Scaled-down hajj pilgrimage to start July 29: Saudi officials

This 12 months’s hajj, which has been scaled again dramatically to embrace solely round 1,000 Muslim pilgrims as Saudi Arabia battles a coronavirus surge, will start on July 29, authorities mentioned Monday.

This 12 months’s hajj might be held underneath strict hygiene protocols, with entry restricted to pilgrims underneath 65 years outdated and with none power sicknesses.

“The stand of pilgrims on Mount Arafat, the peak of the hajj ritual, falls on Thursday,” the official Saudi Press Agency cited the Supreme Court as saying, indicating that Wednesday could be the primary day of the annual occasion.

The timing of the hajj is set by the place of the moon, in accordance with the Islamic lunar calendar.

Last month, Saudi Arabia introduced it might maintain a “very limited” hajj, a choice fraught with political and financial peril because it battles a surge in coronavirus infections.

It has seen some 253,349 instances to date together with 2,523 deaths — the very best toll among the many Arab Gulf states.

Although hajj officials mentioned the pilgrimage could be restricted to 1,000 folks already current within the kingdom, 70 p.c of them foreigners and the remaining Saudis, some press studies have mentioned that 10,000 folks might participate.

The ritual might be restricted to medical professionals and safety personnel who’ve recovered from the virus, the hajj ministry mentioned.

– Heavy blow –

The resolution to exclude pilgrims arriving from outdoors Saudi Arabia is a primary within the kingdom’s trendy historical past and has sparked disappointment amongst Muslims worldwide, though many accepted it was obligatory due to the pandemic.

The pilgrims might be examined for coronavirus earlier than arriving in Mecca and are required to quarantine at dwelling after the ritual, in accordance to well being officials.

Saudi Arabia has seen an uptick in each confirmed infections and deaths from COVID-19 since easing motion restrictions in late May. It has but to restore worldwide air hyperlinks.

The hajj — a should for able-bodied Muslims at the very least as soon as of their lifetime — might be a significant supply of contagion, because it packs tens of millions of pilgrims into congested non secular websites.

The Saudi-based Muslim World League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation have backed the federal government’s transfer for the well being and security of pilgrims.

But the choice nonetheless dangers angering hardline Muslims for whom faith trumps well being considerations.

A scaled-down hajj represents a significant lack of income for the dominion, already reeling from the dual shocks of the virus-induced slowdown and a plunge in oil costs.

The smaller year-round umrah pilgrimage was already suspended in March.

Together, they add $12 billion to the Saudi economic system yearly, in accordance to authorities figures.

Hosting the hajj is a matter of status for Saudi rulers, for whom the custodianship of Islam’s holiest websites is their strongest supply of political legitimacy.

But a collection of lethal disasters over time, together with a 2015 stampede that killed up to 2,300 worshippers, has prompted criticism of the dominion’s administration of the pilgrimage.