A few years before the coronavirus, millions of pilgrims from around the world flocked to Islam’s holiest place to attend hajj, one of the world’s most devoted gatherings. However, with the virus-induced ban on giant meetings, only a few thousand people attended this year’s hajj reduced hajj pilgrimage rituals.
Shocking photographs showed faithful dressed in white separated by several feet, circulating around the Kaaba, the holiest shrine of the Grand Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Mecca. In stark contrast to the large crowds of past years crammed around the shrine, images of this year’s hajj showed pilgrims dressed in masks walking at a measured pace, holding umbrellas for themselves from the blazing Saudi Arabian sun.
Only another 10,000 people already living in the kingdom are participating in this year’s pilgrimage, with around 2.5 million people from around the world accumulated in 2019, the afp news firm reported.
“Celebrate the ritual in the shadow of this Array pandemic … he needed to reduce the number of pilgrims, but this forced official agencies to redouble their efforts,” King Salman, 84, said in a speech read on state television through interim media minister Majid Al. -Qasabi.
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Unlike previous years, when they rushed to the Kaaba, this year pilgrims were allowed to touch the construction of cubic stone covered with black cloth and wrapped in Arabic script in golden silk.
The hajj, which began on Wednesday, is one of the five pillars of Islam and a duty to healthy Muslims at least once in their lives.
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