The prime minister of Egypt announced this weekend that the government of strongman Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would shut down at least 16 travel companies implicated in sending Egyptians to the Hajj pilgrimage without proper registration, resulting in hundreds dead from heat illness this month.
Authorities say more than 1,000 Muslims died during the recent Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the area suffered extreme temperatures.
Over 1,000 people participating in the Hajj, the Islamic mandatory pilgrimage to Mecca, have reportedly died this year as of Friday, prompting growing outrage at authorities in Saudi Arabia for allegedly failing to offer proper safety protocol, access to water, and other services.
At least 550 Muslims have died during 2024’s hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, most of them from “heat-related illnesses.”
One million Muslim pilgrims gathered in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday to begin the largest Hajj, or annual Islamic pilgrimage, the Kingdom has seen since before the Chinese coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, Arab News reported.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday welcomed its first batch of foreign Hajj pilgrims since before the Chinese coronavirus pandemic began, the news outlet Middle East Eye reported on Sunday, noting that the Islamic pilgrims hailed from Indonesia.
Muslims participating in the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, known as Hajj threw stones at a wall representing the devil in Mecca on Tuesday as part of the ritual.
Indonesia’s government on Thursday announced that it has canceled plans for its citizens to participate in the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, for the second year in a row, citing concerns over the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.
Indian Muslims must receive a full set of Chinese coronavirus vaccinations before participating in this year’s Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the Hajj Committee of India announced Thursday.
Only people “immunized” against coronavirus will be allowed to perform the Islamic Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca.
Saudi Arabia lifted coronavirus restrictions in Mecca on Sunday, allowing a small number of people to visit Islam’s holiest site as part of an umrah pilgrimage for the first time in several months.
Mina (Saudi Arabia) — Muslim pilgrims took part Friday in the “stoning of the devil”, using sanitised pebbles in the last major ritual of the scaled-down hajj as Saudi authorities seek to prevent a coronavirus outbreak.
Saudi authorities arrested 936 people Thursday for allegedly trying to enter Islamic holy sites during the hajj pilgrimage “without prior authorization,” Saudi news outlet al-Arabiya reported.
The Hajj, Islam’s annual pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, began Wednesday with strict government imposed social distancing measures severely limiting attendance of the event — 1,000 pilgrims participated compared to last year’s 2.5 million.
This year’s hajj, which has been scaled back dramatically to include only around 1,000 Muslim pilgrims as Saudi Arabia battles a coronavirus surge, will begin on July 29, authorities said Monday.
Saudi Arabia has banned international visitors from making the annual Islamic pilgrimage, or Hajj, this year in a bid to control the spread of the coronavirus.
Saudia Arabia urged over one million Muslims to halt preparations for the mandatory pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) on Tuesday. The request has caused some to speculate that the pilgrimage may be canceled this year.
Indonesian government authorities successfully halted a planned gathering of almost 9,000 Muslim pilgrims late Wednesday, amid fears it would spread Chinese coronavirus.
Riyadh — Saudi Arabia is treading a tightrope as it bars Muslim pilgrims from Islam’s holiest sites to contain the coronavirus, rolling out restrictions that while essential could prove both expensive and politically perilous.
The annual hajj pilgrimage that brings some two million Muslims to the religion’s holiest site in Mecca has once again become the subject of political controversy as Muslims opposed to the government of Saudi Arabia are urging others to boycott the event.
Iran’s hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) placed explosives in the bags of unsuspecting Iranian pilgrims bound for Hajj in Saudi Arabia in 1986, the family of a prominent Shiite cleric reportedly confirmed this week.
MECCA, Saudi Arabia — Mansour al-Amer swipes a card to reveal a narrow sleep pod, reminiscent of Japan’s famed capsule hotels. But this pod is in Saudi Arabia, where the Muslim hajj pilgrimage begins Sunday.
The annual pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Hajj, which observant Muslims are supposed to make at least once during their lives, officially begins on August 19. Mecca is located in Saudi Arabia, which is currently embroiled in serious disputes with Muslim nations such as Qatar, Iran, and Yemen, as well as Western countries with Muslim citizens who wish to make the pilgrimage, most notably Canada.
Ahead of this year’s annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took the opportunity to once again blast Saudi Arabia over what is known as the “Mina Stampede,” which left nearly 800 Muslims dead in 2015.
During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump pledged that he would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv. He has now made a courageous announcement making good on his campaign promise.
Saudi Arabia is declaring this year’s Hajj pilgrimage a success, with some two million visitors expected in Mecca, Medina, and surrounding holy sites. Previous years have sometimes been marked by tragedy, and this year’s event came amid a series of political challenges for the Saudis, but so far there has been nothing like the deadly 2015 stampede that killed hundreds of people.
The Islamic hajj pilgrimage draws people from around the world to Saudi Arabia each year. The crowds, squeezed shoulder to shoulder in prayer five times a day, fill the city of Mecca and surrounding areas to perform a number of physically demanding and intricate rites.
Two million Muslims pilgrims from around the world took part Friday in the symbolic stoning of the devil in Saudi Arabia, with tight security measures in place two years after a deadly stampede.
Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz has for the ninth year in a row allocated funds to five hundred families of Palestinian “martyrs” – someone viewed to have died on behalf of the Palestinian national cause – to perform the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that is a pillar of faith in Islamic doctrine.
The Hajj is a pilgrimage to the cities of Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia which all Muslims are encouraged to undertake at least once in their lifetimes. This year’s Hajj season comes amid several major domestic and international challenges for the Saudis.
Two million Muslims from across the globe are converging on Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage, a religious duty and for some pilgrims the journey of a lifetime.
UAE reacts furiously to Qatar’s restoring diplomatic relations with Iran; As Hajj approaches, Iran and Qatar remain in dispute with Saudi Arabia
Qatar on Monday denied it had banned Saudi Arabian flights from landing in the emirate to transport Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, after an accusation by authorities in Riyadh.
The first group of Iranian pilgrims has departed for Saudi Arabia on the 2017 Hajj pilgrimage, the journey to the holy city of Mecca and Medina that every Muslim is supposed to undertake at least once in a lifetime.
TEL AVIV — The crisis between Qatar and Gulf nations led by Saudi Arabia deteriorated further in the last few days due to Saudi reports that Qatar is appealing to the international community for internationalized access to Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia for the season of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca and other holy places, considered a requirement in the lives of all Muslims.
TEL AVIV – Israel is working to persuade Saudi Arabia to allow direct flights from Tel Aviv to Mecca for Israeli Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage, building on the same flight route taken by President Donald Trump on his trip to the region in May.
Contents: Bahrain postpones trial of Shia cleric after threats from Iran; Iran – Saudi Arabia relations continue to deteriorate
Iran said on Sunday there had been progress in talks with Saudi Arabia on allowing citizens of the Islamic republic to join this year’s hajj pilgrimage, despite some remaining issues.
LONDON (AP) — The British government says six U.K. citizens have been killed and others injured in a road crash in Saudi Arabia.
Iran has denied receiving any invitation from Saudi Arabia for talks on the hajj, after a row between the arch-foes saw its pilgrims stay at home last year.
