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AFP
Preparations were under way at the Grand Mosque in Mecca to welcome this year’s pilgrims
The once-a-year Hajj pilgrimage typically carried out by Muslims about the world starts on Wednesday, radically scaled back again mainly because of coronavirus.
Saudi Arabia has banned intercontinental website visitors from making the journey to Mecca, to consider to suppress the pandemic.
Only citizens from other nations around the world who are already resident in the kingdom will be permitted to attend this year.
About two million individuals generally take part, but this yr no a lot more than 10,000 are predicted to show up at.
All those authorized to get section in this year’s Hajj were matter to temperature checks and virus exams as they commenced arriving in Mecca at the weekend, the AFP news company reports.
Worshippers will also have to quarantine prior to and right after the pilgrimage, AFP experiences.
In an interview with Saudi-funded al-Arabiya Television before this 7 days, Minister for Pilgrimage Affairs Mohammed Saleh Binten reported pilgrims were being getting quarantined in their houses prior to a even further four days of quarantine in accommodations in Mecca.
Of those getting aspect, 30% are said to be Saudi citizens whilst the remainder are non-Saudis resident in the kingdom.
The kingdom has recorded a lot more than 270,000 instances with virtually 3,000 deaths, a person of the most significant outbreaks in the Center East.
The region only lifted a nationwide lockdown previous thirty day period. Challenging restrictions to tackle the unfold of bacterial infections came into pressure in March, which include 24-hour curfews in most towns and towns.
What is the Hajj?
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Earning the pilgrimage at minimum after is one particular of the Five Pillars of Islam – the five obligations that each and every Muslim, who is in great wellness and can afford to pay for it, must satisfy in purchase to live a excellent and liable lifetime, in accordance to Islam.
Pilgrims obtain in Mecca to stand before the construction recognized as the Kaaba, praising Allah (God) with each other.
They execute other acts of worship too, renewing their sense of goal in the earth.
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