“It’s a toss-up between holding a nominal hajj and scrapping it entirely.”
In this file photo taken on April 3, 2020 Muslim worshippers walk around the sacred Kaaba in Mecca’s Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site, during the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic. – Saudi Arabia is expected to scale back or call off this year’s hajj pilgrimage for the first time in its modern history, a perilous decision as coronavirus cases spike.
But as the kingdom negotiates a call fraught with political and economic risks in a tinderbox region, time is running out to organise logistics for one of the world’s largest mass gatherings. In countries like France, faith leaders have urged Muslims to “postpone” their pilgrimage plans until next year due to the prevailing risks.
It could also trigger renewed scrutiny of the Saudi custodianship of Islam’s holiest sites — the kingdom’s most powerful source of political legitimacy. “The delay in announcing its decision shows it understands the political consequences of cancelling the hajj or reducing its scale.”“At the last minute if Saudi says ‘we are ready to do a full hajj’, many countries will not be in a position” to participate, he said.
In Saudi hospitals, sources say intensive care beds are fast filling up and a growing number of health workers are contracting the virus as the total number of cases has topped 130,000. Deaths surpassed 1,000 on Monday.
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