Published On 26 May 202626 May 2026Huge numbers of Muslims prayed on Mount Arafat at the most important ritual of the Hajj pilgrimage, as a punishing desert sun sent temperatures soaring towards 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).From daybreak on Tuesday, thousands of white-robed worshippers recited Quranic verses on the 70-metre (230-foot) rocky hill near Mecca, where the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have delivered his final sermon.Volunteers lined the route, handing out bottles of water, parasols and food packages to the tens of thousands of pilgrims making their way towards the mount.“It is an indescribable feeling,” said Ahmoud Abou Elezz, a 35-year-old Egyptian engineer, as he approached Mount Arafat for the first time.More than 1.5 million people have joined the Hajj this year, even as a war pitting the United States and Israel against Iran casts a long shadow across the Middle East.During the fighting, Tehran retaliated with waves of drone and ballistic missile strikes, hitting major infrastructure and energy installations across the Gulf, including in Saudi Arabia.More than 30,000 Iranians have made the journey, about a third of the 86,000 originally expected. Iran’s IRNA state news agency said the “wartime situation” explained the drop.Despite the conflict, Saudi officials said over the weekend that more pilgrims have travelled from abroad this year than in 2024.The Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is obligatory at least once in a lifetime for all Muslims wh …
