(ANSA) - BEIRUT, JULY 29 - The pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, begins today in a terrified form compared to the past due to the emergency coronavirus, which is attended by a few thousand people compared to the approximately two and a half million pilgrims of the past years .
The Saudi state TV showed a little while ago the disparate images of groups of pilgrims who proceed on foot, in an Indian line, with gloves and visual screens, through the various hajj (pilgrimage in Arabic) to complete the traditional walk around the Kaaba, the revered cubic stone in the center of the mosque in Mecca, the first holy place of Islam.
The images, broadcast only by Saudi state television, contrast with those of the past years, when rivers of people were portrayed on live TV while performing the sacred rite.
Saudi Arabia had announced that it had granted permits to conduct the pilgrimage only to a thousand people, Saudis and other nationalities, already residing in the kingdom of the Gulf. Pan-Arab media now report about 10,000 people engaged in the pilgrimage, which will last until Sunday 2nd August.
The pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the five pillars of Islam and every believer, with the exclusion of exceptions due to age, illness and other invalidating circumstances, is required to do it at least once in his life.
Normally the pilgrimage brings about 10 million euros per year to the Saudi coffers. And the huge economic loss this year adds to those already recorded by the Saudi kingdom in the shadow of a pre-existing regional financial crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic. (HANDLE).
Islam: pilgrimage to Mecca in restricted form begins
2020-07-29T09:52:49.279Z
The pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia begins today, in a much smaller form than in the past due to the coronavirus emergency, in which a few thousand people participate compared to the approximately two and a half million pilgrims of the past years. (HANDLE)