Pakistani pilgrim Bushra Ali Shah, 35, bids her husband farewell before departing to Haj, for the first time without a male guardian, from her home in Saudi Arabia s Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah, on July 16. AFP
MAKKAH: Bushra Shah, a 35-year-old Pakistani, says she is realising a childhood dream by making the great pilgrimage to Makkah, and under new rules she’s doing it without a male “guardian”.
The Haj Ministry has officially allowed women of all ages to make the pilgrimage without a male relative, known as a “mehrem”, on the condition that they go in a group.
The decision is part of social reforms rolled out by de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is trying to shake off the kingdom’s austere image and open up its oil-reliant economy.
Smart cards and robots: Saudi Arabia s digital Haj
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In Makkah, women set off on Haj as guardian rule cast aside
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60,000 fully vaccinated Muslims begin hajj rituals
Afp, Makkah
Mon Jul 19, 2021 12:00 AM
Hajj pilgrims streamed out of the holy city of Makkah and into the Mina valley yesterday, launching the rituals of the great pilgrimage which Saudi Arabia is holding in a scaled-down form for a second year.
Only 60,000 fully vaccinated citizens and residents of the kingdom are allowed to take part, far from the vast crowds that descend on Makkah in normal times when the ritual draws some 2.5 million pilgrims.
Since Saturday, groups of pilgrims have been performing the tawaf at Makkah s Grand Mosque, circling the Kaaba, a large cubic structure draped in golden-embroidered black cloth towards which Muslims around the world pray.