In scorching temperatures, Muslim pilgrims gathered in Mecca, converging on an enormous tent camp within the desert to formally begin the annual Hajj pilgrimage on Friday.
Prior to their journey, they circled the cube-shaped Kaaba within the Grand Mosque, the holiest website in Islam.
With over 1.5 million pilgrims from across the globe already assembled in and round Mecca for the Hajj, the numbers continued to swell as extra pilgrims from inside Saudi Arabia joined.
Saudi authorities anticipated the overall variety of pilgrims to surpass 2 million this 12 months.
This 12 months’s Hajj unfolded in opposition to the backdrop of Israel’s relentless assaults on the Gaza Strip, escalating tensions throughout the Middle East, with the area teetering on the point of a broader regional battle.
Palestinians within the coastal enclave of Gaza weren’t in a position to journey to Mecca for Hajj this 12 months due to the closure of the Rafah crossing in May, when Israel prolonged its floor offensive to the strip’s southern metropolis of Rafah on the border with Egypt.
Palestinian authorities mentioned 4,200 pilgrims from the occupied West Bank arrived in Mecca for Hajj.
Saudi authorities mentioned 1,000 extra from the households of Palestinians killed or wounded within the conflict in Gaza additionally arrived to carry out Hajj on the invitation of King Salman of Saudi Arabia.
The 1,000 invitees have been already outdoors Gaza – largely in Egypt – earlier than the closure of the Rafah crossing.
“We are deprived of (performing) Hajj because the crossing is closed, and because of the raging wars and destruction,” said Amna Abu Mutlaq, a 75-year-old Palestinian woman from Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis who had planned to perform Hajj this year. “They (Israel) disadvantaged us of every part.”
This 12 months’s Hajj additionally noticed Syrian pilgrims touring to Mecca on direct flights from Damascus for the primary time in additional than a decade.
The transfer was a part of an ongoing thaw in relations between Saudi Arabia and conflict-stricken Syria.
Syrians in opposition-held areas used to cross the border into neighboring Türkiye on their exhausting journey to Mecca for Hajj.
“This is the pure factor: Pilgrims go to Hajj instantly from their dwelling nations,” mentioned Abdel-Aziz al-Ashqar, a Syrian coordinator of the group of pilgrims who left Damascus this 12 months for Hajj.
The pilgrimage is among the Five Pillars of Islam, and all Muslims are required to make the five-day Hajj at the very least as soon as of their lives if they’re bodily and financially ready to take action.
It is a shifting non secular expertise for pilgrims who imagine it absolves sins and brings them nearer to God, whereas uniting the world’s greater than 2 billion Muslims.
It can be an opportunity to wish for peace in lots of conflict-stricken Arab and Muslim nations, together with Yemen and Sudan, the place greater than a 12 months of conflict between rival generals created the world’s largest displacement disaster.
For many Muslims, the Hajj is the one main journey they make of their lives.
Some spend years saving up cash and ready for a allow to embark on the journey of their 50s and 60s after elevating their youngsters.
The rituals throughout the Hajj largely commemorate the Quran’s accounts of Prophet Ibrahim, his son Prophet Ismail, and Ismail’s mom Hajar.
Male pilgrims put on an ihram, two unstitched sheets of white fabric that resemble a shroud, whereas ladies costume in conservative, loose-fitting clothes with headscarves, and forgo make-up and fragrance.
They have been performing the ritual circuit across the cube-shaped Kaaba, counter-clockwise within the seven-minaret Grand Mosque since arriving in Mecca over current days.
Saudi authorities have adopted safety restrictions in and round Mecca, with checkpoints arrange on roads resulting in the town to forestall these with out Hajj permits from reaching the holy websites.
Security authorities arrested many individuals who tried to take pilgrims to Mecca with out Hajj permits, mentioned Lt. Gen. Muhammad al-Bassami, head of the Hajj Security Committee.
Most of them have been expelled from the nation, whereas journey brokers confronted jail for as much as six months, based on the Interior Ministry.
On Friday, the pilgrims made their strategy to Mina, formally opening the Hajj.
They will then transfer for a daylong vigil Saturday on Mount Arafat, a desert hill the place the Prophet Muhammad is alleged to have delivered his closing speech, often called the Farewell Sermon.
Healthy pilgrims make the journey on foot; others use buses or trains.
The time of 12 months when the Hajj takes place varies, on condition that Hajj is about for 5 days within the second week of Dhu al-Hijjah, the final month within the Islamic lunar calendar.
Most of the Hajj rituals are held outdoor with little if any shade. When it falls in the summertime months, temperatures can soar to over 40 levels Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
The Health Ministry has cautioned that temperatures within the holy websites might attain 48 levels Celsius. Many pilgrims carried umbrellas in opposition to the burning solar.
After Saturday’s worship in Arafat, pilgrims will journey a number of kilometers to a website often called Muzdalifa to gather pebbles that they’ll use within the symbolic stoning of pillars representing the satan again in Mina.
Pilgrims then return to Mina for 3 days, coinciding with the festive Eid al-Adha vacation, when financially ready Muslims world wide slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to poor individuals. Afterward, they return to Mecca for the ultimate circumambulation, often called the Farewell Tawaf.
In current years, the annual pilgrimage has returned to its monumental scale after three years of heavy restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2023, greater than 1.8 million pilgrims carried out Hajj, approaching the 2019 stage when greater than 2.4 million pilgrims participated within the pilgrimage.
Source: www.dailysabah.com