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The COVID-19 pandemic affected the 2020 Hajj (pilgrimage), which is the fifth pillar of the Five Pillars of Islam, [1] where millions of Muslims from around the world visit Mecca and Medina every year during Hajj season for a week. Over 2,400,000 pilgrims attended Hajj in 2019. [2] Due to the highly contagious nature of COVID-19 in crowded places, various international travel restrictions, and social distancing recommendations, the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah advised Muslims to postpone their pilgrimage until the pandemic was mitigated. [3] However, in June 2020, the Ministry opened up Hajj to people of all nationalities residing in Saudi Arabia, with foreigners still banned from attending to ensure pilgrims' safety and prevent the transmission of COVID-19. [4] [5]
In April 2022, Saudi Arabia eased COVID-19 restrictions and increased Hajj capacity. One million pilgrims from inside and outside the country are allowed to participate in the Hajj. [6]
The COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing global pandemic caused by coronavirus disease 2019. [7] The outbreak of the virus was first noted in Wuhan, China in early December 2019. [8] On 30 January 2020, COVID-19 was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization, and was declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020. [9] [10] The transmission of COVID-19 occurs mainly through personal contact with a carrier of the virus, which makes it highly contagious in small spaces where human contact is inevitable. [11] [12] [13] COVID-19 can be transmitted through contaminated objects that were touched or coughed on by an infected person. [14] [15] [16]
Hajj (pilgrimage) has been cancelled 40 times through the history of Islam due to disease outbreaks, political disagreements, and battles. [17] [18] In 930-940 CE (318-328 AH), Hajj was canceled due to the Qarmatian attack, which led to the murder of 30,000 pilgrims and the looting of the Black Stone. [19] [20] In 1831, Hajj was suspended after the arrival of Indian pilgrims in Mecca led to the outbreak of a new plague, which is claimed to have killed more than half of the pilgrims in Mecca. [20] The first outbreak of cholera in Mecca occurred in 1846, killing more than 15,000 and causing a citywide plague lasting until 1850. A second outbreak of cholera happened in 1858, leading to pilgrims being quarantined inside Hajj camps in Egypt. [18] [21]
In February 2020, Saudi Arabia closed the two holy sites of Mecca and Medina to halt the spread of the virus, but reopened in early March. Later, measures were taken by the Saudi government to mitigate an outbreak of COVID-19, such as imposing a 24-hour curfew in Mecca and Medina. [22] [23]
On 23 June 2020, Saudi Arabia announced Hajj would be held for a limited number of pilgrims who resided within the country due to the high risk of COVID-19. [24] [25] The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah imposed restrictions to the type of pilgrims who can attend Hajj in 2020, only healthy Saudi residents between the ages of 20 and 50 with no COVID-19 symptoms were allowed to participate. [26] [27] [28] Participants had to first apply online, and preference was given to those who had not attended in the past. [29] Pilgrims were chosen from the COVID-19 recovery database, 70% of them were non-Saudi residents. [30]
Only ten thousand pilgrims were expected, as opposed to over two million in previous years. [31]
The Saudi Ministry of Health reported taking serious measures during the Hajj 2020. Pilgrims who were not affected by the virus were required to quarantine themselves at hotel rooms or at their homes if they lived close enough to Mecca for a week prior to the arrival to perform Hajj. [32] Inside the mosque, pilgrims were asked to maintain a safe social distance of two meters, and were separated into groups of 20 individuals who were accompanied by a guide through their whole Hajj performance. [33]
On 12 June 2021, Saudi authorities banned foreign visitors for the second consecutive year and limited the pilgrimage to 60,000 people. It also imposed as condition that people participating be between the ages of 18 and 65, vaccinated and without chronic diseases. [34] [35]
On 15 May 2020, the Singapore Muslims Council (MUIS) advised pilgrims to skip Hajj that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 2 June 2020, the Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs declared cancelling the 2020 Hajj before any groups of Indonesian pilgrims headed to Mecca. [36] [37]
On 6 June 2020, the Indian Hajj Committee announced it would provide refunds to all the pilgrims who were unable to attend Hajj in 2020. [38] [39]
On 11 June 2020, Malaysia announced it was barring pilgrims from attending Hajj in 2020 out of concerns over the danger of COVID-19, and the high spreadability of the virus in crowded places. [40] [41]
Mecca is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia and the holiest city in Islam. It is 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its last recorded population was 1,578,722 in 2015. Its estimated metropolitan population in 2020 is 2.042 million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Pilgrims more than triple this number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah.
Medina, officially Al-Madinah al-Munawwarah and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah, is the capital of Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. One of the most sacred cities in Islam, the estimated population as of 2020 is 1,488,782, making it the fifth-most populous city in the country. Located at the core of the Medina Province in the western reaches of the country, the city is distributed over 589 km2 (227 sq mi), of which 293 km2 (113 sq mi) constitutes the city's urban area, while the rest is occupied by the Hejaz Mountains, empty valleys, agricultural spaces and older dormant volcanoes.
On 31 July 1987, during the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, a clash between Shia pilgrim demonstrators and the Saudi Arabian security forces resulted in the death of more than 400 people. The event has been variously described as a "riot" or a "massacre". It developed from increasing tensions between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia since the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Since 1981, Iranian pilgrims have held a political demonstration against Israel and the United States every year at Hajj, but in 1987, a cordon of Saudi police and the Saudi Arabian National Guard sealed part of the planned demonstration route, resulting in a confrontation between them and the pilgrims. This escalated into a violent clash, followed by a deadly stampede.
The Umrah is an Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims, located in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia. It can be undertaken at any time of the year, in contrast to the Ḥajj, which has specific dates according to the Islamic lunar calendar.
There have been numerous incidents during the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to the cities of Mecca and Medina, that have caused loss of life. Every follower of Islam is required to visit Mecca and Medina during the Hajj at least once in his or her lifetime, if able to do so; according to Islam, the pilgrimage is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. During the month of the Hajj, Mecca and Medina must cope with as many as three million pilgrims.
The 2006 Hajj stampedeor crush resulted in the deaths of 363 pilgrims on 12 January 2006 during the Hajj in Mecca. It took place on Jamaraat Bridge around 1pm on 12 January 2006, the fifth and final day of the Hajj. Between two and three million pilgrims attended the Hajj in 2006. Earlier, on 5 January at least 76 pilgrims died when a hostel collapsed in Mecca.
The miqat is a principal boundary at which Muslim pilgrims intending to perform the Ḥajj or ʿUmrah must enter the state of iḥrām, a state of consecration in which certain permitted activities are made prohibited.
The Haj subsidy was a subsidy based on religion that was given to Hajj pilgrims by the Government of India in the form of discounted air fare so that a pilgrim can fly to Mecca for Hajj. In post-colonial era, the Government of India enacted the program in 1959 with the Hajj Act. The subsidy initially applied to Indian Muslim pilgrims traveling for religious reasons to Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan by road and by sea. Expanded Haj subsidy started in 1954, as an idea initiated by the then government, with flights between Mumbai and Jeddah. Additional flight legs were added over the years, and since 1984, all Haj traffic has been shared by Air India and Saudia, the national carriers of India and Saudi Arabia. The monopoly of these airlines had proven the most contentious point of the subsidy, with some claiming that the real beneficiary is Air India as the subsidy is actually a discount on an overpriced air fare. In the past, the Haj board used to call for a bid to fly these Muslims to Mecca; for many years, Saudi Arabia has been the lowest bidder. There were also requests by Muslims to withdraw subsidy, including from some Muslim Members of Parliament, since they believed it was unnecessary and provided poor quality service to Hajis. Since 2000, over 1.5 million Muslims have used the subsidy; since 2008, over 120,000 Indian Muslims every year made use of the subsidy. The Haj subsidy includes an airfare subsidy, as well as assistance to Muslim pilgrims for domestic travel to reach specially designed Haj departure airport terminals, meals, medical care and lodging assistance provided by the Government of India. The Indian government has created separate Haj air terminals for Muslim pilgrims for their convenience at major airports. The average airfare subsidy was about ₹73,526 (US$920) per Muslim pilgrim in 2008, while the average non-airfare financial assistance was ₹2,697 (US$34) per pilgrim. The total subsidy provided by the Government of India was US$1,815 per Muslim pilgrim in 2008. In a Central Haj Committee meeting in November 2017, it was decided that Haj subsidy would be completely phased out by 2018 and that the funds would be used for educational programmes, especially for girls in minority communities. On 16 January 2018, the Union minister for minority affairs confirmed that the Haj subsidy had been ended and that its funding would be used for educating girls from minority communities.
