Hajj pilgrimage begins on Friday, June 14, as over two million Muslims from all over the globe gather in Mecca to perform their religious obligations.
Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage that every Muslim who can afford it is obligated to perform once in their life. It is one of the five pillars of Islam.
Hajj occurs once every year in the 12th month of the Islamic lunar calendar, Dhul-Hijja, when Muslims from every corner of the world of different races, ethnicities, languages, and economic classes unite in Mecca to ask forgiveness from God, get closer to him, and follow in the footsteps of prophets.
This year's Hajj begins at the time when a raging war is going on in Gaza. More than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Muslims in Gaza were unable to travel to Mecca for Hajj as Israel closed the Rafah crossing during the expansion of ground offenses.
However, Saudi King Salman has invited 1,000 families of Palestinians killed or wounded in the war in Gaza to Hajj, Arab News reported.
Saudi authorities informed that these 1,000 Palestinian pilgrims were already outside Gaza before the closure of the Rafah crossing, most of them are living in Egypt.
Amna Abu Mutlaq, a 75-year-old Palestinian woman in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis who was unable to perform Hajj this year due to the closing of the crossing, said, “We are deprived of (performing) Hajj because the crossing is closed and because of the raging wars and destruction. They (Israel) deprived us of everything.”
The Hajj that officially began after pilgrims made their way to Mina on 8th Dhul Hijjah will be ended on 13th with the final circumambulation, known as Farewell Tawaf.
