DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The annual hajj of Islam pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia will return this year to pre-pandemic levels after restrictions reduced the annual commemoration amid coronavirus concerns, the government says.
The hajj, obligatory for all healthy Muslims once in a lifetime, represents one of the largest gatherings of other people in the world. Before the pandemic, the pilgrimage drew millions of people each year to Islam’s holiest city, Mecca, home of the cube-shaped Kaaba to which practicing Muslims pray five times a day.
In 2019, more than 2. 4 million more people participated in the pilgrimage. But in 2020, amid pandemic-induced lockdowns, Saudi Arabia drastically reduced hajj with the participation of just 1,000 Saudi Arabians. It was an unprecedented decision, including the 1918 flu epidemic that killed tens of millions of people worldwide.
In 2021, about 60,000 more people participated in Saudi Arabia. Last year, 1 million faithful made the pilgrimage.
Speaking Monday night at a hajj convention in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah, Saudi Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Tawfiq bin Fawzan al-Rabiah, announced the lifting of restrictions.
“I bring you two smart news at this meeting. The first: the return of the number of pilgrims to what it was before the pandemic without any age restrictions,” al-Rabiah said, according to the Saudi state news agency. .
“And the second: to allow any hajj project around the world to deal with any authorized company that meets pilgrims from those countries,” he added.
Only other people between the ages of 18 and 65 can attend the hajj in recent years. Saudi Arabia has also limited the number of private companies that can arrange hajj trips.
The coronavirus is not the first public health crisis to hit the hajj. The kingdom’s ruling circle of relatives, Al Saud, puts its legitimacy on the oil-rich country through hajj tracking and protection sites. Making sure the hajj takes a stand has been a priority for them. , as well as a primary economic driving force bringing billions of dollars in non-oil profits to Saudi Arabia.
Epidemics have been a fear around hajj. Pilgrims battled a malaria epidemic in 632, cholera in 1821 killed some 20,000 people, and another cholera epidemic in 1865 killed 15,000 before spreading around the world.
More recently, Saudi Arabia has been threatened by another coronavirus, the one that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. The kingdom stepped up the hajj’s public health measures in 2012 and 2013, urging the physically fit and the elderly not to participate.
In years, the Saudi government has also instituted bans on pilgrims from Ebola-affected countries.
It was not without delay revealed what health precautions would be taken for the hajj, which falls according to this year’s Islamic lunar calfinishar in late June. Although Saudi Arabia has no need for coronavirus vaccinations or testing, it does require pilgrims to be vaccinated. to other diseases.
Muslims are forbidden to kiss or touch the cube-shaped Kaaba, God’s metaphorical space in the middle of Mecca that pilgrims surround when performing the hajj.
The hajj also approaches giant crowds, which in 2015 saw more than 2400 people die in an accident and stampede.
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