Saudi Arabia has launched Persian-language television broadcasts from this year’s hajj, the information minister said on Sunday, following tensions with Iran over the annual pilgrimage.
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Saudi Arabia has said that 1.85 million pilgrims, majority from outside Saudi Arabia, have arrived for the annual pilgrimage, a religious duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford the journey. They are also taking part in a series of rituals this week that intend to promote greater humility and unity among Muslims.
Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba at the Grand mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia September 8, 2016.
The Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam, which capable Muslims must perform at least once in their lifetime, marking the spiritual peak of their lives.
Pilgrims come from every corner of the globe, but Indonesia – the most populous Muslim nation – has the largest quota.
Last year’s pilgrimage was marred by a stampede near Mecca that killed more than 2,400 people, making it one of the deadliest incidents to occur during the annual hajj.
During that ritual in Mina a year ago, on September 24, a stampede killed roughly 2,300 people who were on their way to throw their stones at the Jamarat Bridge.
For the first time in almost three decades, 64,000 pilgrims from Iran are not participating in the hajj, after the regional rivals failed to agree on security and logistics.
Despite the safety and security measures which Saudi Arabia says it has taken, Iranian authorities have questioned the kingdom’s custodianship of Islam’s holiest places. They spend the night there, most in the open air huddled near one another, and pick up pebbles along the way that will be used in a symbolic stoning of the devil in Mina, where Muslims believe the devil tried to talk the Prophet Ibrahim – named Abraham in the Bible – out of submitting to God’s will. They will head to an area called Arafat on Sunday for the pinnacle of the pilgrimage, an emotional day of repentance and supplication.
After Mecca, Mina becomes the pilgrims’ base, where an expanse of solidly built white fireproof tents can accommodate 2.6 million people in a valley beneath bare mountains.
The Interior Ministry says more than 1.3 million people from 160 different countries have arrived to the kingdom to perform the hajj this year.
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On Saturday it emerged that Saudi Arabia’s top cleric, Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, would not deliver the traditional Hajj sermon for the first time in 35 years because of health complications.
