After thousands of pilgrims from different parts of Saudi Arabia reached Mecca on Saturday, the Hajj rituals began, after which the pilgrims are arriving in Mina today.
This is the second year that this religious duty of Muslims is being carried out on a limited scale to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Only 60,000 fully vaccinated citizens and residents are allowed to perform the Hajj, while up to 3 million Muslims from around the world travel to Mecca each year to perform this duty.
After reaching Mecca, the pilgrims circumambulated the Ka’bah in the Masjid al-Haram, after which they started their journey towards Mina, where they will stay tonight.
AdvertisementExclusive close-up Scenes as groups of Hujjaj performed Tawaaf Al Qudum (The Tawaf of Arrival) at Masjid Al Haram beginning yesterday morning. #Hajj 2021 | 1442 pic.twitter.com/ZIvcBTNgBN
— 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻 (@HaramainInfo) July 18, 2021
The Saudi Deputy Minister of Hajj said that 46,000 pilgrims have reached Mina so far.
He said that the number of women performing Hajj this year has increased to 40 per cent.
On the other hand, the director of the Hajj and Umrah department in the Ministry of Health said that the teams of the Ministry of Health are monitoring the health of the pilgrims and whoever is found to be infected will be sent to isolation.
This year, 60,000 pilgrims have been selected from more than 558,000 applications through online scrutiny, including fully vaccinated and healthy people between the ages of 18 and 65.
On Monday, the pilgrims will leave for Arafat Square, the main member of the Hajj, where they will spend their day in worship and after sunset go to Muzdalifah and collect pebbles after prayers.
Later, on the first day of Eid-ul-Adha, the pilgrims will return to Mina and after throwing stones at the devil, the men will perform Tawaf after shaving their hair.
It may be recalled that last year the authorities had announced that only one thousand people would be allowed to perform Hajj but later local media reported that 10 pilgrims performed Hajj.
Due to the strict measures taken by the Saudi authorities regarding health, no infection was reported during the Hajj last year.
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