FILE PHOTO: Mulism pilgrims stroll in the direction of Mount Arafat, also referred to as Jabal al-Rahma or Mount of Mercy, throughout the climax of the Hajj pilgrimage on June 27, 2023. The ritual is the excessive level of the annual pilgrimage, one of many 5 pillars of Islam, that officers say might be the most important on document after three years of COVID-19 restrictions. (Picture by Sajjad HUSSAIN / Agence France-Presse)
MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia — Greater than 1.5 million Muslims will pray on Mount Arafat in hovering temperatures on Saturday, June 15, on the high-point and most grueling day of the annual hajj pilgrimage.
Worshippers from everywhere in the world will climb the rocky, 70-meter (230-feet) hill, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Mecca, the place the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his final sermon.
The desert summer time warmth is anticipated to hit 43 levels Celsius (109.4 levels Fahrenheit), creating challenges particularly among the many aged throughout a day of prayer and reciting the Koran.
The hajj, which takes at the least 5 days to finish and is generally outdoor, “isn’t straightforward as a result of it is rather scorching”, stated Abraman Hawa, 26, from Ghana.
“We’ve solar… however it’s not as scorching. However I’ll pray to Allah at Arafat as a result of I would like his assist,” she added.
READ: Saudi clears Mecca of over 300,000 unregistered pilgrims forward of hajj
Saudi authorities have urged pilgrims to drink loads of water and defend themselves from the solar. Since males are prohibited from carrying hats, many carry umbrellas.
Greater than 10,000 heat-related sicknesses had been recorded final 12 months, 10 p.c of them warmth stroke, a Saudi official instructed AFP this week.
The hajj, one of many world’s largest spiritual gatherings, is more and more affected by local weather change, based on a Saudi examine that stated regional temperatures had been rising 0.4C every decade.
However Mohammed Farouk, a 60-year-old Pakistani pilgrim, was not delay by the Gulf kingdom’s scorching summer time solar.
The hajj is “essential for me as a Muslim,” he stated.
READ: Mecca companies see hajj growth ending pandemic droop
The big crowds of worshippers spent the night time in an enormous tented metropolis in Mina, a valley a number of kilometers outdoors Mecca, Islam’s holiest metropolis.
Lots of them had been tightly packed within the air-conditioned tents, mendacity shut collectively on slim mattresses.
They had been grouped by nationality and value, relying on how a lot they’d paid for his or her hajj packages – often a number of thousand {dollars}.
After Arafat, they’ll head to Muzdalifah, the place they’ll gather pebbles to hold out the symbolic “stoning of the satan” ritual in Mina on Sunday.
The hajj is alleged to comply with the trail of the Prophet Mohammed’s remaining pilgrimage, about 1,400 years in the past.
It is a crucial supply of legitimacy for the Al Saud dynasty, whose monarch has the title “guardian of the 2 holy mosques”, in Mecca and Medina.
It is usually a significant monetary windfall for the conservative nation, which is making an attempt to develop spiritual tourism as a part of a drive to cut back its dependence on crude oil.
The dominion obtained greater than 1.8 million pilgrims final 12 months for the hajj, round 90 p.c of whom got here from overseas.
It additionally welcomed 13.5 million Muslims who got here to carry out Umrah, the small pilgrimage that may be executed all 12 months spherical, and goals to succeed in 30 million by 2030.
This 12 months’s hajj takes place within the shadow of the Gaza battle, after eight months of bloodshed that’s an open wound for a lot of within the Muslim world.