pilgrimage

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.

A stampede at a Hindu temple in northern India’s Jammu and Kashmir territory on New Year’s Eve — allegedly sparked by “a fight between two groups of pilgrims” — killed 12 people and injured 16 others, India’s New Delhi Television (NDTV) reported on Monday.

Hundred of thousands of Hindu pilgrims packed the banks of the Ganges River in northern India on Thursday for a chance to bathe in the sacred waterway as part of the major Kumbh Mela Hindu festival.

Indian government officials expect “several million” people to gather in northern India’s Uttarakhand state over the next several weeks as part of the Hindu Kumbh Mela pilgrimage.

Hundreds of Pakistanis are flooding into hospitals in Karachi with flu-like symptoms asking to be tested for Chinese coronavirus, Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported on Wednesday.

LONDON (AP) — The British government says six U.K. citizens have been killed and others injured in a road crash in Saudi Arabia.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei renewed criticism of Saudi Arabia over how it runs the haj after a crush last year killed hundreds of pilgrims, and suggested Muslim countries think about ending Riyadh’s control of the annual pilgrimage.

The death toll from the tragedy that killed hundreds, if not thousands, of Hajj pilgrims last week outside of Mecca continues to rise this week, as official estimates from Islamic countries show that the real number of those who passed in the stampede is likely much larger than the 769 previously announced by Saudi Arabian authorities.

State press agencies in both Iran and Saudi Arabia have alleged new conspiracies about who is to blame for the Hajj stampede that killed hundreds of Muslim pilgrims last week.

Iranian dictator Ali Khamenei continues to call for Saudi Arabia to apologize for the deaths of over 750 people killed last week in a stampede during the Muslim hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

A video of a man performing part of his pilgrimage to Mecca while riding a hoverboard has prompted a debate among Muslims regarding whether the device is permitted. At least one scholar has approved, as long as a disability prevents the man from completing the voyage on foot.

Hurriyet Daily News has an odd little story from the Uskudar district of Istanbul, where the mayor has constructed a miniature replica of Mecca, Islam’s holy city. It is essentially a theme park of Mohammed’s life and times, with replicas of “the Kaaba, Prophet Mohammad’s house, the Hira cave, the Sevr cave, the Muallaq Stone, the Zamzam well and an elephant statue.”