Mecca
This year’s Hajj was held in sweltering heat, and for those serving pilgrims there was little relief
Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims have walked in the footsteps of the prophets beneath a sweltering sun as contracted cleaners in lime-green jumpsuits held out matching plastic bags to collect their empty water bottles.
The Hajj pilgrimage has officially started in Saudi Arabia. Some 2 million pilgrims are making their way from the holy city of Mecca on Monday to a tent camp on its outskirts for a day and night of prayer after circling the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site.
The five-day Hajj pilgrimage will see some 2 million Muslims embark on a series of rituals in the desert city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Over 2 million Muslims will take part in the pilgrimage to the city of Mecca.
Saudi Arabia has ambitous plans to welcome millions more pilgrims to Islam’s holiest sites. But as climate change heats up an already scorching region, the annual Hajj pilgrimage could prove even more daunting.
This year’s Hajj is a landmark: the first full pilgrimage after a daunting period of three years when the COVID-19 pandemic sharply reduced the scale of one of Islam’s holiest rites.
Islam’s annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia will return to pre-pandemic levels this year after restrictions saw the annual religious commemoration curtailed over concerns about the coronavirus.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi police arrested a Yemeni man this week after he advertised on social media his pilgrimage to Mecca, where he paid tribute to the memory of Queen Elizabeth II.
Worshippers, tourists and visitors around the world are increasingly joining virtual reality spiritual trips to some of Earth’s most sacred sites.
Police in Mecca say they have arrested a Saudi man who helped an Israeli-Jewish reporter sneak into Islam’s holiest city where only Muslim are allowed to enter.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims from around the world were raising their hands to heaven and offering prayers of repentance on the sacred hill of Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia.
A million pilgrims from across the globe are gathering in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia to perform the initial rites of the hajj.
Muslim pilgrims are converging on Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca for the largest hajj since the coronavirus pandemic severely curtailed access to one of Islam’s five pillars.
STORY: HZ Saudi Arabia Hajj Preview - Hajj pilgrimage over the years +ARCHIVE+
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TYPE: Pashtun/Natsound
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has landed in Saudi Arabia as part of his country’s latest efforts to build bridges with its key regional rival.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have attacked an oil depot in the Saudi city of Jiddah ahead of a Formula One race in the kingdom.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels this week struck the same oil storage tank in the Saudi Arabian city of Jiddah they had previously hit a year and a half ago, satellite photos showed Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia says it has executed 81 prisoners, including those convicted of killings and belonging to militant groups.
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — A former member of a high school soccer team that won its first state championship with help from members of the immigrant community has died from injuries after being hit by a car in Saudi Arabia.
OCT. 16 - 22, 2021
The Olympic flame is lit to begin its journey to the Winter Games in Beijing. A crew conducts a dramatic rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.
The Olympic flame is lit to begin its journey to the Winter Games in Beijing. A crew conducts a dramatic rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.
Muslims around the world are observing the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the “Feast of Sacrifice” in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tens of thousands of vaccinated Muslim pilgrims are circling Islam’s holiest site in Mecca for the start of the hajj.
MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Muslims in many parts of the world marked the start of Ramadan on Tuesday, but a spike in coronavirus cases in several countries has once again put curbs on the holy month’s signature feasts and lengthy prayers in mosques.
WARWICK, R.I. (AP) — A handful of coins unearthed from a pick-your-own-fruit orchard in rural Rhode Island and other random corners of New England may help solve one of the planet’s oldest cold cases.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court on Monday granted bail to a Christian man convicted in 2018 while still a teenager of insulting Islam by posting a picture of Islam’s holiest site on social media, a defense lawyer said.
ISTANBUL (AP) — Two students have been arrested in Turkey on charges of inciting hatred and insulting religious values for a poster depicting Islam’s most sacred site with LGBT flags.
The global death toll from COVID-19 topped 2 million Friday as vaccines developed at breakneck speed are being rolled out around the world in an all-out campaign to vanquish the threat.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Tens of thousands of followers of a firebrand cleric joyfully welcomed him at an Indonesian airport on Tuesday as he returned home from a 3-year exile in Saudi Arabia after criminal charges including a pornography case were dropped.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Saudi man in a speeding car crashed into the outer gates of Mecca’s Grand Mosque late Friday night, the country’s state-run news agency reported.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Small groups of people performed one of the final rites of the Islamic hajj on Friday as Muslims worldwide marked the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday amid a global pandemic that has impacted nearly every aspect of this year’s pilgrimage and celebrations.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Masked pilgrims arrived Thursday at Mount Arafat, a desert hill near Islam’s holiest site, to pray and repent on the most important day of the hajj, the annual pilgrimage in Mecca in Saudi Arabia.