One million Muslim pilgrims were converging on Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Makkah on Wednesday for the largest Hajj since the coronavirus pandemic severely curtailed access to one of Islam’s five pillars.
Saudi Arabia’s decision to allow some 850,000 Muslims from abroad to make the annual pilgrimage, which begins on Thursday, marks a major step toward normalcy after two years of a drastically scaled-down Hajj restricted to Saudi residents.
