{"id":4205,"date":"2020-11-03T02:50:11","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T02:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=4205"},"modified":"2020-11-03T02:50:11","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T02:50:11","slug":"saudi-arabia-allows-foreign-pilgrims-to-enter-for-umrah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2020\/11\/03\/saudi-arabia-allows-foreign-pilgrims-to-enter-for-umrah\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia allows foreign pilgrims to enter for Umrah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Article Link:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2020\/11\/1\/saudi-arabia-allows-foreign-pilgrims-to-enter-for-umrah<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysis:<\/strong> Saudi Arabia has reopened to some 10,000 foreign pilgrims to perform Umrah after a seven-month pause because of the coronavirus pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To ensure their safety, pilgrims must isolate for three days after arrival before being transported to religious sites, according to Amr Al-Maddah, Deputy Minister of Hajj and Umrah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilgrims will be allowed a 10-day stay in the kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Maddah said the testing of pilgrims \u2013 who are all 50 years old or younger \u2013 for COVID-19 will be continuous and any cases detected will be closely monitored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions of Muslims from around the world usually travel to Saudi Arabia for the Umrah and Hajj pilgrimages. Though the two Islamic pilgrimages share common rites Hajj, held once a year, is a lengthier ritual that is a once-in-a-lifetime duty for Muslims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saudi Arabia, which held a largely symbolic Hajj earlier this year limited to domestic worshippers, began allowing citizens and residents to perform the Umrah last month at 30-percent capacity, or 6,000 pilgrims a day. In comparison the Gulf state drew 19 million Umrah visitors last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the pandemic, more than 1,300 hotels and hundreds of stores operated around the clock to cater to pilgrims visiting the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Those have been largely empty in recent months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The religious pilgrimages generate $12bn in revenues from worshippers\u2019 lodging, transport, gifts, food and fees according to official data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ability of foreign Muslims to participate in Umrah during a global pandemic, in a safe and conscientious way, is beneficial to both worshipers and to Saudi Arabia. Worshipers are able to gain the spirituality and tranquility that accompanies a pilgrimage to one of Saudi Arabia’s holy sites, while Saudi Arabia benefits economically. Increased tourism grants companies such as hotels, restaurants, and stores that cater to the needs of religious tourists financial relief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a global level this event was caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Without this pandemic Muslim pilgrims would be allowed to freely enter and exit both Mecca and Medina. On a regional level Muslims from all across the Middle East participate in religious pilgrimages and value the religious and personal experience of Umrah and Hajj. This guides them to Saudi Arabia in the first place. On a state level, Saudi Arabia must ensure the health and safety of its people by taking certain precautions and setting certain boundaries for worshipers and pilgrims. All three aspects regarding global, regional, and state levels contribute to the cause and reason for this global event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article Link: https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2020\/11\/1\/saudi-arabia-allows-foreign-pilgrims-to-enter-for-umrah Analysis: Saudi Arabia has reopened to some 10,000 foreign pilgrims to perform Umrah after a seven-month pause because of the coronavirus pandemic. To ensure their safety, pilgrims must isolate for three days after arrival before being transported to religious sites, according to Amr Al-Maddah, Deputy Minister of Hajj and Umrah. Pilgrims will be allowed a 10-day stay… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4205"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4206,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4205\/revisions\/4206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}