Naseerah Nanabhai

08-08-2019

The number of Hajj pilgrims who have arrived in Saudi Arabia are now more than 1.8 million. Monday was the last day of International Hajj flight arrivals.

It was reported that this year 1,725,455 Hajj pilgrims had arrived in Saudi Arabia by air, 95,634 by land and 17,250 by sea. Of these, it is estimated that 970,000 are male and 868,000 are female pilgrims.

The holy city of Makkah has prepared to host more than 2.5 million Hajj pilgrims this year. Authorities in Makkah and Madinah have undertaken preparations to ensure that pilgrims perform their rituals with ease.

The Saudi government has spent billions of dollars to improve the safety of the pilgrimage in recent years, particularly in Mina where the deadliest incidents have occurred.

The operational plan of the General Presidency of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque is being implemented by 7,720 teams to serve pilgrims during this year’s Hajj season.

These teams will carry out awareness initiatives to guide the worshippers in religious and organisational aspects in order to help them perform their rituals with comfort.

They will be responsible for cleaning the Prophet’s Mosque, supplying all sites with carpets and ZamZam water, cleaning machinery and equipment, transferring older persons and people with special needs, providing guidance services, preparing portable containers for distributing ZamZam bottles, and ensuring the cleanliness of prayer areas and other facilities.

The team’s activities aim to guide those who get lost inside the Grand Mosque and help older persons and those with special needs perform the Tawaf and Sai.

Muslims are required to perform the five-day hajj at least once in their lifetime if they are able to. The pilgrimage is meant to draw the faithful closer to Allah. The pilgrimage will begin on Friday with pilgrims resting in the Mina region before heading to Arafat on Saturday.