Record-Breaking Hajj Pilgrimage Starts in Saudi Arabia

Facts

• Roughly 2M pilgrims on Monday flocked to the tent city of Mina to mark the 1444th Hajj. The five-day religious journey is one of the five pillars of Islam which all Muslims — who are physically and economically able — must to complete at least once in their lifetime.¹
• Participants will travel on Tuesday to Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have given his final sermon, and collect ritual stones from Muzdalifah to be used in the symbolic stoning of pillars back in Mina. The journey is concluded with the celebration of the Eid al-Adha holiday.²
• The Hajj effectively began on Sunday with the tawaf, a ritual circuit around the Kaaba in Mecca, with the influx of worshippers exceeding the hotel capacity in both Mecca and Madinah.³
• The annual pilgrimage is expected to break attendance records this year, as 2.5M people are expected to take part following the removal of all pandemic restrictions. Only 10K participants were allowed in 2020 and 59K in 2021, while the limit was set at 1M pilgrims in 2022.⁴
• The summer timing prompted Saudi authorities to station ambulances, clinics, and fire trucks around the Grand Mosque, while over 32K healthcare workers were on standby onsite to assist pilgrims experiencing distress as temperatures reached 45°C (113°F).⁵
• Despite the conditions, many pilgrims have waited years to receive a permit for attendance and spent years saving to afford the journey. Hajj rituals largely commemorate the Quran's accounts of Ibrahim, his son Ismail, and Ismail's mother Hajar.⁶

Sources: ¹Arab News, ²ABC News, ³France 24, ⁴Al Jazeera, ⁵VOA, and ⁶Associated Press.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Morocco World News. Saudi Arabia has long been host to the Hajj pilgrimage, and has learned extensive amounts about ensuring the safety of attendees. The nation took extraordinary measures during COVID and provided strict safety procedures, backed by my medical personnel, to make sure that such a culturally significant event could go ahead. Preparations and operations will only improve as more pilgrimages pass.
• Narrative B, as provided by MIT News. With each year that passes, the health threat to pilgrims attending Hajj worsens due to climate change. The extreme heat conditions during summer in Saudi Arabia may make the risks associated with the pilgrimage unbearable, yet crowds continue to participate in an event known for deadly stampedes and other fatal incidents. Although a significant part of Muslim worship, the safety of this pilgrimage should be scrutinized in the interests of its attendees.

Predictions