Maybe its just me but it doesn't seem that there's been a lot of coverage for one of the biggest religious news stories of the year. The Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage, which normally attracts millions of people to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, has resumed with visitors from around the world. . During the pandemic a token Hajj was held with only a thousand Saudis permitted to attend in 2020. Last year it was 60,000, and again only Saudis.
This year about one million will participate with the borders opened once again, although there are strict rules about vaccination and pilgrims must be under the age of 65. By comparison, before the pandemic there were usually well over two million participants with a high of three million one year. The Saudi government has become stricter about the number of pilgrims attending after several incidents where multiple people died because of the crowding.
An interesting note that Saudi Arabia officially began allowing women to perform the Hajj without a male guardian, or “mahram,” last year and again this year. The Hajj is intended to be a equalizer and unifier among Muslims so all pilgrims wear simple clothing. Will this freedom for women bring new challenges for safety or further this notion of equality?
Some form of pilgrimage is an aspect of most major religions. This year Christians are walking the 800-kilometre Camino across Spain to Santiago de Compostela in numbers once again and returning to Israel as well.
The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, a requirement at least once in a lifetime for Muslims, if possible. I wonder how many faithful Muslims have realized that their opportunity has slipped away because of the virtual cancellation the past two years and the age restrictions this year.
We can pray that this year's Hajj will be meaningful, a spiritual highlight for participants rather than a superspreader event. The news about COVID variants seems to change daily, so these folk need all the prayer they can get, regardless of religion.
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