The Saudi authorities have decided to lift the restrictions imposed earlier due to COVID-19 when organizing the Hajj this year, the Kingdom’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said in a statement.
Hajj is one of the five pillars on which Islam is based. The pilgrimage to the holy places in Mecca is prescribed for every Muslim to make at least once in his life. Hajj is divided into small and large. A Muslim can perform a small Hajj at any time of the year, while a large one is performed in the month of Zul-Hijja dedicated to this.
In 2023, the pilgrimage to Mecca will begin on Monday, June 26, two days before Kurban Bayram.
According to the head of the department, Tawfiq ar-Rabi, the kingdom hopes that the number of pilgrims will return to pre-pandemic levels, there will be no age restrictions for visiting sacred places for Muslims.
Recall that in 2019, about 2.6 million people performed the Hajj, but in the future, due to the coronavirus, the Saudi Arabian authorities allowed only a limited number of pilgrims to perform the Hajj. Last year, only people aged 18 to 65 who had been vaccinated against covid or were immune from this infection could perform the Hajj.