Muslim pilgrims have been streaming into Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Makkah ahead of the Hajj, which begins later this week, as the annual pilgrimage returns to its monumental scale.
Saudi officials report that more than 1.5 million foreign pilgrims have arrived by Tuesday, mostly by air, from across the globe. More arrivals are expected, along with hundreds of thousands of Saudis and residents of Saudi Arabia, when the pilgrimage officially starts on Friday.
This year’s number of pilgrims is expected to exceed that of 2023, when more than 1.8 million people performed Hajj, nearing pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, over 2.4 million Muslims made the pilgrimage. Saudi authorities manage the flow of pilgrims through quotas, allowing each country one pilgrim per thousand Muslim citizens.
Among the pilgrims are 4,200 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, who arrived in Mecca earlier this month, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs. However, Palestinians in Gaza were unable to travel to Saudi Arabia for Hajj this year due to the ongoing conflict with Israel.
“We are praying for Palestine to be free and for Palestinians to liberate their land and live in peace like other nations,” said Ibrahim al-Hadhari, an Algerian pilgrim, while standing in the Grand Mosque court waiting for evening prayers.
On Tuesday, pilgrims filled the Grand Mosque in Mecca, performing the ritual Tawaf, which involves walking seven times around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site. Clad in ihrams, two unstitched sheets of white cloth, many carried umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun, with temperatures reaching 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit).
“I was relieved when I arrived at Al-Masjid Al-Haram and saw the Kaaba,” said Rabeia al-Raghi, a Moroccan woman who came to Mecca for Hajj with her husband and daughter. “I am very happy.”
Mohammad Abdel-Baset, an Iraqi pilgrim, expressed his joy at performing Hajj. “We congratulate the great crowd and thank God for gathering us from all regions, globally and not just the Arab world,” said Abdel-Baset, a lawyer from Baghdad.
At night, the vast marble court around the Kaaba was packed with the faithful, moving nearly shoulder to shoulder and often jostling with barricades set up by security forces to manage the massive flow of people in and around the Grand Mosque.
Pilgrims perform Tawaf upon arriving in Mecca, and the large crowds circling the Kaaba will continue into the first day of Hajj.
On Friday, pilgrims will proceed to the Mountain of Arafat for a daylong vigil, then move to Muzdalifah, a rocky plain a few miles away. In Muzdalifah, they will collect pebbles for the symbolic stoning of pillars representing the devil in Mina.
One of the world’s largest religious gatherings, the Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, which every Muslim must undertake at least once in their lifetime if physically and financially able.
For those performing Hajj, the pilgrimage is an opportunity to strengthen their faith, atone for past sins, and begin anew.
