Sierra Leone Records 941 Pilgrims, The Highest in Decades
Salamatu Y. Kamara A total of 941 pilgrims from Sierra Leoneans have participated in this year’s Hajj, in the holy land of Macca, the highest in decades.
Despite the many challenges faced by countries around the world in this year’s Hajj, the government worked assiduously to ensure that Sierra Leone records the highest figure in decades for the country, which is predominantly Muslim.
The third and final batch of Sierra Leonean pilgrims, led by the Minister of Social Welfare, Hon. Baindu Dassama, landed in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Thursday night before the expiration of the extended deadline. All pilgrims successfully went through immigration checks and joined the first and second batches of pilgrims at Arafat immediately after performing Umrah.
At Arafat, the pilgrims spent the rest of the dapraying and making supplications till sunset before proceeding to Muzdalifah, where they spent the night praying and picking pebbles, which are part of the Hajj rituals.
Muzdalifah is a place where pilgrims are supposed to spend the whole night till daybreak (Fajri) but it is religiously permissable for women and the aged men to depart Muzdalifah after midnight.
The pilgrims later proceeded to Mina after the early morning fajri prayers. At Mina, they threw pebbles at the “Jamaratul Aqabah” on Saturday morning, a ritual they will do on Sunday and Monday for all the 3 “Jamarats”.
The total number of pilgrims who are performing this year’s Hajj globally is 899,353 according to the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) in Saudi Arabia.