The first day of Hajj is known as Tarwiah Day, when pilgrims traditionally watered their animals and stocked water for their trip to Mount Arafat, about 10 kilometres (six miles) southeast of Mina.
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Islamic State-affiliated groups have claimed responsibility for attacks in which more than 60 people were killed. The Arafat Day, which falls tomorrow (Wednesday), will be the climax of the pilgrimage. Women cover their hair and wear long loose clothing, forgoing makeup and other adornments to help them detach from worldly pleasures and outward appearances.
The pilgrims then will return to Mina after spending the night in Muzdalifah.
2015: At least 107 people are killed and scores wounded when a crane collapses in bad weather, crashing onto the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s holiest site.
Muslim pilgrims pray while touching the Kaaba.
The 80-year-old pilgrim from Bareilly, Masit Khan, who is now lodged in a jail in Saudi Arabia since the past one month after heroin was recovered from his baggage, has been allowed by the Saudi authorities to perform Haj.
The Saudi authorities are deploying 100,000 security personnel, including members of the counter-terrorism and the emergency civil defence units, and 5,000 CCTV cameras.
The annual hajj pilgrimage begins on Tuesday, and more than a million faithful have already flocked to Saudi Arabia in preparation for highlight of their spiritual lives.
Al-Turki acknowledged that this year the kingdom saw the most terrorist acts since 2003, when al-Qaida unleashed a wave of bombings that lasted for three years until its militants were driven out to Yemen where they remain active.
Prerequisites for performing the Hajj are to be a Muslim, to be free, to be an adult or mature enough, to be of sound mind, and to have the ability to afford the journey and maintain one’s dependents back home for the duration.
The Ministry of Health has launched its service “937” to receive suggestions and complaints around the clock from pilgrims in Urdu, French, Turkish, Persian, English and Arabic.
Around 2.6 million pilgrims are expected to make the haj this year, although the Saudi Arabian government will not announce the figure until Thursday when the annual pilgrimage reaches its conclusion with the Eid al-Adha holiday. The other 20 percent come with tourism companies.
The number of Lebanese who received Hajj visas more than doubled from past year, rising from 3,200 to 7,200.
In response the Saudi Ministry of Health has sent 25,000 additional health workers to the Mekkah province, while eight hospitals that are only in operation during this time of the year have now been opened.
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Though he did not give the exact figure of total pilgrims, he gave the breakdown of foreign pilgrims as 1,325,189 who arrived by air, 36,094 arrived by land and 12,923 arrived by sea.
