On Sunday, tens of thousands of vaccinated Muslim pilgrims circled the holiest part of Islam in Mecca, but due to the severe impact of the coronavirus on Muslims, they still maintained social distancing and put on masks. pilgrimage Operation for the second consecutive year.
The Hajj, which once attracted about 2.5 million Muslims from all walks of life from all over the world, is now almost unrecognizable.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this year and the ongoing reduction in Hajj not only affects the ability of people outside Saudi Arabia to fulfill Islamic obligations, but also affects the billions of dollars that Saudi Arabia receives from its guardians of holy places each year.
The Islamic pilgrimage lasts about five days, but Muslims traditionally arrive in Mecca a few weeks earlier.Hajj Eid al Adha The hallmark of the celebration is the distribution of meat to the poor all over the world.
This year, due to continuing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, 60,000 Saudi Arabian citizens or residents who have been vaccinated are allowed to perform the Hajj. Compared with the main iconic Hajj last year, this number is much larger, when there were fewer than 1,000 people from within the kingdom.
As there is no clear or agreed vaccination passport standard, the vaccination rate is extremely uneven, and new variants of the virus threaten the progress already made in some countries. It is not clear when Saudi Arabia will once again receive the millions of Muslim pilgrims it plans to visit. Received in the next few years.
The Saudi rulers of the kingdom bet its legitimacy to a large extent on their supervision of pilgrimage sites, which provides them with a unique and powerful platform among Muslims around the world. Despite the changes caused by the pandemic, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is still doing its utmost to ensure uninterrupted Hajj every year.
Robots have been deployed to spray disinfectants around the busiest sidewalks of the cubic Kaaba. The pilgrimage of most people begins and ends here.
Saudi Arabia is also testing smart bracelets in cooperation with government artificial intelligence agencies this year. The touch screen bracelet is similar to the Apple Watch and includes information about Hajj, pilgrims’ oxygen levels and vaccine data, and has an emergency function to call for help.
On Saturday, July 17, 2021, the day before the annual Hajj, when Muslim pilgrims walked around the cube kaaba of the Grand Mosque, workers were disinfecting the site.
AP Photo/Amr Nabil
International media that already existed in the kingdom were allowed to report on the Hajj from Mecca this year, but other media were not allowed to fly in as they did before the pandemic.
The cleaners disinfect the huge white marble space of the Grand Mosque that houses the Kaaba several times a day.
Olis Gul, a cleaner who has worked in Mecca for 20 years, said: “We are disinfecting the floor and using disinfectant, and we are cleaning two to three times during (each) shift.”
Hajj is one of the most important requirements of Islam, and it must be performed once in a lifetime. It follows the path taken by the Prophet Muhammad nearly 1,400 years ago, and is believed to eventually trace the footsteps of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or the biblical names of Abraham and Ishmael.
Hajj is seen as an opportunity to erase the sins of the past and bring greater unity among Muslims.
The shared experience of more than 2 million people from all over the world-Shia, Sunni and other Muslim sects-praying together, eating together and repenting together has long made Hajj both a challenging and transformative experience. Part.
On Saturday, July 17, 2021, the day before the annual Hajj, Muslim pilgrims pray in front of Al-Safa Mountain in the Grand Mosque.
AP Photo/Amr Nabil
There are doubts about whether the Hajj can attract such a large number of believers again. Male pilgrims wear white terry cloth clothing to form a white ocean, which symbolizes the equality of human beings before God, and women give up makeup and perfume to focus on the heart.
Just like last year, the pilgrims will drink water from the sacred osmosis spring using packaged plastic bottles. Pilgrims must also bring their own prayer blankets, provide parasols to protect them from the sun, and must follow a strict timetable through a mobile app, notifying them when they can enter certain areas to avoid congestion.
“I hope this is a successful Hajj season,” said Aly Aboulnaga, an Egyptian pilgrim and lecturer at the University of Saudi Arabia. “We pray that God will accept everyone’s pilgrimage and open the area to more pilgrims and return to a better condition than before.”
Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, the kingdom was working to greatly expand Mecca’s capacity to receive pilgrims through the expansion of the Great Mosque, which cost 60 billion U.S. dollars. On the south side of the mosque stands the 1,972-foot (600-meter) Bell Tower skyscraper, which is part of a seven-tower complex built to accommodate high-end paying pilgrims.
This kingdom with a population of more than 30 million has reported more than 500,000 coronavirus cases and more than 8,000 deaths. According to the World Health Organization, it has received nearly 20 million doses of coronavirus vaccine.
— Batrawy reports from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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