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MOUNT ARAFAT, SAUDI ARABIA: Enormous crowds of Muslim pilgrims began praying on Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat early Friday, the excessive level of the most important hajj pilgrimage for the reason that pandemic pressured drastic cuts in numbers for 2 years in a row.
The worshippers, capped at a million together with 850,000 from overseas chosen by lottery, spent the evening at camps within the valley of Mina, seven kilometres (4 miles) from Mecca‘s Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest web site.
Within the early hours of Friday, they converged on Mount Arafat, the place the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have delivered his last sermon, for a very powerful of the hajj rituals.
They’ll keep all day on the web site, praying and reciting the Koran, the Muslim holy e-book.
After sundown they’ll head to Muzdalifah, half-way between Arafat and Mina, the place they’ll sleep below the celebs earlier than performing the symbolic “stoning of the satan” ceremony on Saturday.
This 12 months’s hajj is going down towards the backdrop of a resurgence of Covid-19 within the area, with some Gulf international locations tightening restrictions to maintain outbreaks in verify.
All members have been required to submit proof of full vaccination and unfavourable PCR exams. Upon reaching Mina on Thursday, they have been handed small baggage containing masks and sanitiser.
The hajj, normally one of many world’s largest annual non secular gatherings, is among the many 5 pillars of Islam and have to be undertaken by all Muslims with the means a minimum of as soon as of their lives.
In 2019, some 2.5 million Muslims from world wide took half, as in earlier years.
However the coronavirus outbreak has since pressured Saudi authorities to dramatically downsize the hajj. Simply 60,000 totally vaccinated residents and residents of the dominion participated in 2021, up from just a few thousand in 2020.
– Solar and tears – The pilgrimage will be bodily draining even in perfect circumstances, however worshippers this 12 months have confronted an added problem: scorching solar and temperatures rising to 42 levels Celsius (108 levels Fahrenheit).
Islam forbids males from carrying hats as soon as the rites begin, and plenty of have been seen shielding themselves with umbrellas, prayer mats and even, in a single case, a small bucket stuffed with water.
Girls, in the meantime, are obliged to cowl their heads with scarves.
On the mountain Friday morning, most of the worshippers wept as they prayed, and carried umbrellas in preparation for the excessive temperatures later within the day.
– Excessive circumstances – “We are able to tolerate (the warmth). We’re right here for the hajj. The extra we tolerate, the extra our pilgrimage is accepted,” Laila, a 64-year-old Iraqi pilgrim who gave solely her first identify, advised AFP in Mecca earlier than reaching the mount.
Saudi officers have touted their preparations for the intense circumstances, highlighting the lots of of hospital beds allotted for warmth stroke sufferers and the “massive variety of misting followers” they’ve supplied.
A truck has additionally been allotted to distribute umbrellas, water bottles and small followers.
Nonetheless, the Nationwide Centre for Meteorology, which has arrange an workplace in Mina, is sending warnings to pilgrims on their cell phones, urging them to keep away from outside rituals at sure instances of the day, particularly at midday.
On Saturday, Muslim pilgrims will participate within the “stoning”, the final main ritual of this 12 months’s hajj.
This ritual has in previous years led to lethal stampedes, as lots of of hundreds of members converge on a small area.
After the stoning ritual, pilgrims return to the Grand Mosque in Mecca to carry out a last “tawaf” or circling of the Kaaba, the cubic construction draped in a gold-embroidered black fabric that’s the focus of Islam.
Eid al-Adha, feast of the sacrifice, marks the tip of hajj.
The worshippers, capped at a million together with 850,000 from overseas chosen by lottery, spent the evening at camps within the valley of Mina, seven kilometres (4 miles) from Mecca‘s Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest web site.
Within the early hours of Friday, they converged on Mount Arafat, the place the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have delivered his last sermon, for a very powerful of the hajj rituals.
They’ll keep all day on the web site, praying and reciting the Koran, the Muslim holy e-book.
After sundown they’ll head to Muzdalifah, half-way between Arafat and Mina, the place they’ll sleep below the celebs earlier than performing the symbolic “stoning of the satan” ceremony on Saturday.
This 12 months’s hajj is going down towards the backdrop of a resurgence of Covid-19 within the area, with some Gulf international locations tightening restrictions to maintain outbreaks in verify.
All members have been required to submit proof of full vaccination and unfavourable PCR exams. Upon reaching Mina on Thursday, they have been handed small baggage containing masks and sanitiser.
The hajj, normally one of many world’s largest annual non secular gatherings, is among the many 5 pillars of Islam and have to be undertaken by all Muslims with the means a minimum of as soon as of their lives.
In 2019, some 2.5 million Muslims from world wide took half, as in earlier years.
However the coronavirus outbreak has since pressured Saudi authorities to dramatically downsize the hajj. Simply 60,000 totally vaccinated residents and residents of the dominion participated in 2021, up from just a few thousand in 2020.
– Solar and tears – The pilgrimage will be bodily draining even in perfect circumstances, however worshippers this 12 months have confronted an added problem: scorching solar and temperatures rising to 42 levels Celsius (108 levels Fahrenheit).
Islam forbids males from carrying hats as soon as the rites begin, and plenty of have been seen shielding themselves with umbrellas, prayer mats and even, in a single case, a small bucket stuffed with water.
Girls, in the meantime, are obliged to cowl their heads with scarves.
On the mountain Friday morning, most of the worshippers wept as they prayed, and carried umbrellas in preparation for the excessive temperatures later within the day.
– Excessive circumstances – “We are able to tolerate (the warmth). We’re right here for the hajj. The extra we tolerate, the extra our pilgrimage is accepted,” Laila, a 64-year-old Iraqi pilgrim who gave solely her first identify, advised AFP in Mecca earlier than reaching the mount.
Saudi officers have touted their preparations for the intense circumstances, highlighting the lots of of hospital beds allotted for warmth stroke sufferers and the “massive variety of misting followers” they’ve supplied.
A truck has additionally been allotted to distribute umbrellas, water bottles and small followers.
Nonetheless, the Nationwide Centre for Meteorology, which has arrange an workplace in Mina, is sending warnings to pilgrims on their cell phones, urging them to keep away from outside rituals at sure instances of the day, particularly at midday.
On Saturday, Muslim pilgrims will participate within the “stoning”, the final main ritual of this 12 months’s hajj.
This ritual has in previous years led to lethal stampedes, as lots of of hundreds of members converge on a small area.
After the stoning ritual, pilgrims return to the Grand Mosque in Mecca to carry out a last “tawaf” or circling of the Kaaba, the cubic construction draped in a gold-embroidered black fabric that’s the focus of Islam.
Eid al-Adha, feast of the sacrifice, marks the tip of hajj.
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