MAKKAH: Annual Hajj rituals begin in Makkah today with the arrival of over two million pilgrims to Mina.
The passage to Mina marks the official launch of the Hajj on the eighth day of the Muslim calendar month of Zil Hajj.
The day is known as Tarwiah (Watering) as pilgrims in the past stopped at Mina to feed their animals and stock up for the following day’s trip to Mount Arafat.
This Hajj will be the biggest since the requirement for women to be accompanied by male guardians was dropped in 2021.
The Hajj rituals begin late Sunday at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. The worshippers will sleep in tents on Monday (today) night and spend Tuesday at Mount Arafat, the climax of the Hajj, where the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) delivered his final sermon.
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Earlier, the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) conditionally allowed women to perform Hajj without mehram.
As per details, the council stated that only those women are allowed to perform hajj without mehram if their parents or husband allow them.
In Fiqah-e-Jafria, Maliki and Shafi schools of thought, the Shariah permits women to perform Hajj without mehram.
The council said that according to the Hanafi and Hanbali fiqh if a woman has no mehram then she is exempted from performing hajj but if she wants she can go on hajj with trustworthy friends.
