Millions Arrive Saudi For Hajj Amid Hot Weather

Millions of worshippers thronged Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, on Friday for the biggest hajj pilgrimage in years, with over two million expected to brave the scorching Saudi Arabian heat.

Pilgrims in white robes and sandals packed the city, now dotted with luxury hotels and air-conditioned shopping malls, after flooding in on planes, buses, and trains for the annual rites.

According to officials, this year’s hajj, one of the world’s biggest annual religious gatherings, with a tragic history of stampedes and other disasters – could break attendance records.

“As the hajj draws near, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia prepares… for the largest Islamic gathering in history,” Minister of Hajj and Umrah Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said in a video published earlier this week.

Rites they will be performing include circling the Kaaba, the large black cube in Mecca’s Grand Mosque, praying on Mount Arafat and “stoning the devil” by throwing pebbles at three giant concrete walls representing Satan.