Muslims around the world hoping for a once-in-a-lifetime journey to Mecca to perform the hajj will have to wait until next year, after Saudi Arabia drastically curtailed the pilgrimage due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The kingdom said late on Monday that only a very limited number of pilgrims would be allowed to perform the hajj in Mecca from among residents of various nationalities already inside the country.
While the decision to drastically curb this year's hajj was largely expected, it remains unprecedented in Saudi Arabia's nearly 90-year history and effectively bars all Muslims from outside the kingdom from travelling there to perform the pilgrimage.
Meanwhile, India’s Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, “The government has decided that Muslims from India will not travel to Saudi Arabia for Haj 2020 after the kingdom conveyed that pilgrims should not be sent this year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.”
The hajj typically draws 2.5 million people from inside Saudi Arabia and around the world.
