Thousands of pilgrims began arriving in the city of Mecca on Friday, among the nearly one million expected to perform Hajj this year.
Hundreds of people performed circumambulation around the Kaaba, wearing Ihram clothes, while some of them were holding umbrellas to protect them from the heat of the sun.
Ahmed Mahmoud, an Egyptian pilgrim, said: “Praise be to God, it is impossible to describe my feelings now. My presence in the Haram and in the land of the Two Holy Mosques makes me very happy,” according to Reuters.
أهلًا وسهلًا بكم، نحن #بشوقٍ_إليكم #مكة_والمدينة_في_انتظاركم_بشوق pic.twitter.com/8vkOMBvryW
— وزارة الحج والعمرة (@HajMinistry) June 30, 2022
This year, Saudi Arabia allowed the entry of pilgrims from outside its lands, after two years in which only a few thousand Saudis and residents attended the pilgrimage, due to the outbreak of the Corona virus and the chaos it caused in the world and its imposition of travel restrictions.
But the authorities have said that only one million people can perform the hajj this year, less than half the numbers before the pandemic.
Hajj this year is limited to pilgrims between the ages of 18 and 65 years, who have received all doses of vaccines to prevent Covid-19, and who do not suffer from chronic diseases.
To secure the pilgrims and make sure that no problems disturb the peace of the holy sites, security personnel roam the place among the pilgrims inside the Great Mosque of Mecca, and there is a network of surveillance cameras and checkpoints at the entrances to the city.
Over the years, the kingdom has spent billions to secure one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, about 2.6 million pilgrims performed the rituals, while 19 million performed the Umrah.