MECCA, Saudi Arabia — Muslim pilgrims have been streaming into Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca ahead of the start of the Hajj later this week, as the annual pilgrimage returns to its ...

More than 1.83 million Muslims performed the Hajj in 2024, including more than 1.6 million from 22 countries, and around 222,000 Saudi citizens and residents, according to the Saudi Hajj authorities.

Mecca is Islam’s holiest city and a focal point for followers of the faith, but it's also home to about 2 million people who live everyday life there.

Muslims from around the world are in the Saudi city of Mecca for the Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam. In the coming days, people will immerse themselves in religious rituals and acts of ...

A separate crane collapse at Mecca's Grand Mosque earlier the same year killed 111. The second-deadliest incident at the Hajj was a 1990 stampede that killed 1,426 people.

Tens of thousands of vaccinated Muslim pilgrims circled Islam’s holiest site in Mecca on Sunday, but remained socially distanced and wore masks as the coronavirus takes its toll on the hajj for ...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Muslim pilgrims have started arriving in Mecca for a drastically scaled-down hajj as Saudi authorities balance the importance of one of Islam’s key pillars with ...

More than 1.5 million pilgrims from around the world have already amassed in and around Mecca for the Hajj, and the number was still growing as more pilgrims from inside Saudi Arabia joined.

News With pandemic in mind, pared-back hajj in Mecca for 2nd year MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Tens of thousands of vaccinated Muslim pilgrims circled Islam's holiest site in Mecca on Sunday.

The hajj pilgrimage, which once drew some 2.5 million Muslims from across the globe, is now almost unrecognizable. It is being scaled back for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The hajj is one of Islam’s most important requirements to be performed once in a lifetime. It follows a route the Prophet Muhammad walked nearly 1,400 years ago and is believed to ultimately ...

This year, Saudi Arabia's Hajj Ministry has said between 1,000 and 10,000 people already residing in the kingdom will be allowed to perform the pilgrimage. Two-thirds of those pilgrims will be ...