesday and burdened their “readiness” to obtain pilgrims with the aim of “sustaining public well being.”
After the coronavirus struck in 2020, Saudi authorities allowed simply 1,000 pilgrims already residing within the kingdom to attend, prompting historians to match the disruption to the positioning’s storming by spiritual extremists and dramatic closure in 1979.
Final 12 months, the haj was equally restricted to 60,000 totally vaccinated Muslims dwelling in Saudi Arabia. The unprecedented curbs despatched shock waves all through the Muslim world, devastating many believers who had spent years saving up for the spiritual ceremony.
This 12 months, nonetheless, Saudi authorities are eager to chill out virus curbs. Spiritual pilgrimages introduced in USD 12 billion earlier than the pandemic — accounting for the biggest proportion of Saudi Arabia’s gross home product after oil.
Though virus circumstances have risen steadily to over 500 a day in Saudi Arabia, the federal government lifted the nation’s indoor masks mandate and different virus precautions final month. Roughly 70% of the nation has been vaccinated towards the virus.
The Quran says that each one Islam’s followers who’re bodily and financially in a position ought to make the pilgrimage as soon as of their lifetime. Pilgrims journey to Mecca from all around the world for 5 intense days of worship, finishing up a sequence of rituals.
The haj follows a route the Prophet Muhammad walked practically 1,400 years in the past and is believed to hint the footsteps of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they’re named within the Bible.
Saudi Arabia’s choice to permit some 850,000 Muslims from overseas to make the annual pilgrimage, which begins on Thursday, marks a significant step towards normalcy after two years of a drastically scaled-down haj restricted to Saudi residents.
The 1 million international and home pilgrims continues to be far lower than the two.5 million Muslims who traveled in 2019 for the pilgrimage, sometimes one of many world’s largest gatherings. These performing the ritual this 12 months have to be beneath 65, vaccinated towards the coronavirus and have examined adverse for COVID-19 inside 72 hours of journey. The pilgrims are chosen from hundreds of thousands of candidates by a web-based lottery system.
Saudi officers inspected the holy web site on Wednesday and burdened their “readiness” to obtain pilgrims with the aim of “sustaining public well being.”
After the coronavirus struck in 2020, Saudi authorities allowed simply 1,000 pilgrims already residing within the kingdom to attend, prompting historians to match the disruption to the positioning’s storming by spiritual extremists and dramatic closure in 1979.
Final 12 months, the haj was equally restricted to 60,000 totally vaccinated Muslims dwelling in Saudi Arabia. The unprecedented curbs despatched shock waves all through the Muslim world, devastating many believers who had spent years saving up for the spiritual ceremony.
This 12 months, nonetheless, Saudi authorities are eager to chill out virus curbs. Spiritual pilgrimages introduced in USD 12 billion earlier than the pandemic — accounting for the biggest proportion of Saudi Arabia’s gross home product after oil.
Though virus circumstances have risen steadily to over 500 a day in Saudi Arabia, the federal government lifted the nation’s indoor masks mandate and different virus precautions final month. Roughly 70% of the nation has been vaccinated towards the virus.
The Quran says that each one Islam’s followers who’re bodily and financially in a position ought to make the pilgrimage as soon as of their lifetime. Pilgrims journey to Mecca from all around the world for 5 intense days of worship, finishing up a sequence of rituals.
The haj follows a route the Prophet Muhammad walked practically 1,400 years in the past and is believed to hint the footsteps of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they’re named within the Bible.
