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Muslims mark day of Arafah amid coronavirus curbs

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Yusef Jalali 
Press TV, Tehran

Muslims around the world are marking the Day of Arafah. The occasion is the pinnacle of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. This year however, the religious occasion is marked differently in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Muslims around the world are observing the Day of Arafah, which marks the pinnacle of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Every year on the occasion, pilgrims gather on Mount Arafat near the holy city of Mecca, where they perform special prayers, asking God's forgiveness and making wishes.

Those who cannot make it to Mecca perform the religious ritual at home or in mosques.

Every year, Saudi Arabia hosts an average of 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world during the Hajj pilgrimage. This year however, the major occasion is marked differently amid the coronavirus pandemic. Only 10,000 pilgrims were allowed to perform the Hajj, and all of them are Saudi nationals.

In Iran, the Arafah prayer was either called off in the red zones or was held with extreme precautions. Iran has sent an average of 80,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia over the past years during the annual Hajj pilgrimage but this year due to the pandemic, this number has shrunk to zero.

The Hajj is one of the essential practices of Islam that every able-bodied and financially capable Muslim is obliged to undertake during their lifetime. This obligatory practice now is largely cancelled due to the coronavirus, but Muslims here say God still hears their prayers.


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