At the highest point of the yearly Hajj pilgrimage, Mount Arafat, more than 1.5 million pilgrims defied intense heat on Saturday, spending hours in prayer, particularly for Palestinians in Gaza, which has been devastated by conflict.
Worshippers, dressed in white, started showing up early for the hardest day of the yearly rituals, which involved climbing the 230-foot (70-meter) rocky slope where the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) had delivered his last sermon.
The 46-year-old Egyptian Mohammed Asser arrived prepared with a litany of prayers, declaring, “This is the most important day.” “I offer prayers to the Palestinians as well. God bless them.
The minister of religious pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia, Tawfiq al-Rabiah, issued a warning last week, saying that “no political activity” will be allowed during the Hajj. However, that did not deter one pilgrim from chanting in favour of the Palestinians, who have been under constant bombardment for more than eight months.
“Pray for our brothers in Palestine, in Gaza… may God give victory to the Muslims,” he said.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the top leader of Iran, stated that “the ironclad resistance of Palestine and the patient, oppressed people of Gaza… must be fully supported in every way” in a message to Hajj pilgrims on Saturday.
According to state media, some 2,000 Palestinians are doing the hajj at Saudi King Salman’s personal invitation.
“Scary” temperatures
One of the largest religious pilgrimages in the world, the Hajj, is being impacted more and more by climate change, according to a Saudi study released last month that indicated regional temperatures were rising by 0.4 degrees Celsius every ten years.
Abraman Hawa, a 26-year-old Ghanaian, claimed that the rites, which are performed primarily outside and require at least five days to finish, are “not easy because it is very hot.” “The sun is here, but it’s not as hot. But because I need Allah’s help, I shall pray to him at Arafat,” she continued.
After spending the night in a massive tented city in Mina, a valley outside of Makkah, pilgrims who arrived at Mount Arafat on Saturday were expecting to face difficulties due to the predicted high temperature of 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 degrees Fahrenheit).
The Saudi officials have advised pilgrims to stay out of the sun and drink lots of water. Men aren’t allowed to wear hats, but a lot of them carry umbrellas.
A Saudi source told AFP last week that over 10,000 heat-related ailments were reported in the previous year, with heat stroke accounting for 10% of cases.
The 33-year-old Indian pilgrim Ahmad Karim Abdelsalam acknowledged that the idea of spending hours on Mount Arafat was “a little scary”. But “God willing, everything will go well” with the aid of water sprays and an umbrella, he continued.
‘Once in a lifetime’
One of the five pillars of Islam is the Hajj, which every Muslim who has the means to do so must undertake at least once.
However, visas can be challenging to get because they are granted to specific nations based on a quota system.
Declaring, “It’s a chance that only comes once in a lifetime, I couldn’t not come,” was Abdulrahman Siyam, an Iraqi pilgrim, 55, who was using a prosthetic limb to carry out the rites.
The pilgrims will proceed from Mount Arafat to Muzdalifah, where they will gather stones for Sunday’s symbolic “stoning of the devil” ceremony in Mina.
The Hajj is said to trace the route of the last journey made by the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) around 1,400 years ago.
For the Al Saud dynasty, whose ruler holds the title “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques” in Makkah and Madinah, it is a crucial source of legitimacy.
The conservative nation, which is attempting to grow religious tourism as part of a push to lessen its reliance on crude oil, will also benefit financially greatly from it.
Approximately 90% of the more than 1.8 million pilgrims who visited the kingdom for the Hajj last year were foreigners.
Additionally, it welcomed 13.5 million Muslims who came to do the annual Umrah pilgrimage, with a goal of 30 million pilgrims by 2030.
