The streets of the Saudi city of Mecca are teeming with pilgrims dressed in all white, who have come from all over the world to perform the hajj, after two years of drastic restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the first time since 2019, the holiest city in Islam will welcome a million faithful, including 850,000 from abroad, for the great annual pilgrimage whose rites officially begin on Wednesday.
"
It's absolute happiness
," Abdel Qader Kheder, a Sudanese pilgrim, told AFP.
“
I almost can't believe I'm here.
I enjoy every moment
”.
In 2021, to limit the spread of the virus, only 60,000 residents of Saudi Arabia had been authorized to make the pilgrimage and barely a thousand the previous year - compared to 2.5 million Muslims around the world in 2019.
One of the five pillars of Islam, the hajj consists of a series of rites to be performed over five days, in Mecca and the surrounding region, by any Muslim who can afford it, at least once in his life.
Some pilgrims began the first ritual on Monday, in the Grand Mosque of Mecca, by turning seven times around the Kaaba, a black cubic structure 15 meters high, towards which the faithful Muslims go to pray.
"
When I saw the Kaaba for the first time, I started crying
," said Mohamed Lotfi, a young Egyptian pilgrim.
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Maytof Ali, a 65-year-old Moroccan, considers himself lucky to be in Mecca after being drawn into the lottery system set up by the authorities.
“
It's the first time I've done the hajj.
Many people have applied, but they have had no luck
".
The return of foreign pilgrims this year is the joy of hoteliers, restaurateurs and traders, deprived of income for two seasons.
Banners welcoming them were deployed on the main arteries of the city in the west of the country, squared by the security forces.
Authorities denied access to the holy city to nearly 100,000 people, including 288 who were fined, and 69,000 vehicles without permits, military officer Mohammed al-Basami told a press conference. superior in charge of hajj security.
Prestige and legitimacy
The reception of the two main Muslim pilgrimages, the hajj and the Umrah (small pilgrimage), normally brings in some 10 billion euros a year to Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter.
It also confers prestige and legitimacy on its leaders.
The hajj will be an opportunity this year for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who de facto leads the kingdom, to highlight his management of the country, ten days before the first visit of US President Joe Biden.
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Accused by Americans of condoning the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and criticized for his human rights record, the young prince has introduced significant change in the conservative kingdom in recent years.
Far from the concerts of Riyadh and the mixed beaches of Jeddah, in Mecca women were allowed last year to make the pilgrimage without being accompanied by a male relative.
prayers under the sun
While cases of Covid-19 contamination are skyrocketing around the world, the gathering of a million people is not without risk.
The Saudi authorities, who had announced in June the abandonment of the wearing of the mask in most closed spaces, specified that it would always be required in the Grand Mosque of Mecca.
The hajj this year is reserved for vaccinated people under the age of 65 and pilgrims coming from abroad must also present a negative PCR test carried out within 72 hours before the trip.
The Grand Mosque will be “
washed 10 times a day, by more than 4,000 workers, and more than 130,000 liters of disinfectant will be used in each operation
,” authorities said.
Another challenge: the scorching summer sun in one of the hottest and driest regions of the world.
With the season just beginning, temperatures have already crossed 50 degrees Celsius in parts of Saudi Arabia which, like its Gulf neighbors, is suffering the consequences of climate change.
But the heat will not prevent the Iraqi Ahmed Abdul-Hassan from performing the rites of the hajj: “
I am 60 years old, it is normal if I am tired because of the heat.
But I'm in a state of serenity, and it
