The authorities have been preparing for months to ensure pilgrims’ safety, said Saudi Health Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah
MINA, Saudi Arabia: As nearly 2 million pilgrims from around the world braved the rain in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to begin the annual Haj, the country’s health minister said there was no sign of any outbreaks of disease.
Worshippers arrived in the kingdom last week for the five-day ritual — a once-in-a-lifetime religious duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it, which retraces the route Prophet Mohammad took 14 centuries ago.
#شاهد 🎥
الأجواء الآن في مشعر عرفات#مكة_الان pic.twitter.com/SScHtxrQ1v— إمارة منطقة مكة (@makkahregion) August 19, 2018
Heavy rain and thunderstorms forced pilgrims to take cover in tents and trudge through puddles, with civil defence warning of possible flooding throughout the evening.
The official UAE news agency WAM twitted at 12.01am on Monday that all pilgrims from the United Arab Emirates are fine, quoting the head of the Haj mission, Dr Mohammad Mattar Al Kaabi.
رئيس بعثة الحج : جميع حجاج #الإمارات بخير.#وامhttps://t.co/N6td6mfZWj— وكالة أنباء الإمارات (@wamnews) August 19, 2018
The agency also quoted the Saudi General Meteorological and Environmental Protection Agency which issued a warning to pilgrims against sitting on mountain tops due to high winds.
نائب أمير مكة #عبدالله_بن_بندر من
داخل غرفة القيادة والسيطرة بمنى :
حالة الحجاج مطمئنة ولا حوادث تذكر
نتيجة الحالة الجوية ولله الحمد.#إمارة_مكة pic.twitter.com/GQssYF8lUc— إمارة منطقة مكة (@makkahregion) August 19, 2018
Some prayed at the Grand Mosque before heading to the Mina area or towards Mount Arafat, east of Makkah, where the Prophet is believed to have delivered his final sermon to followers.
They will all arrive by Monday morning at Mount Arafat.
Read more:
Lost in translation? Not for Haj pilgrims
Eid Al-Adha, or feast of the sacrifice, begins on Tuesday, when pilgrims begin three days of casting stones at walls in a symbolic renunciation of the devil.
The authorities have been preparing for months to ensure pilgrims’ safety, Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah told Reuters, with more than 30,000 health workers operating 25 hospitals and offering free medical services, including complex procedures such as open heart surgery.
“Praise to God, everything now is under control and health conditions are excellent,” he said in an interview at Mina Public Hospital.
The potential for disease spreading among pilgrims, who spend five days in close quarters, often eating outside and sleeping on the ground near holy sites, is a perennial concern.
Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam’s holiest sites — Mecca and Medina — and organizing the pilgrimage.
The interior ministry has put in place measures to confront any security threat from militant attacks to political protests, but no specific threats have been detected, a spokesman said on Saturday.
Pilgrimage is also the backbone of a plan to expand tourism under a drive to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil.
The haj and year-round umrah generate billions of dollars in revenue from worshippers’ lodging, transport, fees and gifts.
Officials aim to increase the number of umrah and haj pilgrims to 15 million and 5 million respectively by 2020, and hope to double the umrah number again to 30 million by 2030.
Some pilgrims on Saturday hiked 700 metres (2300 ft) to the tiny Hira cave, where Muslims believe the Prophet was visited by the Angel Gabriel and began to receive Koranic recitations.
“It’s indescribable. It’s overwhelming to see how his impact has been on this world,” said American pilgrim Nasser Mahmoud. “But that’s where it all started. It’s a very humble thing, you can’t even stand there.”
