Two million Muslims from across the globe are converging on
Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage, a religious duty and for some
pilgrims the journey of a lifetime.
This year sees the return of pilgrims from Shiite Iran,
regional rival to Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and comes with the Gulf mired
in political crisis and Islamic State group jihadists squeezed in Iraq and
Syria.
"I'm so excited because many people dream of coming to
this place," said 47-year-old Eni from Indonesia, her face framed in a
sand-coloured veil trimmed with lace.
"We feel more religious when we leave this place,"
she said.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, and it
also provides the largest number of pilgrims for the hajj.
Eni's compatriots throng Jeddah airport 80 kilometres (50
miles) west of Mecca, as tens of thousands of pilgrims pass through the gateway
to the hajj every day.
But Eni is almost oblivious to the hubbub that surrounds her
as she studies her Koran in the oppressive heat, pearls of sweat beading her
face.
"After my first pilgrimage I felt I wanted to come back
to feel myself close to him," she said of the Prophet Mohammed before
returning her attention to Islam's holy book.
The hajj is one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith,
which every Muslim is required to complete at least once in a lifetime if he or
she has the means to do so.
"This year we expect around two million pilgrims,"
Abdelmajeed Mohammad Al-Afghani, director of hajj and umra (lesser pilgrimage)
affairs, told AFP.
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