Muslim pilgrims returned Sunday to the holy city of Makkah to perform the last ritual of a very special and different hajj.
In the last ritual of the annual pilgrimage, the white-clad pilgrims performed the final Tawaf (circumambulation) as they walked seven times around the Ka`bah in the Grand Mosque complex in Makkah.
The Ka`bah, with a black stone set in the eastern corner, is not an object of worship, though Muslims pray towards it, but a sanctuary and a spiritual center.
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Pilgrims should perform farewell Tawaf at the last hour before leaving Makkah. If the pilgrim spends another night in Makkah after the tawaf, he or she must repeat the ritual.
Finishing the ritual, some pilgrims will then move to the hotel for self-isolation, while others will return to their hometowns for a 14-day quarantine.
“We are working to implement the approved plans to make this year’s Hajj pilgrimage successful in accordance with preventative and precautionary measures from the arrival of the pilgrims to Makkah up until they complete the farewell tawaf,” the Commander of the Grand Mosque’s Security Special Forces, Major General Yahya bin Abdulrahman Al-Aqil told Saudi state news agency SPA, Arab News reported.
The worshippers will get into the Grand Mosque via designated doors and will be required to follow specific marked paths to keep distance between each other.
The farewell circumambulation came after the pilgrims completed on Sunday the three-day ritual of stoning the Devil at Jamrat Al-Aqaba, hurling pebbles at all three wide walls representing Satan.