Muslim pilgrims drink Zamzam water at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia September 8, 2016. The tip of the Mecca Royal Clock Tower Hotel could be seen rising above the rolling mountains surrounding the city.
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Last year, 2 million Muslims from around the world descended on Mecca, doubling its population and crowding into the city and surrounding towns in temperatures that reached 110 degrees F. Some global governments, including Iran’s, accused Saudi officials of incompetence in their crowd-control measures. It took place as pilgrims – many of them Iranians – were going to the Jamarat Bridge for a stoning ritual.
769 Iranian pilgrims were killed and 694 others were injured in Mina in 2015, which made Tehran chose to boycott the key Islamic rituals this year, while other countries that also lost hundreds of worshippers resorted to expressing anger at the catastrophe.
The verbal sparring followed months of tension between Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and its Shia regional rival Iran.
Iran’s Press TV cites the Iranian Islamic Propagation Coordination Council as having the data on the event the night before, estimating “more than 850 places where Friday Prayers take place” across Iran would stage protests against Saudi Arabia. Muslims across the world celebrate the holiday by sacrificing cows, sheep or goats in a display of religious devotion.
23,000 cleaners to keep the Mecca area tidy. The hajj is a ritual all able-bodied Muslims are required to carry out at least once in their life.
To begin the hajj, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims circle the Kaaba in Mecca’s Grand Mosque.
Rich and poor alike come dressed in the same white garments.
While following a route the Prophet Muhammad once walked, the rites of hajj are believed to ultimately trace the footsteps of the prophets Ibrahim and Ismail, or Abraham and Ishmael as they are named in the Bible.
Whereas in previous years, up to three million people have flocked to the holy city for haj, this year authorities were anticipating no more than two million haj pilgrims.
“The Saudi-Iranian conflict has forced Iranians to come to Karbala to visit the shrine of Imam Hussein”, Mussawi said, adding: “For the Shiites, this is worth 70 hajj”.
The Saudi government announced on Saturday that the Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al Ashiekh will not be delivering his Hajj sermon for the first time in 35 years.
He will be replaced by Sheikh Saleh bin Hamid, newspaper al-Riyadh reported, but there has been no official confirmation.
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A prominent Saudi cleric responded by saying Iran’s leaders are “not Muslim”.
