Pilgrims from all over the world pray on Mount Arafat in Haj climax

More than 1.5 million Muslims will pray on Mount Arafat in soaring temperatures on Saturday, in the high-point and most gruelling day of the annual Haj pilgrimage.

The 70-meter (230-foot) rocky hill is roughly 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Makkah, the location of Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) last sermon. Worshippers from all over the world will ascend it.

It is predicted that the summer heat in the desert will reach 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 degrees Fahrenheit), which would provide a difficulty, particularly for the elderly, on a day when they are praying and reciting the Holy Quran.

Haj, which is primarily performed outside and requires at least five days to finish, “is not easy because it is very hot,” according to 26-year-old Ghanaian Abraman Hawa.

“The sun is here. It’s not as hot, though. But because I need Allah’s help, I shall pray to him at Arafat,” she continued.

The Saudi officials have advised pilgrims to stay out of the sun and drink lots of water. Men aren’t allowed to wear hats, but a lot of them carry umbrellas.

A Saudi source told AFP last week that over 10,000 heat-related diseases were reported in the previous year, with 10% of those cases being heat stroke.

Climate change is having an increasing impact on Haj, one of the largest religious pilgrimages in the world. A Saudi study found that regional temperatures were rising by 0.4°C per ten years.

The Gulf kingdom’s intense summer heat did not deter 60-year-old Pakistani pilgrim Mohammad Farouk, though.

“Very important for me as a Muslim,” he stated of the Haj.

Financial windfall

The massive throngs of devotees slept in a massive tent city in Mina, a valley a few kilometers outside Makkah, the holiest place in Islam.

Many of them were laying closely together on small beds in the air-conditioned tents.

Depending on how much they had paid for their Haj packages, which were typically several thousand dollars, they were sorted by price and nationality.

They will travel to Muzdalifah after Arafat in order to gather stones for Sunday’s symbolic “stoning of the devil” ceremony in Mina.

The route of the Haj is the same as that of the last journey made by Prophet Muhammad around 1,400 years ago.

For the Al Saud dynasty, whose ruler is referred to as the “guardian of the two holy mosques” in Makkah and Madina, it is a crucial source of legitimacy.

The conservative nation, which is attempting to grow religious tourism as part of a push to lessen its reliance on crude oil, will also benefit financially greatly from it.

For the Haj, the country welcomed almost 1.8 million pilgrims last year, around 90% of them were foreigners.

In addition, 13.5 million Muslims arrived to undertake Umrah, a year-round minor pilgrimage that seeks to reach 30 million by 2030.

The Haj this year is taking place under the shadow of Israel’s Gaza offensive, which has left many in the Muslim world still grieving after eight months of violence.