Pilgrimage

Saudi Arabia announced on June 12it will allow 60,000 residents vaccinated against COVID to perform this year's hajj, but Muslims from abroad will be barred for a second straight year.

More than two million Muslims on Aug. 11 threw stones at a symbolic representation of the devil as part of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.           

The annual pilgrimage to Sumuleu Ciuc is part of the Transylvanian heritage, but it equally honors Romanian and Hungarian traditions and is the symbol of dialogue, unity and brotherhood, Pope Francis said in his message delivered on Saturday at the Sumuleu Ciuc Marian shrine.

More than two million Muslims from around the world started the hajj pilgrimage on Aug. 19 in Saudi Arabia, one of the world's largest annual gatherings.

More than 100,000 members of Saudi security forces will help protect 2 million pilgrims who are part of Hajj's annual pilgrimage to Mecca today, the agencies said.

Two million Muslims from across the globe are converging on Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage, a religious duty and for some pilgrims the journey of a lifetime.

Iran will be allowed to set up temporary consulates in Saudi Arabia during the hajj pilgrimage despite the absence of diplomatic ties between the two rivals, the foreign ministry in Tehran said on July 4.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conducted the Umrah while in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 15, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

Erdoğan visited the al-Masjid an-Nabawi, a religious site that includes Prophet Muhammad's grave in Medina. 

Erdoğan subsequently traveled to Mecca, where he visited the Masjid al-Haram late on Feb. 15.  

Four Turkish citizens were killed in the huge stampede outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, where some two million people are performing the annual hajj pilgrimage.
      
According to a statement by the Hajj Administrative Center in Mecca, five Turkish citizens are still considered missing.
      

Saudi Arabia has opened an investigation into the causes for the accident in Mecca, in which  at least 107 people were killed when a construction crane crashed into the Grand Mosque, the BBC reported on Saturday.