Tag Archives: Mecca

60,000 worshippers divided into 8 periods, increased to 2M per month, says Saudi media Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that beginning Monday applications for Muslim pilgrims wishing to perform umrah from abroad will be received and 2 million requests will be accepted per month. The Saudi news agency SPA cited …

Authorities have arrested a man after he attempted to swim from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca, according to multiple media reports. The 28-year-old reportedly jumped into the sea near Tanjung City Marina and was later found floating in the water after police received calls reporting the incident. …

Saudi officials have replaced the Kiswa (the cloth cover) of the Kaaba to commemorate the Day of Arafat and the start of Eid al-Adha, on Monday. The process of changing the Kiswa occurs annually on the second day of Hajj under the supervision of the President of the Holy Mosque. …

A few thousand pilgrims have streamed out of the holy city of Mecca to perform the annual Hajj pilgrimage for the second downsized rituals staged during the coronavirus pandemic. Since Saturday, groups of pilgrims have been performing the “tawaf,” the circumambulation of the Ka’ba, a large cubic structure towards which …

Indonesia has canceled the haj pilgrimage for people in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation for the second year in a row due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, the religious affairs minister said on Thursday. For many Indonesians, a religious pilgrimage is a once-in-a-lifetime event, with an average wait time …

Masked pilgrims arrived Thursday at Mount Arafat, a hill near Islam’s holiest site, to pray and repent on the most important day of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage in Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The global coronavirus pandemic has cast a shadow over every aspect of this year’s pilgrimage, which last …

Pilgrims were quarantined Tuesday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca ahead of the dramatically downsized hajj as Saudi authorities strive to prevent a coronavirus outbreak during the five-day pilgrimage. Up to 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom will participate in the annual ritual starting Wednesday, according to hajj …

Saudi Arabia has issued guidelines for about 1,000 pilgrims who will be allowed to perform the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca later this month, an experience that will be unlike any before because of the coronavirus pandemic. The pilgrims will only be able to drink holy water from the Zamzam well …

Saudi Arabia has announced that it will make a decision on whether to cancel this year’s Hajj within a week. The development comes as another major Muslim nation, Malaysia, said that it would prohibit its pilgrims form making Hajj over coronavirus fears. The Financial Times reported that a senior official …

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has canceled plans to attend the Hajj pilgrimage this year because of concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. Around 220,000 people from Indonesia were set to take part in this year’s Hajj, and Indonesia always gets the largest foreign contingent due to its population …

Indonesia on Tuesday called for Saudi Arabia to decide if it will allow the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca after the coronavirus pandemic plunged the ritual into doubt. Last year around 2.5 million faithful traveled to Saudi Arabia from across the world to take part in the “hajj”, which all …

A massive column of black smoke has risen from a train station in Saudi Arabia’s city of Jeddah. The Haramain high-speed railway connects Islam’s holy cities of Mecca and Medina and is crucial for facilitating annual pilgrimages. There have been no reports of casualties as yet, and the possible cause …