Millions became pilgrims

The Eid al-Adha of the Hijri year 1445 is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Mecca-i Mükerreme. On the eve of Arafat, millions of pilgrims who stood in vigil at Arafat, shedding tears of repentance and offering prayers, traveled by buses to the area of Muzdalifah, 11 kilometers away from sunset. Pilgrims who stayed in Muzdalifah until midnight and the time of the morning prayer performed the evening and night prayers collectively. After the supplication and worship, pilgrims set out towards Jamarat (the stoning site) after midnight and before the morning prayer. The approximately 7-kilometer road and tunnels where none of the walking belts worked as usual put elderly Turkish pilgrims in great difficulty. The pilgrims, who complained that the Saudi authorities did not maintain the walking belts that would serve 2 days a year, said they would complain in the afterlife, then proceeded to the stoning of the devil. Meanwhile, many Turkish pilgrims fainted and suffered heart attacks on the way due to the non-functioning belts. Pilgrims who threw 7 stones at the big devil on the first day were able to walk back to their hotels. Due to this disorder, pilgrims experienced double the exhaustion. Taxi fares reached astronomical figures due to the traffic congestion. It was reported that the Mecca pilgrimage traffic was still congested because a rail system had not been established. On the morning of the holiday, pilgrims waited for hours to return to their hotels from Jamarat. Those who managed to reach their hotels, accepting that their sacrificial animals were slaughtered on the day of the holiday, shaved their heads and removed their ihram. Turkish pilgrims, who found the treatment of the Islamic Cooperation Organization in the sacrificial slaughter process inadequate, want the information of the slaughter of their sacrificial animals to be delivered to them individually via Nusuk with visual recordings as done by personal delegation and foundations in Turkey. Turkish pilgrims, who stated that the delegation and sacrificial slaughter information can be easily shown from the Nusuk system implemented seriously this year, expressed their desire to know to which country their sacrificial animals were sent. Millions of people who woke up as pilgrims on the morning of the holiday embraced their friends in their hotels, congratulating each other for being pilgrims and celebrating the holiday. Finally, pilgrims will complete all the rituals of Hajj by performing the visitation circumambulation and Sai’ without ihram, fulfilling the 3rd obligatory act of Hajj, and stoning the devil on the 2nd and 3rd days.