ARAFAT: Sheikh Bandar Bin Abdulaziz Balila in the Hajj sermon urged people to follow Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) teachings regarding pandemics, saying that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) had asked people to not go to an area where there’s a plague.
“The Holy Prophet (PBUH) said that people should not go out of the area where the plague has spread and people from other areas should not go there,” said Sheikh Bandar as the pilgrims performed Hajj under coronavirus restrictions.
In the sermon, Sheikh Bandar urged Muslims to establish equality, eliminate enmity and hatred amongst each other. He also asked everyone to forgive one another for the sake of Allah.
The imam of the Grand Mosque said that Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam and urged those who can take the holy sojourn to complete it.
Thousands of face-masked pilgrims performing Islam’s annual hajj pilgrimage gathered on Mount Arafat on Monday to atone for their sins, expressing hopes for peace and an end to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites in Makkah and Madina, has barred worshippers from abroad for a second year running and has restricted entry from within the kingdom under special conditions to guard against the coronavirus and its new variants.
Only 60,000 Saudi citizens and residents, aged 18 to 65, who have been fully vaccinated or recovered from the virus and do not suffer from chronic diseases, were selected for the rite, a once-in-a-lifetime duty for every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it.
“It is an indescribable feeling that I got selected among millions of people to attend the hajj. I pray for God to put an end to these hard times the whole world has gone through under the coronavirus,” said Um Ahmed, a Palestinian pilgrim who lives in the Saudi capital Riyadh and who said she lost four family members to the virus.
In previous years, more than two million pilgrims used to cover Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat, sitting close to each other in the scorching heat of the desert city of Makkah, carrying umbrellas and fans to keep cool as temperatures rose towards 40 degrees Celsius.
This year pilgrims, dressed in white robes signifying a state of purity, had to observe social distancing and wear face masks on Mount Arafat.
Mount Arafat is also where Holy Prophet (PBUH) gave his last sermon.
“The first prayer is to ask God to lift this pandemic, this curse and this grief for all humanity and for Muslims, so in the next years they are able to attend hajj and for millions to refill these holy sites,” said Maher Baroody, a Syrian pilgrim.
