Humanitarian body praises Hajj crowd management
JEDDAH: A leading humanitarian organization has praised the Kingdom’s management of crowds during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage when nearly 2.4 million pilgrims are believed to have taken part in rituals. The secretary-general of the Arab Red Crescent and Red Cross Organization (ARCO), Dr. Saleh Al-Suhaibani, said the Kingdom’s leaders have shown the most beautiful humanitarian
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To Get All the World’s Muslims to Hajj, It Would Take at Least 581 Years
Even at a rate of 3 million people per hajj, it would be impossible for all the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims to perform the Islamic duty of the pilgrimage in their lifetimes.
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66 Red Crescent teams in action
As many as 66 teams have been deployed in Makkah and at the holy sites. More than 20 emergency teams were deployed on Thursday around the Grand Mosque in Makkah in the wake of the growing number of pilgrims headed to the holy mosque to perform the farewell tawaf, the last ritual of the annual pilgrimage.
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SGS ready for post Haj operation
After discussing the readiness for post Haj operation (Phase-2) with different departments, Najjar showed his satisfaction and said that for phase-2, with coordination of GACA and other government departments, SGS team is ready to serve the guests of Allah according to the vision of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques.
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Rotten meat destroyed in Makkah
The raids resulted in seizure and destruction of rotten meat of 418 heads of sheep that were found unfit for human consumption. Three illegal slaughterhouses were shut down and 233 enclosures for sheep were dismantled.
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On second Tashriq day, pilgrims stone the Satan and leave Mina for Makkah
On Thursday, the second of the three Tashriq days, the pilgrims continued throwing pebbles at the three Satan replicas and a large number of them left Mina for Makkah to do Tawaf Al-Wadaa (farewell circumambulation).
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Makkah, holy sites to witness technology-based massive development
Prince Khaled drew attention to the call made by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman that the Kingdom can send planes to transport Qatari pilgrims if Doha allows its citizens to perform Haj rituals. “But unfortunately, Qatar prevented its citizens from performing Haj. However, we welcomed those who managed to arrive in the Kingdom, and they are now with us performing Haj rituals,” he said, adding that the number of Iranian pilgrims for this year’s Haj season reached 86,000.
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Why the first baby born in Arafat was named Waddah
Waddah was the first baby boy to be born in Arafat on Monday to Jordanian parents. However, there is a story behind the name.
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More than 166 million stones thrown at the Jamarat in Hajj ritual
MINA: As sunset came to Mina on Thursday, the second day of Tashreeq, some 166,017,250 stones had been thrown at the Jamarat during the ritual ‘Stoning of the Devil’ over Eid-Al-Adha and the first two days of Tashreeq. Thursday saw “huge numbers of pilgrims” — around 1.6 million — stoning the three pillars and performing Tawaaf prayers in the Grand Mosque, according to Col.
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Saudi scouts assist pilgrims and Hajj authorities
MINA: More than 4.500 boy scouts participated in the 2018 Hajj, helping more than 90,000 pilgrims from all over the world to perform their spiritual rites. According to the Saudi Arabian Boy Scout Association website, they helped more than 94,980 pilgrims of different nationalities. Scouts ushered 10,732 lost pilgrims around the holy sites, orienting more than 84,200 pilgrims
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Hajj season epidemic-free, says health minister
JEDDAH: The current Hajj season has been epidemic-free after a large-scale program of health screening and vaccination of pilgrims was carried out, said Health Minister Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah. He revealed that 1.6 million pilgrims were medically screened at entry points. A further 360,000 Saudi pilgrims were vaccinated against polio and 480,000 Saudi pilgrims were vaccinated
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Eye on the Hajj: Mystery lensman who took first photos of Makkah
JEDDAH: Little is known about Abdul Ghaffar, the first photographer to capture images of Makkah, yet his evocative portraits of the Hajj season stand as a fitting tribute almost 130 years later. Ghaffar recorded his experiences in Makkah between 1884-1885 in diaries and correspondences with his mentor, the Dutch scholar Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje. When they met in Makkah,
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