Over 1.5 million Muslims are expected to gather on Mount Arafat this Saturday, marking the pinnacle and most challenging day of the traditional Hajj pilgrimage.
The rocky 70-meter (230-foot) hill is roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Mecca, the location of the Prophet Mohammed’s alleged final sermon, and will be ascended by worshippers from all over the world.
It is predicted that the summer heat in the desert will reach 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 degrees Fahrenheit), which will pose a challenge, particularly for the elderly, on a day when they are praying and reciting the Quran.
The hajj, which is primarily performed outside and requires at least five days to complete, “is not easy because it is very hot,” according to 26-year-old Ghanaian Abraman Hawa.
“We have sun… but it is not as hot. But I will pray to Allah at Arafat because I need his support,” she added.
The Saudi authorities have advised pilgrims to stay out of the sun and drink lots of water. Men aren’t allowed to wear hats, so a lot of them carry umbrellas.
A Saudi official told AFP this week that over 10,000 heat-related illnesses were reported in the previous year, with 10% of those cases being heat stroke.
The Hajj, one of the world’s biggest religious gatherings, is increasingly affected by climate change, according to a Saudi study that said regional temperatures were rising 0.4C each decade.
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But Mohammed Farouk, a 60-year-old Pakistani pilgrim, was not put off by the Gulf kingdom’s scorching summer sun.
The Hajj is “very important for me as a Muslim”, he said.
– Financial windfall –
The massive throngs of worshippers slept in a massive tented city in Mina, a valley located a few kilometers outside Mecca, the holiest city in Islam.
Many of them were lying closely together on thin mattresses in cramped, air-conditioned tents.
Depending on how much they had paid for their hajj packages, which were typically several thousand dollars, they were grouped by price and nationality.
After Arafat, they will head to Muzdalifah, where they will collect pebbles to carry out the symbolic “stoning of the devil” ritual in Mina on Sunday.
The Hajj is said to follow the path of the Prophet Mohammed’s final pilgrimage, about 1,400 years ago.
It is an important source of legitimacy for the Al Saud dynasty, whose monarch has the title “guardian of the two holy mosques”, in Mecca and Medina.
The conservative nation, which is attempting to grow religious tourism as part of a push to lessen its reliance on crude oil, will also benefit financially greatly from it.
Over 1.8 million pilgrims performed the hajj in the kingdom last year, with approximately 90% coming from outside.
In addition, 13.5 million Muslims arrived to perform the Umrah, a year-round minor pilgrimage that aims to reach 30 million by 2030.
The Gaza War, which lasted for eight months and left many in the Muslim world with open wounds, casts a shadow over this year’s hajj.
