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Enormous crowds of robed Muslim pilgrims prayed on Saudi Arabia’s Mount Arafat on Friday, the climax of the most important hajj pilgrimage because the pandemic pressured drastic cuts in numbers two years in a row.
Teams of worshippers, many holding umbrellas towards the fierce solar, recited verses from the Koran on the rocky rise, the place the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his ultimate sermon.
Prayers on Mount Arafat are the spotlight of the pilgrimage, capped this yr at a million individuals together with 850,000 from overseas.
Pilgrims, many in white robes, chanted “Oh God, right here I’m” as they reached Mount Arafat on foot or in buses from their close by tents.
After sundown, they’ll journey the brief distance to Muzdalifah, the place they’ll sleep beneath the celebs earlier than performing the symbolic “stoning of the satan” ceremony on Saturday.
“I’m so blissful to be right here… That is the most important hajj within the coronavirus period, but it surely is not sufficiently big but,” Egyptian pilgrim Saad Farhat Khalil, 49, instructed AFP.
“There are a million right here right now, but when the Saudis allowed extra, 10 million would have come,” he added.
Entry roads have been filled with worshippers as helicopters buzzed overhead and volunteers handed out bottles of water and picked up garbage in inexperienced plastic baggage.
The hajj, normally one of many world’s largest annual spiritual gatherings, is among the many 5 pillars of Islam and should be undertaken by all Muslims with the means no less than as soon as of their lives.
In 2019, as in earlier years, some 2.5 million Muslims from all over the world took half, a determine that dropped to a couple thousand in 2020 and 60,000 in 2021.
A lot of world leaders have participated this yr, together with Mauritania’s president and Indonesia’s vp. State media on Friday reported that Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov had arrived within the kingdom to carry out the hajj.
– Covid fears –
At midday, hundreds of pilgrims prayed in Namirah mosque, the place the Prophet Mohammed gave sermons.
“In 2020 I believed I’d by no means do hajj. It appeared like the top of time. However right here we’re right now, God is nice,” mentioned Bassam Mohammed, one other Egyptian pilgrim.
The big crowds have spurred fears that Covid will unfold, particularly after many pilgrims went with out face masks on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, regardless of claims by Saudi authorities that masks could be obligatory.
The hajj is happening towards the backdrop of a resurgence within the area, with some Gulf nations tightening restrictions to maintain outbreaks in examine.
All contributors have been required to submit proof of vaccination and detrimental PCR assessments. On reaching their white-tent encampment at Mina on Thursday, they have been handed baggage containing masks and sanitiser.
Well being ministry spokesman Dr Muhammad al-Abdulaali instructed a press convention Thursday night that to date no Covid instances had been detected among the many pilgrims, although it was unclear whether or not widespread testing was happening.
“The well being standing of the pilgrims is reassuring, and no illness outbreaks affecting public well being have been recorded,” he mentioned.
– Warmth warnings –
The pilgrimage may be bodily draining even in preferrred circumstances, however worshippers this yr have confronted an added problem: scorching solar and temperatures nicely over 40 levels Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
On Friday, the temperature hit 44 levels Celsius at Mount Arafat, state-run Al-Ekhbariya reported.
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 full of water.
Girls, in the meantime, are obliged to cowl their heads with scarves.
“We are able to tolerate (the warmth)… The extra we tolerate, the extra our pilgrimage is accepted,” Laila, a 64-year-old Iraqi pilgrim who gave solely her first identify, instructed AFP.
Saudi officers have touted their preparations for the acute circumstances, highlighting the a whole bunch of hospital beds allotted for heatstroke sufferers and the “massive variety of misting followers” they’ve offered.
Dozens of vans are distributing umbrellas, water bottles and small followers.
However, the Nationwide Centre for Meteorology, which has arrange an workplace in Mina, is sending warnings to pilgrims on their cellphones, urging them to keep away from outside rituals at sure occasions of the day, particularly at midday.
On Saturday, Muslim pilgrims will participate within the “stoning”, the final main ritual of the hajj which has beforehand led to lethal stampedes, as a whole bunch of hundreds converge on a small house.
After the stoning ritual, pilgrims return to the Grand Mosque in Mecca to carry out a ultimate “tawaf” or circling of the Kaaba, the cubic construction that’s the focus of Islam.
Eid al-Adha, the feast of the sacrifice that begins on Saturday, marks the top of hajj.
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