Lagatar24 Desk
Riyadh, June 4: Saudi Arabia received its first group of hajj pilgrims since the coronavirus pandemic which had made the authorities tighten restrictions on the annual pilgrimage.
The Indonesian delegation arrived in Medina and planned to proceed south to Mecca in the next weeks to prepare for the hajj next month, according to state media.
Mohammed al-Bijawi of the country’s Hajj Ministry told the state-run Al-Ekhbariya channel, “Today we received the first group of this year’s pilgrims from Indonesia, and the flights will continue from Malaysia and India.”
“Today we are happy to receive the guests of God from outside the kingdom, after a two-year interruption due to the pandemic,” he added, describing Saudi Arabia as “fully prepared” to accommodate them.
The hajj is one of Islam’s five pillars, and all Muslims who have the financial means must perform it at least once in their lives.
In 2019, over 2.5 million people attended one of the world’s largest religious gatherings. However, after the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, Saudi authorities declared that just 1,000 pilgrims would be allowed to participate.
They upped the number to 60,000 fully vaccinated Saudi nationals and residents chosen by a lottery the following year. The exclusion of abroad pilgrims generated widespread dissatisfaction among Muslims around the world, who generally save for years to participate.
The kingdom stated in April that one million Muslims from within and outside the nation would be allowed to attend this year’s hajj, which will take place in July.
The hajj is a five-day religious pilgrimage that takes place in Islam’s holiest city, Mecca, and the surrounding areas of western Saudi Arabia.
The custodianship of Islam’s holiest sites is the most important source of political legitimacy for Saudi rulers, hence hosting the hajj is a matter of prestige for them.
Muslim pilgrimages were a vital source of money for the kingdom before the pandemic, bringing in roughly $12 billion annually.
The hajj administration has announced that this year’s pilgrimage will be limited to vaccinated Muslims under the age of 65.
Those who must apply for hajj visas from outside Saudi Arabia must present a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR result from a test done within 72 hours of travel.
