How many people performing hajj in 2011

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Premium statistics. Read more. Like other religious pilgrimages, Hajj is considered an annual rite of passage to renew ones moral and spiritual connection. Approximately a quarter of the human population identify themselves as Muslims. According to their faith of Islam, it is one of their five religious duties to perform the Hajj at least once in their lifetime. Who are the pilgrims? According to Islamic tradition, any Muslim who has reached maturity is due to perform the Hajj.

During the last Hajj season, about two thirds of the pilgrims to Mecca came from outside of the Saudi Arabian Kingdom. Many Muslims around the world spend a significant amount of their life-savings to be able to make this spiritual journey. As an example, the cost of performing Hajj for a Malaysian Muslim was calculated at about The rituals include: walking counter-clockwise seven times around the Kaaba — the cube-shaped building which acts as the Muslim direction of prayer — running back and forth between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, drinking from the Zamzam Well, standing vigil at Mount Arafat, and throwing stones in a ritual Stoning of the Devil.

At the end of hajj, pilgrims shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, and celebrate the three day global festival of Eid al-Adha. Muslim pilgrims cast stones at a pillar, symbolizing the stoning of Satan, in a ritual called "Jamarat," the last rite of the annual Hajj, in Mina near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on November 6, Muslims attend a prayer session along a street in celebration of the Eid al-Adha festival in Jakarta, Indonesia, on November 6, Ethnic Turkish girls from the village of Cumpana, eastern Romania, wait to perform traditional dances in Bucharest, Romania, on November 6, , during celebrations of the first day of Eid al-Adha.

Kyrgyz boys ride donkeys during the Kurban Bairam or Eid al-Adha near the village of Shalta, some 20 km outside Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on November 6, A trader pulls a sheep for a customer in a market on Eid al-Adha, in southern Tehran, Iran, on November 7, In rainy weather, Iranian Sunni Muslims perform their Eid al-Adha prayer, at the Jame mosque in the city of Agh Ghala, about miles kilometers northeast of the capital Tehran. A woman prepares traditional sweets for sale on the rooftop of her house, ahead of Eid al-Adha, in the port city of Sidon, southern Lebanon, on November 3, People pray in Ashwaq village on the occasion of Eid al-Adha near the city of Tabuk, 1, km miles away from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on November 6, Muslims perform their ablutions in the inner courtyard of the 17th century Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India, before early morning Eid al-Adha prayers on November 7, Thousands of Indian Muslims crowded in and around the mosque, the largest in India, to attend prayers in the first morning of Eid-al Adha or Festival of Sacrifice.

India has the second largest population of Muslim followers in the world with over million faithful. Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants living in the northern port city of Thessaloniki in Greece, offer Eid al-Adha prayers on November 6, For the first time in Thessaloniki, Greek authorities granted a public hall to Muslims in order to celebrate Eid al-Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice, in remembrance of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Millions of Muslims from around the world were in the holy city of Mecca on Saturday for the first day of Hajj, the annual pilgrimage that every able-bodied Muslim is expected to perform at least once in his or her life.

Dressed in white and following in the footsteps of the prophet Mohammed, pilgrims climbed Mount Arafat, just outside the Saudi Arabian city. Hajj, a five-day pilgrimage, consists of a series of detailed rituals in Mina, Muzdalifa, Arafat and Mecca.

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