Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the annual hajj pilgrimage today, as more than 1.6m Muslim faithful from abroad gather in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
Omar Akour in Saudi Arabia
August 19 2018 6:30 PM
Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the annual hajj pilgrimage today, as more than 1.6m Muslim faithful from abroad gather in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
The pilgrimage represents one of the five pillars of Islam and is required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life.
The hajj offers pilgrims an opportunity to feel closer to God amid the Muslim world’s many challenges, including the threat of extremists in the Middle East after Isil was beaten back in Iraq and Syria, and the plight of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority.
«My feeling is indescribable to perform the hajj,» said Imad Abdel-Raheem, from Egypt. «I also want to pray for all Muslim countries, for them to live free in all places, in Palestine and in Burma, in all places, in Afghanistan and in India.»
Men attending the hajj dress in only terrycloth, seamless white garments meant to represent unity among Muslims and equality before God. Women wear loose clothing, cover their hair and forgo makeup and nail polish.
Since arriving, many have circled the cube-shaped Kaaba in Mecca — Islam’s holiest site. The Kaaba represents the metaphorical house of God and the oneness of God in Islam. Observant Muslims around the world face toward the Kaaba during daily prayers.
Sunday Independent
Aya Batrawy More than two million Muslims from around the world are beginning the five-day hajj pilgrimage.
Dean Gray Researchers may have discovered a jar of the world’s oldest cheese in the tomb of an ancient Egyptian mayor, but — frustratingly for turophiles — the taste of the bacteria-laced sample is likely to…
Mary Fitzgerald It was one of the largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history. It began just after dawn prayers one August morning five years ago this week when Egyptian security forces stormed…
When you’ve spent most of your working…
Police are hunting for a man suspected of carrying…
Another strong earthquake has struck near the…
Talented yellow-naped Amazon parrot Taylor, at…
An audit commissioned by the French government…
The search operation for those missing after a…
Most of us have a talent or party trick that we can…
A man who was assaulted outside a Cambridge pub has…
School pupils on the Isle of Lewis are being offered…
Some 800,000 people have been displaced and over…
A man who issued a televised public plea for his…
More than 2 million Muslims began the annual hajj pilgrimage Sunday in Saudi…
Salih Khater, 29, has been charged with attempting to murder…
Angela Merkel meets Vladimir Putin for bilateral…
Kofi Annan, the former United Nations…
A state funeral service is held in Genoa for 18 of the victims of the Morandi…
Thousands of stranded people are waiting for rescue as relentless monsoon…
Pakistani cricket star-turned-politician…
Since monsoon started, the southern Indian state of Kerala has received 37%…
A jetliner narrowly avoids colliding with an airport…
Salih Khater has been named as the man arrested after a car was driven into…
Emergency services continue to battle a huge fire in…
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets as Donald Trump arrived in Britain. Here…
