HAJJ 2020
In this video, #ScoopsCaster gives you complete details about #HAJJ2020
Around a 1,000 people will perform the Hajj this year due to coronavirus restrictions
The annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca under restrictions that have prevented millions from attending.
Around 1,000 people already in the kingdom will perform this year’s pilgrimage due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has infected over 16 million people globally and killed more than 650,000.
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and every able bodied Muslim, who can afford it, is expected to carry out the rite within their lifetime.
Across the world, Muslims save up for decades for a chance to be able to participate in the pilgrimage and usually the Hajj draws around two million people a year.
For Muslims it symbolises the story of the Prophet Ibrahim —also known as Abraham to Christians and Jews — who is believed to have built God’s abode on Earth, the Kaaba, and was willing to sacrifice his son on God’s command.
The sacrifice preceding the Eid celebration recalls the moment God replaced Abraham’s son, Ismail in the Islamic tradition, with a ram at the last moment.
Of the thousand pilgrims expected to take part in the 2020 pilgrimage, 70 percent areforeigners and 30 percent aremade up of Saudi citizens.
Foreigners allowed to attend the Hajj must already be residents of Saudi Arabia.
General view of Kaaba at the Grand Mosque which is almost empty of worshippers, after Saudi authority suspended umrah (Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca) amid the fear of coronavirus outbreak, at Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia March 6, 2020.
Because of the Covid-19 outbreak, numbers will have to be restricted and social distancing and sanitation measures are put into effect during the pilgrimage.
Pebbles used for the ‘stoning of the devil’ ceremony are sanitised and handed to pilgrims, and no pilgrims are allowed to touch the Kaaba or kiss the black stone at its corner - both of which are regular customs during the Hajj.
During prayers in congregation, participants have to wear a face mask and keep themselves socially distanced from other worshippers.
Saudi Arabia has so far had close to 270,000 coronavirus cases with around 2,733 deaths.
The restrictions on Hajj and the preceding ban on Umrah pilgrimages is expected to cost Saudi Arabia $12bn if it continues until the end of the year.
This amounts to seven percent of the country's entire GDP and 20 percent of its non-oil GDP.
There were many outbreaks in the Hejaz region of the Arabian Peninsula over the 19th Century, such as the plague, cholera and meningitis.
The spread of the plague epidemic in the Hejaz region in 1814 caused the death of about 8,000 people, and the pilgrimage was not allowed that year. An epidemic started again in the pilgrimage season of 1837, continuing until 1892.
For subscription to our YouTube channel: / scoopscaster
you can reach us [email protected]
/ scoopscaster
/ casterscoop
/ muhammad_aleee
NEWS SOURCE: TRT