MECCA – Muslim pilgrims have been streaming into Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca ahead of the start of the Hajj later this week, as the annual pilgrimage returns to its monumental scale.
Saudi officials say more than 1.5 million foreign pilgrims have arrived in the country by Tuesday, the vast majority by air, from across the world. More are expected, and hundreds of thousands of Saudis and others living in Saudi Arabia will also join them when the pilgrimage officially begins on Friday.
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Saudi officials have said they expect the number of pilgrims this year to exceed those in 2023, when more than 1.8 million people performed Hajj, approaching pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, more than 2.4 million Muslims made the pilgrimage. Saudi authorities control the flow of pilgrims through quotas, allowing each country one pilgrim for every thousand Muslim citizens.
The pilgrims included 4,200 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank who arrived in Mecca earlier this month, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were not able to travel to Saudi Arabia for Hajj this year, because of the 8-month war between Israel and Hamas.
“We are praying for Palestine to be free and (for Palestinians) to liberate their land and to be like other nations, to live in peace and not always to have war," said Ibrahim al-Hadhari, an Algerian pilgrim, as he was standing in the Grand Mosque court waiting for evening prayers.
On Tuesday, pilgrims thronged the Grand Mosque in Mecca, performing a ritual circuit walking seven times around the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure inside the mosque that is considered Islam's holiest site. They wore ihrams, two unstitched sheets of white cloth that resemble a shroud.
Many were seen sweating heavily from the burning sun, Others were carrying umbrellas against the sun as temperatures reached 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit) and 45 degree Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) during the day on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively.
“I was relieved when I arrived at the Al-Masjid Al-Haram and saw the Kaaba,” said Rabeia al-Raghi, a Moroccan woman who came to Mecca for Hajj along with her husband and their daughter. “I am very happy.”
Mohammad Abdel-Baset, an Iraqi pilgrim, said he was overjoyed to perform Hajj.
“We congratulate the great crowd and thank God for gathering us from all regions, globally and not from the Arab world only, from all the global Muslim regions (who) came to the Grand Mosque," said Abdel-Baset, a lawyer from Baghdad.
At night, the vast marble court around the Kaaba was packed with the faithful, walking nearly shoulder to shoulder and often jostling with barricades set up by security forces to direct the giant flows of people in and around the Grand Mosque.
Shopping in Mecca flourishes during Hajj. Pilgrims were seen shopping from malls and stores in the city’s centerpiece, the monumental Makkah Royal Clock Tower which faces the Grand Mosque’s main entrance. Makkah is an alternative spelling of the city’s name.
“Trade movement is always excellent during Hajj,” said Bander Mohammed al-Juwayri, who owns a watch store a few meters from the Grand Mosque. “Hajj season strongly helps the economy.”
Pilgrims do the circumambulation, known as “Tawaf” in Arabic, upon arriving in Mecca. The large crowds circling the Kaaba will last into the Hajj’s first day.
On Friday, pilgrims will move to Mina, before heading the following day to the Mountain of Arafat for a daylong vigil. They will then head to Muzdalifah, a rocky plain area a few miles away. In Muzdalifa, pilgrims collect pebbles to be used in the symbolic stoning of pillars representing the devil back in Mina.
One of the world’s largest religious gatherings, the Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. All Muslims are required to undertake it at least once in their lives if they are physically and financially able to do so.
Those in the Hajj view the pilgrimage as an opportunity to strengthen their faith, wipe out old sins and start new.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.