Saudi to host a million faithfuls for biggest haj pilgrimage since Covid-19

MECCA • White-robed worshippers from across the world have packed the streets of Mecca, as Islam's holiest city prepares to host the biggest haj pilgrimage since the coronavirus pandemic.

Banners welcoming the faithful, including the first international visitors since 2019, festooned squares and alleys, while armed security forces patrolled the ancient city, birthplace of Prophet Muhammad.

"This is pure joy," Sudanese pilgrim Abdel Qader Kheder said, ahead of the event expected to start tomorrow. "I almost can't believe I am here. I am enjoying every moment."

Saudi Arabia is allowing a million people, including 850,000 from abroad, at this year's haj - a key pillar of Islam that all able-bodied Muslims are required to perform at least once - after two years of drastically curtailed numbers due to the pandemic.

At least 650,000 overseas pilgrims have arrived so far in Saudi Arabia, the authorities said on Sunday.

In 2019, about 2.5 million people took part in the rituals, which include circling the Kaaba, the imposing black cube at Mecca's Grand Mosque, gathering at Mount Arafat and "stoning the devil" in Mina.

The following year, foreigners were barred and worshippers were restricted to just 10,000, rising to 60,000 fully vaccinated Saudi citizens and residents last year, to stop the haj from turning into a global super-spreader.

This year, one million vaccinated pilgrims under the age of 65 will attend the haj under strict sanitary conditions, with the Grand Mosque, the holiest site in Islam, scrubbed and disinfected 10 times a day.

The rituals have seen numerous disasters, including a 2015 stampede that killed up to 2,300 people and a 1979 attack by hundreds of gunmen that left 153 dead, according to the official toll.

The pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, is a powerful source of prestige for the conservative desert kingdom and its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is returning from the diplomatic wilderness.

Days after the haj, Prince Mohammed will welcome United States President Joe Biden who, with oil prices sent soaring by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, has reneged on promises to turn Saudi Arabia into a "pariah" over the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents.

The haj, which costs at least US$5,000 (S$6,990) per person, is a money-spinner for the world's biggest oil exporter, bringing in about US$12 billion a year, along with other religious visits.

It is also a chance to showcase a country that is undergoing rapid transformation, while still drawing regular complaints about human rights abuses and limits on personal freedoms.

Saudi Arabia - which has under recent reforms permitted raves in Riyadh and mixed-gender beaches in Jeddah - has also, since last year, allowed women to attend the haj unaccompanied by a male relative.

Masks are no longer compulsory in most enclosed spaces in Saudi Arabia, but they will be mandatory at the Grand Mosque. Pilgrims from abroad will have to submit a negative PCR test result.

The Grand Mosque will be "washed... by more than 4,000 male and female workers", with more than 130,000 litres of disinfectant used each time, the authorities said. Saudi Arabia till now has registered more than 795,000 coronavirus cases, 9,000 of them fatal, in a population of about 34 million. Another challenge is the scorching sun in one of the world's hottest regions.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE