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 perform the Hajj in Mecca at least once in their 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 must cope with as many as three million pilgrims. [1]
Plane travel makes Mecca and the Hajj more accessible to pilgrims from all over the world. As a consequence, the Hajj has become increasingly crowded. City officials are required to control large crowds and provide food, shelter, sanitation, and emergency services for millions. Despite these efforts, incidents have still occurred.
The dense, surging crowds, trekking from one station of the pilgrimage to the next, can cause a progressive crowd collapse. At densities above six [2] to seven [3] persons per square meter, individuals cannot move, groups are swept along in waves, individuals jostle to find breath and to avoid falling and being trampled, and hundreds of deaths can occur as a result. The Stoning of the Devil (ramī aj-jamarāt) ceremony is particularly crowded and can be dangerous. Pilgrims ritualistically throw pebbles at three walls (formerly pillars before 2004) which represent the three places where the Hadiths describes how the devil tempted Abraham. It is one of a series of ritual acts that is performed during the Hajj.
Some notable incidents include:
Mingling of visitors from many countries, some of which have poor health care systems still plagued by preventable infectious diseases, can lead to the spread of epidemics. If an outbreak were to occur on the road to Mecca or Medina, pilgrims could exacerbate the problem when they returned home and passed their infection on to others. This was more of a problem in the past when modern medicine was less advanced. One such disease, which prompted a response from the Saudi government, is meningitis as it became a primary concern after an international outbreak following the Hajj in 1987. Due to post-Hajj outbreaks globally of certain types of meningitis in previous years, it is now a visa requirement to be immunised with the ACW135Y vaccine before arrival. Every year, the Saudi government publishes a list of required vaccines for pilgrims, which for 2010 also included yellow fever, polio, and meningitis. [26] [27]
As of 9 September 2013 [update] , the Saudi government asked "elderly and chronically ill Muslims to avoid the Hajj this year" and restricted the numbers of people allowed into the country due to Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). [28] [29] Although MERS-CoV was not detected among pilgrims, this does not rule out risk of the disease at Hajj. [30] The disease, though, is only mildly contagious.
The spread of the COVID-19 prompted the Saudi Arabian government to discourage people from planning for the Hajj in 2020. On 21 April, the Saudis announced that there would be no public attendance at Taraweeh in Mecca or in Medina. [31]
During the 1821 Hajj, about 20,000 Meccan pilgrims died due to a cholera epidemic. The disease had started in India in 1817. [32]
Another cholera epidemic began in 1863. It started in the Ganges Delta of the Bengal region and traveled with Muslim pilgrims to Mecca during the 1865 hajj.
In 1905 the El Tor strain of cholera was discovered in six pilgrims returning from Hajj at the El-Tor quarantine camp in Egypt.
The 1972 Yugoslav smallpox outbreak, the last major smallpox outbreak in Europe, was caused by an Albanian who brought the disease back from Mecca. [33]
In 2009, 73 cases of H1N1, which is also known as swine flu, were recorded at the final days of Hajj. Five pilgrims died due to the virus. [34]
A concrete multi-story building located in Mecca close to the Grand Mosque collapsed on 5 January 2006. The building, the Al-Ghaza Hotel, is said to have housed a restaurant, a convenience store, and a hotel. The hotel was reported to have been housing pilgrims to the 2006 Hajj. As a result, 76 people died and 62 people were injured. [35]
A crane fell in the grand mosque on 11 September 2015, ten days before Hajj, causing 111 deaths and 394 injuries.
