Tag: Hajj

Saudi Arabia seeks Islamic tourism boost in test for heritage, tradition

Pilgrimage is the backbone of a plan to expand tourism under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s economic reform programme, announced a year ago to diversify the economy away from oil.

80-year-old Pakistani pilgrims living example of true friendship

MINA: Two Pakistani pilgrims have set a real example of true friendship. Ejaz Dalali Ahmad and Ahmad Dalo Raj, both over 80 years old,...

Muslims asked to unite, avoid sectarian, political rift in Hajj sermon

Member of Council of Senior Scholars and an advisor to the Saudi Royal Court, Shiekh Saad bin Nasser, delivered Khutba-e-Hajj at Masjid-e-Nimra on the...

Faithful start gathering at Mina as Haj rituals begin

Over two million faithful have started gathering at the tent valley of Mina as the Haj rituals begin on Wednesday. After donning the simple garb...

Let’s make no mistake: this is China’s Berlin Wall

May you live in interesting times… Uyghurs who had just arrived for pilgrimage got off his taxi upon learning he was Uyghur who knew their language -...

Two million pilgrims converge on Makkah for Hajj

This year sees the return of pilgrims from Shia Iran, regional rival to Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and comes with the Gulf mired in political crisis and Islamic State group militants squeezed in Iraq and Syria.

MORA hires 194 buildings for pilgrims in Makkah

LAHORE: Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) has hired one hundred and ninety-four buildings in Makkah for accommodation of 107,526 pilgrims under the government's Hajj scheme. Building...

Draw for hajj scheme held

Four officials of Auqaf and Punjab Religious Affairs department were declared lucky winners in a lucky draw ceremony of Hajj scheme 2017, held at...

DMC Karachi South to send 16 officials to perform Hajj

KARACHI: The District Municipal Corporation (DMC), Karachi South, would send its 12 staffers and four officers to perform Hajj this year. An announcement to this...

Iranian pilgrims will participate in this year hajj: Saudi Arabia

RIYADH: Iranian pilgrims will participate in this year’s annual hajj, Saudi Arabia said on Friday, after an absence last year during tensions between the regional...

Iran denies receiving Saudi invite for hajj talks

Iran has denied receiving any invitation from Saudi Arabia for talks on the hajj, after a row between the arch-foes saw its pilgrims stay...

Hajj pilgrims reach site of deadly stampede

Muslim pilgrims reached Mina on Monday for the ritual stoning of the devil, the last major rite of the annual hajj and the scene...

I am not afraid of pilgrimage, says Hajj stampede survivor

As pilgrims from around the world symbolically stoned the devil on Monday in the last major rite of the Hajj, the memory of a...

Drones keep watch as pilgrims ascend Mount Arafat for hajj climax

Saudi authorities deployed drones to watch over nearly 2 million pilgrims as they ascended Mount Arafat at the climax of the hajj pilgrimage on...

Saudi Grand Mufti not giving Hajj sermon for first time in...

The Saudi government announced on Saturday that the Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al Ashiekh will not be delivering his Hajj sermon for the first time...

Ghilaf-e-Kaaba changing ceremony held today

The annual ceremony to change Ghilaf-e-Kaaba was held Sunday (today) at Masjid al-Haram where millions of Muslims have gathered to perform Hajj. The new Ghilaf-e-Kaaba...

Hajj rituals begin: Pilgrims start congregating in Mina

From Asia, Africa and points in between, nearly 1.5 million Muslims begin the annual hajj in western Saudi Arabia Saturday, undeterred by a stampede...