More than 2 million Muslim pilgrims gather in holy Saudi city of Mecca to perform initial rites of hajj pilgrimage.
“I cannot express my feelings. The atmosphere is spiritual, still and tranquil. We hope Yemen will be united for good,” said Ali Ahmed Al-Sudani, a Yemeni pilgrim who said he was praying for unity in his war-torn country.and relatives of victims of a shooting spree in Christchurch, New Zealand, where a white gunman opened fire and killed 51 people in two mosques.
For the well-heeled, the pilgrimage includes a partial stay in towering five-star hotels with lavish buffets overlooking the Kaaba. But for most, it means sleeping in simple accommodations or even spending weeks sleeping on the ground around Mecca’s Grand Mosque to perform daily prayers and rites near the Kaaba ahead of the hajj.
In addition to being financially costly, the hajj is physically demanding, involving much walking and travel between various points along the route. Still, the hajj remains a precarious journey. In 2015, several thousand pilgrims died in a stampede and crush of pilgrims in Mina on a narrow pedestrian-only road leading to a site where Muslims take part in the symbolic stoning of the devil during the last three days of the hajj. The government never released a final death count.
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