Much of the pilgrimage and its rituals are performed outdoors, on foot, and by elderly people, making pilgrims more susceptible to the intense heat present in Mecca during the summer. Outdoor rituals include standing on the plain of Mount Arafat from sunrise to sunset and walking for several hours in the outskirts of Mecca on other days. [36] Stress due to heat has been exacerbated by increases in regional temperatures induced by climate change, which Saudi researchers stated in a March 2024 study in the Journal of Travel Medicine represented an average rise of dry-bulb temperatures by 0.4 °C (0.7 °F) and wet-bulb temperatures by 0.2 °C (0.4 °F) per decade. Both are strongly correlated with increased heat stroke and heat exhaustion, and Hajj dates that coincided with Mecca's "hot cycle" in May through September, 1982–1995 and 2015–2024, led to greater risk to pilgrims. During the 1982–1995 hot cycle, rates of heat stroke and heat exhaustion peaked at 134.2 and 858.8 per 100,000 pilgrims respectively, both occurring in August 1985 where the average daily wet-bulb temperature during the Hajj was 25.1 °C (77.2 °F). The average daily wet-bulb temperatures during Hajj between 1979 and 2019 exceeded the US National Weather Service danger threshold of 24.6 °C (76.3 °F) on 38 days, nearly half of which took place in 2015–2019. The study also showed that Hajj pilgrims from countries with colder average temperature were 4.5 times more likely to die than local pilgrims. [37]
Attempts to mitigate the heat include portable water stations and misting systems, as well as expansive air conditioning in the floor of the Great Mosque of Mecca and in surrounding tents. This contributed to a 74.6% reduction in heat stroke cases and a 47.6% decrease in fatality rate compared to the prior 1982–1995 hot cycle, but still represented greater rates compared to the prior cold cycle. [37]
In 2023, temperatures reached 48 °C (118 °F), leading to at least 8,400 pilgrims suffering from heat-related illnesses, with the actual number likely being much greater due to the number of unreported cases. [38]
In 2024, temperatures in Mecca reached above 46 °C (115 °F) on 16 June [39] and 52 °C (126 °F) on 17 June. Medical personnel had to treat at least 2,764 pilgrims (among around 1.8 million total) due to heat-related illness on 16 June 2024 alone. [40] Jordan's foreign ministry reported on 16 June that 14 Jordanian pilgrims died after suffering from heat stroke due to the extreme heat, and that 17 more pilgrims were missing. [39] Between 14 and 19 June 2024, at least 1,301 pilgrims had died due to extreme heat in Mecca during the Hajj of 2024, with temperatures exceeding 50 °C (122 °F). [41]
Of the millions of pilgrims each year, many are elderly and some die of their illnesses, exacerbated in some cases by the heat and exertion (for example, in the 1927 pilgrimage season, at least 1,500 pilgrims died [42] ).
Since 2010s, there has been an increasing number of pickpocketing cases reported to local authorities. According to the Save Madina Foundation, there were 321 victims of reported pickpocketing during the 2010 Hajj alone. [53]
Female pilgrims have spoken up about sexual abuse experienced on the Hajj through a movement called the Mosque Me Too movement. [54] [55] Using the hashtag #MosqueMeToo, which stems from the Me Too movement which used the hashtag #MeToo, Muslim women have shared their experiences online about sexual abuse in Mecca. [56] [57] [58]
Many pregnant pilgrims suffer from miscarriages due to performing the hajj. In 2011, 20 pregnant women performing the pilgrimage had miscarriages due to exhaustion.
Critics say that the Saudi government should have done more to prevent such tragedies. The Saudi government insists that any such mass gatherings are inherently dangerous and difficult to handle, and that they have taken a number of steps to prevent the problems. The fatalities in the largest tragedy in September 2015 are alleged to have been downplayed by the Saudis by as many as 1,700. [13]
One of the biggest steps, which is also controversial, is a new system of registrations, passports, and travel visas to control the flow of pilgrims. This system is designed to encourage and accommodate first-time visitors to Mecca and Medina, while restricting repeat visits. Pilgrims who have the means and desire to perform the Hajj several times have protested what they see as discrimination, but the Hajj Commission has stated that they see no alternative if further tragedies are to be prevented.
Following the 2004 stampede, Saudi authorities embarked on major construction work in and around the Jamaraat Bridge area. Additional accessways, footbridges, and emergency exits were built, and the three cylindrical pillars were replaced with concrete walls to enable more pilgrims simultaneous access to them without the jostling and fighting for position of recent years. The government has also announced a multimillion-dollar project to expand the bridge to five levels; the project was planned for completion in time for the 1427 AH (December 2006 – January 2007) Hajj. [59] Following the 2006 incident, the Jamaraat Bridge and the pillars representing Satan were demolished and reconstructed. A wider, multi-level bridge was built, and massive columns replaced the pillars themselves. Now, each level of the bridge allows easier and safer access to the columns representing Satan. In addition, the stoning ceremony must be carried out according to pre-determined schedules to prevent over-crowding and the attendant risks. The Jamaraat basin has been expanded from its current circular shape into an oval to allow better access to the pillars. The new arrangements provide for separate access and departure routes. [60] However, a security breakdown is mentioned as cause for the 2015 stampede. [61] A group of pilgrims who had cast their own stones and were returning to their camp, instead of taking the route designated for returning pilgrims, they took the route meant for those who were coming and crossed the other group of pilgrims heading straight to the jamaraat. [61] [62] [63]
Mecca is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the holiest city according to 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 metropolitan population in 2022 was 2.4 million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Around 44.5% of the population are Saudi citizens and around 55.5% are Muslim foreigners from other countries. Pilgrims more than triple the population number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah. With over 10.8 million international visitors in 2023, Mecca was one of the ten most visited cities in the world.
