In the years before the coronavirus, some three million white-clad pilgrims from around the world flocked to Islam’s holiest sites to attend Hajj under the scorching sun of Saudi Arabia.
With the pandemic making large gatherings impossible, only a few thousand pilgrims, Saudis, and foreign residents in the kingdom can gather this year at Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat for the most important ritual. They share a common plea.
“Everyone will pray for this pandemic to end and for all the world’s people to see better months to come after all the suffering caused by the coronavirus,” said Ammar Khaled, a 29-year-old Indian pilgrim who is an IT expert. professional in Jeddah.
Over the years, the kingdom has spent billions of dollars to make one of the world’s largest religious gatherings safer.
This year, he faces the challenge of maintaining Hajj, a once-in-a-lifetime duty for all eligible Muslims who can afford it, and a major source of government revenue, safe from COVID-19.
For the first time in modern history, it has drastically reduced the number of pilgrims to ensure that social distancing measures are followed.
Hajj’s minister said in June that the number of pilgrims would be limited to around 1,000, but no official number has been given for those performing the rituals this week. Some local media cited a figure of about 10,000.
Saudi health and safety professionals, at the forefront of the battle against the disease, account for around 30 percent of the total, with the remainder coming from 160 nationalities residing in the kingdom.
Pilgrims wearing masks surrounded the Kaaba, a stone structure that is the holiest of Islam and the direction Muslims face to pray, in small groups of 50 people, each at a safe distance and accompanied by a health professional who controls your movements.
Unlike in previous years when they set out for the Kaaba, pilgrims are not allowed to touch the smooth stone cube covered in black cloth and wrapped in Arabic script on gold silk.
Workers sanitized the structure, rubbing the Oud perfume, the popular woody and sweet Arabian scent, on its walls and carrying incense as they moved around the grounds of the Grand Mosque.
At the site, 3,500 workers spread around the Grand Mosque in Mecca to disinfect it using 54,000 liters (11,888 gallons) of disinfectant and 1,050 liters (277 gallons) of air fresheners daily.
The floors of the mosque were scrubbed 10 times a day, compared to three times in the past.
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