The annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia must be undertaken at least once in a lifetime by every Muslim who can afford it and is physically able to do so.
Millions of Muslims from around the world flocked to Islam’s holiest site on Friday to officially begin the pilgrimage. Saudi authorities expected the number of visitors to exceed two million this year. It is likely that temperatures in Mecca reach 44 degrees Celsius during the weekend.
A pilgrimage that this year was celebrated in the middle of Israel’s destruction of the Gaza Strip.
Due to Israel’s blockade of the Gaza border crossing with Egypt at Rafah last May, Palestinians from Gaza have not been able to travel to Mecca this year.
Palestinian authorities declared that 4,200 pilgrims from the West Bank militarily occupied by Israel arrived in Mecca. Saudi officials said about 1,000 family members of Palestinians killed or wounded in the Gaza war also arrived at the king’s invitation. Salman bin Abdulaziz from Saudi Arabia. All of them were outside Gaza – most in Egypt – before the closure of the Rafah border crossing.
“We are deprived of carrying out the pilgrimage because the pass is closed and because of wars and destruction,” he declared. Amna Abu Mutlaqa 75-year-old Palestinian from the city of Jan Yunis, in southern Gaza, which had planned to hold the Hajj this year. “They (Israel) have deprived us of everything.”
Also flights from Damascus
This year too Syrian pilgrims traveled to Mecca on direct flights from Damascus for the first time in more than a decade. This measure is part of the current thaw in relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria. Syrians from rebel-held areas often crossed the border into neighboring Turkey on their grueling journey to Mecca.
“This is natural: pilgrims go to the pilgrimage directly from their countries of origin,” he declared. Abdel-Aziz al-AshqarSyrian coordinator of the group of pilgrims that left Damascus this year.
A spiritual experience
The pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all Muslims must perform the five-day Hajj at least once in their lifetime if they are physically and financially able to do so.
It is a moving spiritual experience for pilgrims, who believe it absolves sins and brings them closer to God, while uniting the world’s more than two billion Muslims. It is also an opportunity to pray for peace in many conflict-ridden Arab and Muslim countries, such as Yemen y Sudanwhere more than a year of war between rival generals has caused the world’s largest displacement crisis.
For many Muslims, this is the only major trip they take in their entire lives. Some spend years saving money and waiting for the time to take the trip at age 50 or 60, after having raised their children.
Rituals during the pilgrimage largely commemorate the Quran’s stories about Prophet Ibrahim, his son the Prophet Ismail and Ismail’s mother, Hajaro Abraham e Ismaelas they are called in The Bible.