The Kaaba, also spelled Ka'ba, Ka'bah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Ka'ba al-Musharrafa, is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is considered by Muslims to be the Bayt Allah and is the qibla for Muslims around the world.
Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey, and of supporting their family during their absence from home.
The Ministry of Health, commonly abbreviated to MoH, is the ministry overseeing the health care and health policy of Saudi Arabia. The ministry is tasked with formulating strategies to ensure public health in the country, while also managing crucial health infrastructure.
Masjid al-Haram, also known as the Sacred Mosque or the Great Mosque of Mecca, is a mosque enclosing the vicinity of the Kaaba in Mecca, in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia. It is a site of pilgrimage in the Hajj, which every Muslim must do at least once in their lives if able, and is also the main phase for the ʿUmrah, the lesser pilgrimage that can be undertaken any time of the year. The rites of both pilgrimages include circumambulating the Kaaba within the mosque. The Great Mosque includes other important significant sites, including the Black Stone, the Zamzam Well, Maqam Ibrahim, and the hills of Safa and Marwa.
Since 2012, an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus has affected several countries, primarily in its namesake, the Middle East. The virus, which causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), is a novel coronavirus that was first identified in a patient from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 6 June 2012.
The hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca performed by millions of Muslims every year, coming from all over the Muslim world. Its history goes back many centuries. The present pattern of the Islamic Hajj was established by Islamic prophet Muhammad, around 632 CE, who reformed the existing pilgrimage tradition of the pagan Arabs. According to Islamic tradition, the hajj dates from thousands of years earlier, from when Abraham, upon God's command, built the Kaaba. This cubic building is considered the most holy site in Islam and the rituals of the hajj include walking repeatedly around it.
Ahmadiyya is a persecuted branch of Islam in Saudi Arabia. Although there are many foreign workers and Saudi citizens belonging to the Ahmadiyya movement in Saudi Arabia, Ahmadis are officially banned from entering the country and from performing the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. This has led to criticisms from multiple human rights organizations.
On 24 September 2015, a fatal crowd crush resulted in the death of more than 2,000 individuals, many of whom were suffocated or crushed, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mina, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, making it the deadliest Hajj disaster in history. Estimates of the number of dead vary: the Associated Press reported 2,411 dead, while Agence France-Presse reported 2,236 killed. Based on the total of the individual national reports cited in the table below, at least 2,431 people died. The government of Saudi Arabia officially reported two days after the event that there had been 769 deaths and 934 injured. These figures remained official at the time of the next year's Hajj and were never updated. The largest number of victims were from Iran, followed by Mali and Nigeria.
Bilkisu Yusuf, also known as Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf,, was a Nigerian journalist, columnist and editor for prominent newspapers in Abuja, Kano and Kaduna, Nigeria. She is known in Nigeria for being the first woman to direct a national newspaper operation and served as editor for two more. She was a Hausa, Muslim, feminist, of Yoruba descent and advocate for interfaith society, who was known for being an adviser to the Nigerian President on International Affairs and the founding of NGOs, such as Women In Nigeria (WIN) and the Federation of Muslim Women's Association (FOMWAN). Yusuf was killed in the 2015 Mina stampede while on Haj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah (MHU) (Arabic: وزارة الحج والعمرة) is a government ministry in Saudi Arabia which is responsible for supervising the facilitation of essential services to the pilgrims arriving in the country for Hajj and Umrah purposes, including overseeing their secure transportation and movement to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The first case in the kingdom was confirmed by the Ministry of Health on 2 March 2020 and in the following months, the kingdom held the highest number of confirmed cases in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
Hajj certificates are official documents certifying that one has completed the Hajj, the Islamic obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca. The certificates also serve as personal and family mementos used to commemorate their pilgrimage. Certificates have origins in the 11th century and have had many variations in style and content over the centuries.
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