With the school holidays now underway, the Saudi Kingdom will see a surge in the number of South African families performing umrah over the festive season. The South African Travel and Haj Operators Association (Sathoa) estimates that 10 000 South Africans will perform umrah over the December-January holiday period. The[…]
Saudi Arabia deployed large numbers of special forces on Saturday on the last day of Haj. Dozens of “special emergency force” troops were seen on one level of the Jamarat Bridge, a five-storey structure in Mina where pilgrims ritually stone the devil. Many more special troops patrolled the network of[…]
Haj Minister Bandar Hajjar said that this Haj season will witness the last reduction in the number of pilgrims following completion of expansion work inside the Grand Mosque. “Starting from next Haj season, the number of pilgrims will increase to 5 million and then to 30 million in the coming[…]
Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah and advisor of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, has directed setting up of two committees to probe into the Haram tragedy. Sultan Al-Dosary, director general of media and public relations at the governorate, said that the committees will examine the causes of crashing[…]
As Muslims around the world mark the month of Dhul Hijjah, one of the most sacred months of the Islamic year, all roads lead to the holy cities in the Saudi Kingdom for the annual haj pilgrimage on Thursday. Millions of pilgrims will don the ihram on the eighth day[…]
Saudi Arabia will not allow any activity that could undermine the security and safety of pilgrims and violate the sanctity of Haj, said Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Naif. Saudi security forces are capable of confronting any terrorist group or individual, he said. Prince Mohammed, who is chairman of the[…]
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