Saudi Arabia expecting one million in largest hajj since pandemic

Thousands of Muslim pilgrims circumambulate around the Kaaba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque, in the Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca (Amr Nabil/AP)

One million Muslim pilgrims are converging on Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca for the largest hajj since the coronavirus pandemic severely curtailed access to one of Islam’s five pillars.

Saudi Arabia’s decision to allow some 850,000 Muslims from abroad to make the annual pilgrimage, which begins on Thursday, marks a major step toward normalcy after two years of a drastically scaled-down hajj restricted to Saudi residents.