MINA, (Saudi Arabia): Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims walked or rode buses Monday to a giant tented city near Makkah for the climax of the annual Hajj that Saudi officials say could break attendance records.
After performing the ritual circumambulation of the holy Kaaba, the giant black cube at Makkah’s Grand Mosque that Muslims pray towards each day, worshippers set off for Mina, about seven kilometres (more than four miles) away, in suffocating heat.
Pilgrims in robes and sandals, many carrying umbrellas against the beating sun, undertook the journey on foot or crowded onto hundreds of air-conditioned buses provided by Saudi authorities.
They will spend the night in white tents in Mina, which every year hosts the world’s largest encampment, before the hajj’s high-point on Tuesday: prayers at Mount Arafat. “It is an experience that is worth it,” said Salim Ibrahim, a 39-year-old Nigerian, when asked about temperatures that have touched 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit).
“Even if the heat gets stronger, I will repeat the hajj again,” he added.
Saudi officials say this year’s hajj — one of the five pillars of Islam — could be the biggest in history. After 2.5 million attended in 2019, numbers were capped in 2020, 2021 and 2022 because of the Covid pandemic.
The event has seen multiple crises over the years, including militant attacks, deadly fires and a 2015 stampede that killed up to 2,300 people. There have been no major incidents since. As part of the safety measures, helicopters and AI-equipped drones have been deployed to monitor the flow of traffic towards Mina, which sits in a narrow valley flanked by rocky mountains.
A small fleet of self-driving buses, seating up to 11 people, is in operation between the sites of the rituals, including Makkah — Islam’s holiest city — Mina and Muzdalifah.
One of the biggest risks this year at the hajj, which follows the lunar calendar, is heat, especially after maximum age restrictions were removed.
Habbia Abdel Nasser, a Moroccan woman who was performing the rituals with her husband, needed urgent medical treatment near the Grand Mosque because of the heat.