Gearing up for Hajj

Gearing up for Hajj

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have already gathered in Mecca in preparation for this year's Hajj, which will begin on Wednesday, November 25.

On average, between two and three million Muslims take part in the five-day journey every year.

A decreased turnout had been anticipated this year due in part to both fears of an outbreak of H1N1, and as a knock-on effect of the global recession. However, local newspaper Saudi Gazette's headline this morning read "2.5m offer Friday prayers" in Mecca.

The story said 500,000 pilgrims also offered Friday prayers in Medina, the second holiest city in Islam.

Most of those pilgrims will now be clogging the road from Medina to Mecca ahead of a Sunday deadline from the government, as part of its efforts to optimise crowd flow.

But despite the large numbers, applications for Hajj permits from residents and citizens of Saudi Arabia are reportedly down 65 per cent.

Another Saudi Gazette report quoted Saad Al-Qurashi, chairman of the Hajj and Umrah committee, as saying:

"There are fears of the virus, and also people are suspicious of the vaccine because of the rumours concerning side-effects."

Unlike those coming from abroad, domestic pilgrims are required to get the H1N1 flu vaccine in order to receive a permit.

Fears of a flu outbreak may prove to be well founded, though. Saudi health authorities annouced on Saturday that four pilgrims have already died of H1N1, a day after admitting that at least 20 new cases of swine flu had been reported among those arriving in the kingdom for Hajj.

Al Jazeera will be keeping a close eye on that and other stories as we cover Hajj this year.

You can keep up with all the latest updates via our Twitter list: @AJEnglish/Hajj

We'll also be posting photos thorughout the week on our Flickr photostream.

There's much more planned, so stay tuned!