ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia — Greater than 1.5 million international pilgrims are in Saudi Arabia for this 12 months’s Hajj, a authorities spokesperson stated Wednesday.
Hajj is likely one of the Five Pillars of Islam, a spiritual obligation involving rituals and acts of worship that each Muslim should fulfil if they’ve the cash and are bodily capable of do it.
Hajj Ministry spokesperson Ghassan Al-Nuwaimi offered an approximate quantity for foreigners at this 12 months’s pilgrimage. He didn’t say what number of home pilgrims had been collaborating. Final 12 months, there have been 1,611,310 pilgrims from outdoors the nation.
On Wednesday, pilgrims streamed into Arafat, some making the journey on foot, carrying their baggage via temperatures nudging 40 levels Celsius (104 levels Fahrenheit). Others carried the aged.
Individuals paused to sit down on the bottom to relaxation or eat earlier than heading to their camps.
Mount Arafat, a rocky hill southeast of Mecca, holds immense significance in Islam. Arafat is talked about within the Quran and it’s the place the Prophet Muhammad is alleged to have given his final sermon on his last Hajj.
Based on conventional sayings of the prophet, the Day of Arafat is probably the most sacred day of the 12 months, when God attracts close to to the devoted and forgives their sins.
Pilgrims stay in Arafat, in prayer and reflection, from after midnight till after sundown. After sundown Thursday, pilgrims will go to the desert plain of Muzdalifah to gather pebbles, which they are going to use in a ritual.
Saudi Arabia has spent billions of {dollars} on crowd management and security measures, however the mass of members makes making certain their security troublesome. One of many biggest challenges on the Hajj lately has been the heat.
Earlier within the week, Well being Minister Fahad bin Abdulrahman Al-Jalajel advised The Related Press that 10,000 timber have been planted to offer extra shade, there may be elevated hospital mattress capability, and the variety of paramedics has tripled.