The Stoning of the Devil is part of the annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. During the ritual, Muslim pilgrims throw pebbles at three walls, called jamarāt, in the city of Mina just east of Mecca. It is a symbolic reenactment of Ibrahim's hajj, where he stoned three pillars representing the Shaitan, and Muslims' temptation to disobey the will of Allah.
On 31 July 1987, during the Hajj 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 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.
Mina, nicknamed the "City of the Tents," is a valley located 8 kilometres southeast of the city of Mecca, in the district of Masha'er, Province of Makkah in the Hejazi region Saudi Arabia. Covering an area of approximately 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi), Mina incorporates the tents, the area of Jamarat, and the slaughterhouses just outside the tents.
The Jamaraat Bridge is a pedestrian bridge in Mina, Saudi Arabia, near Makkah used by Muslims during the Hajj ritual Stoning of the Devil. The purpose of the bridge is to enable pilgrims to throw stones at the three jamrah pillars either from the ground level or from the bridge. Jamaraat is the plural of jamraah, the Arabic term for each of the pillars involved in the stoning ritual. It literally means a small piece of stone or a pebble.
Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable 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 2009 Saudi Arabian floods affected Jeddah, on the Red Sea (western) coast of Saudi Arabia, and other areas of Makkah Province. They have been described by civil defence officials as the worst in 27 years. As of 3 January 2010, some 122 people had been reported to have been killed, and more than 350 were missing. Some roads were under a meter of water on 26 November, and many of the victims were believed to have drowned in their cars. At least 3,000 vehicles were swept away or damaged. The death toll was expected to rise as flood waters receded, allowing rescuers to reach stranded vehicles.
Masjid al-Haram, also known as the Sacred Mosque or the Great Mosque of Mecca, is considered to be the most significant mosque in Islam. It encloses the vicinity of the Kaaba in Mecca, in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia. It is among the pilgrimage sites associated with the Hajj, which every Muslim must perform at least once in their lives if able. It is also the main site for the performance of 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, such as the Black Stone, the Zamzam Well, Maqam Ibrahim, and the hills of Safa and Marwa.
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 (circumambulation).
The following lists events that happened during 2015 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
A crawler crane collapsed over the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, around 5:10 p.m. on 11 September 2015, killing 111 people and injuring 394 others. The city was preparing for the Hajj pilgrimage. The collapse has been cited as the deadliest crane collapse in history, with the previous most deadly incident being the collapse of a construction crane in New York City in 2008, killing seven people.
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 lives were claimed. 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.
On 3 July 1990, 1,426 people were suffocated and trampled to death in a crowd crush or stampede event in a tunnel near Mecca during the Hajj.
The 1994 Hajj stampede resulted in the deaths of at least 270 pilgrims on 23 May 1994 during the Hajj in Mecca during the Stoning of the Devil ritual.
The 1998 Hajj stampede resulted in the deaths of at least 118 pilgrims on 9 April 1998 during the Hajj in Mecca during the Stoning of the Devil ritual on Jamaraat Bridge.
The 2004 Hajj stampede resulted in the deaths of at least 251 pilgrims on 1 February 2004 during the Hajj in Mecca. The incident took place during the ritual stoning of three pillars in the Mina valley, close to Mecca, on the final day of Hajj ceremonies. More than 200 people were injured, and the incident became the worst tragedy during the Hajj since 1990.
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 COVID-19 pandemic affected the 2020 Hajj (pilgrimage), which is the fifth pillar of the Five Pillars of Islam, 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. 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. 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.
Between 14 and 19 June 2024, at least 1,301 people on the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca died due to extreme heat, with temperatures exceeding 50 °C (122 °F). Extreme heat caused heat stroke and dehydration, leading to the deaths. The hottest recorded temperature reported in the Grand Mosque of Mecca was 51.8 °C (125.2 °F). At least 2,764 cases of heat-related illness, like heat stroke, were reported on 16 June alone.
This year's hajj was likely the biggest ever, with authorities estimating that around 3 million people participated.
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