MECCA, Feb 7 (IslamOnline) - Saudi Arabia is gearing up for the annual Muslim pilgrimage season (Hajj) with preparations to carry out the symbolic Kaaba washing earnestly under way.
Prince Maged bin Abdel Aziz, governor of Mecca, said he would inaugurate the Hajj season with celebrations attended by prominent Islamic figures from all over the world.
At the climax of the events would be the washing of the Kaaba with perfumes, incense and water. Delegates from Muslim countries will also take part of in the "washing".
The Kaaba, towards which Muslims direct their five daily prayers, will also be covered with a new cover costing 17.7 million Saudi Riyals ($4.5 million). Saudi authorities use parts of the older cloth as presents to dignitaries and religious figures.
Saudi Arabia's health minister said his country has already spent $6.6 million to prepare Mina, where pilgrims perform part of their rituals and often camp, and an area where they are expected to slaughter sacrifices (usually sheep).
After Hajj, Muslims celebrate the Eid al-Adha (Sacrifice Eid) feast and offer their sacrifices to the poor and needy.
Saudi Arabia also imposes a ban on imported water and food during the Hajj season to preempt the spread of epidemics. The oil-rich country distributes at least 10 million bottles of Zamzam water, thought to be blessed water in Islam.
Saudi authorities say they have already lined up some 16,000 drivers to work on buses and trucks that will ferry an expected two million Muslim pilgrims who come to the country from different parts of the world.
The pilgrimage, reaching its pinnacle on the sacred site of Mount Arafat, had as many as two million Muslims from around the world gathered on the Mount last year.
Pilgrims spend their days praying for forgiveness on the mountain where the last passage of the Holy Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (SAW) fourteen centuries ago as he gave his last sermon.
Saudi officials say a record one-and-a-quarter million pilgrims from other countries came to perform the Hajj. In recent years, tragedies such as a large fire and a stampede have cost the lives of hundreds of pilgrims.
Saudi authorities allows its own citizens to perform Hajj only once every five years to allow for larger numbers of Muslims from other countries to come to the holy places.
The government in Saudi Arabia has said it would also be continuing its efforts to stop those pilgrims who would try to stay on illegally after the Hajj.
Checkpoints have been erected on roads into Mecca, while police patrols will search for those without legal documents.
The government is determined to stop hundreds of thousands of foreign pilgrims who have traditionally used the Hajj as a way of entering the Saudi workforce illegally in this affluent nation.
