Saudi Arabia expects 1 million in greatest hajj since pandemic

This year’s hajj brought more than a million Muslims to Mecca in Saudi Arabia after the coronavirus pandemic cut off access to one of Islam’s five pillars.

After two years of a dramatically scaled-down hajj restricted to Saudi residents, Saudi Arabia’s decision to let around 850,000 Muslims from overseas undertake the annual pilgrimage, which begins on Thursday, marks a massive step towards normalcy.

It’s still significantly less than the 2.5 million Muslims who went on pilgrimage in 2019, which was the largest gathering in pilgrimage history with 1 million foreign and domestic pilgrims combined. For this year’s ritual, participants must be under 65, vaccinated against the coronavirus, and have tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of their arrival at a ritual location. An online lottery system selects the pilgrims from among the many millions of applicants.

Intending to maintain “public health,” Saudi Arabian officials examined the holy site on Wednesday and said they were ready to accommodate pilgrims.

Historians have compared the 2020 coronavirus outbreak in Saudi Arabia to the site’s 1979 takeover by religious radicals and dramatic closure, compelling the Saudi government to allow only 1,000 pilgrims who were already in the country to visit.

The hajj was also limited to 60,000 Saudi Muslims who were immunized entirely last year. In the Muslim world, the extraordinary limits caused shockwaves, destroying many believers who had spent years accumulating cash for the sacred rite.

Saudi authorities, on the other hand, are eager to ease virus restrictions this year. Before the pandemic, religious pilgrimages brought in $12 billion, accounting for the second-largest share of Saudi Arabia’s GDP behind oil.

Saudi Arabia’s administration withdrew the country’s indoor mask mandate and other viral safeguards last month, despite the steady rise in virus infections to over 500 per day. Approximately 70% of the population has been protected from the virus through vaccination.

According to the Quran, every Muslim who can do so should make the trip at least once in their lifetime. For five days, pilgrims from all over the world gather in Mecca to perform a series of religious rites.

The hajj follows a path that the Prophet Muhammad traveled about 1,400 years ago and is supposed to track the footsteps of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they are known in the Bible.