To escape the harsh sun, Inas Gamal abandoned ambitious plans to pray at Mecca’s Grand Mosque in the days leading up to the hajj and retreated to the comfort of an air-conditioned hotel room for daytime prayers.
Despite traveling all the way from Egypt to take part in the annual pilgrimage, Gamal said it was too hot to stay outside for too long with daytime temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.
“It was very hot, much hotter than I expected,” the mother of four, who was performing the hajj for the first time, told AFP.
“I can’t get used to it,” she added, adjusting her sunglasses to protect her eyes from the harsh sun.
“I had planned to do all the prayers at the Grand Mosque, but I couldn’t go to the daytime prayers.”
Most of the hajj rituals are performed outdoors, with more than a million worshipers gathering in suffocating conditions. Many participants have suffered from heatstroke, fainting, and even suffered cardiac arrest due to the heat.
Saudi Arabia’s National Meteorological Center predicts that daytime temperatures in Mecca this week will hover between 42 and 47 degrees Celsius during the Hajj, which officially begins on Monday.
For pilgrims from outside the region, the harsh desert climate can be brutal.
“I make sure to drink lots of water and drinks rich in salt and minerals because we sweat a lot and are always moving,” said Imad Ahmed from the UK.
-“Really hot”-
To protect worshipers from the sweltering heat, authorities relied on one of the world’s most powerful air-conditioning systems to cool the Grand Mosque’s courtyard, Saudi state television reported.
Other areas have huge fans, misters and cooling floor systems to alleviate the scorching sensation.
Trucks also continue to distribute free bottles of ice water to pilgrims.
But even with these measures, the relentless sun continues to bake the white marble surrounding the Grand Mosque, where most pilgrims have gathered in recent days.
“It’s really hot,” said Mohamed Nabil from the Algerian coastal city of Oran, where temperatures are currently about 25 degrees Celsius.
The 43-year-old professor said he often splashed water on his face to keep cool while taking 30,000 steps a day while exploring Mecca.
– Heat stroke –
Ice cream stands are often crowded with pilgrims, while others seek refuge in the shade of buildings near the mosque or in indoor galleries, where they lie on carpets under giant fans and wait for prayers.
When the hajj begins, pilgrims will be forced to take part in a number of rituals, including the culmination of the pilgrimage on Tuesday at Mount Arafat, where there is barely any shade on the rocky mountain.
The Saudi Ministry of Health said more than 50,000 medical staff and 3,000 ambulances are ready to help pilgrims in need.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Health said its medical teams had treated 144 people suffering from heatstroke.
According to authorities, more than 1,300 pilgrims died in 2024 due to temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius.
Jameel Abualenain of the Ministry of Health, who was treating pilgrims for heatstroke in a ward in the Mina refugee camp, said in a ward that he was mainly concerned about the impact of “rising temperatures” on pilgrims.
To prevent heatstroke, people must “drink enough water, use an umbrella and avoid prolonged exposure to the sun,” he said.
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This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.
