Over a million Muslim pilgrims begin hajj in Mecca, amid prayers for Gaza

Muslim worshippers pray around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca on June 12, 2024, ahead of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. (Fadel Senna/AFP)
Muslim worshippers pray around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca on June 12, 2024, ahead of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. (Fadel Senna/AFP)

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – More than a million Muslim pilgrims are in Mecca for the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage, held against the grim backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza and in exhausting summer heat.

Crowds of robed worshippers will circle the Kaaba, the black cubic structure at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, with many expressing sadness eight months into the Israel-Hamas war.

“Our brothers are dying, and we can see it with our own eyes,” a tearful 75-year-old Zahra Benizahra from Morocco tells AFP.

Belinda Elham of Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, says she will “pray every day so that what’s happening in Palestine ends.”

Saudi King Salman issued a decree earlier this week to host 1,000 pilgrims “from the families of martyrs and the wounded from the Gaza Strip,” bringing to 2,000 the number of Palestinian pilgrims to be given the special honor at this year’s hajj, the official Saudi Press Agency reports.

However, the Gulf kingdom’s minister in charge of religious pilgrimages, Tawfiq al-Rabiah, warned last week that “no political activity” will be tolerated, and it was unclear how pilgrims might express solidarity with the Palestinians.

The hajj, one of the world’s largest religious gatherings, involves a series of rituals in Mecca and its surroundings in western Saudi Arabia that take several days to complete.

Muslim worshippers walk at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca on June 11, 2024, ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage. (Fadel Senna/AFP)

One of the five pillars of Islam, it must be performed at least once by all Muslims who have the means to do so.

Last year’s hajj drew more than 1.8 million pilgrims, according to official figures, after authorities lifted pandemic-era restrictions and scrapped age limits. About 1.5 million had arrived by late Monday for this year’s hajj, according to official media.

As has been the case for several years, the gathering falls this year during the hot Saudi summer, with officials predicting average highs of 44 degrees Celsius (111 degrees Fahrenheit).

Mitigation measures this year include misting systems and heat-reflective road coverings.

A text message sent to pilgrims yesterday instructed them to “drink water regularly, more than 2 liters daily” and to “always carry an umbrella,” warning that temperatures could climb to 48 degrees Celsius.

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