For the first time, Saudi Arabia launches the “Pilgrimage to Mecca” service at the Grand Mosque during Ramadan

An official Saudi authority announced, on Sunday, the launch of the hair-cutting service for pilgrims for the first time in the Grand Mosque during the current month of Ramadan (which extends throughout March), on a trial basis that currently targets pilgrims.

The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque (official) said in a statement on its website, Sunday, that it “launched for the first time a trial operation of the ritual ablution service inside the Grand Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.”

This service comes "as part of the Authority's ongoing efforts to improve the level of services provided to the guests of God, and to provide qualitative solutions that contribute to improving the experience of pilgrims."

According to the same statement, "the service enables pilgrims to be released from the ritual of cutting their hair through 5 locations opposite the Marwa area, in vehicles that can move in the event of an increase in crowds and flows, supervised by a specialized team with experience in providing the service, with fully sterilized tools."

She stressed that this "ensures that the service is provided efficiently and quickly, while adhering to the highest standards of quality and safety."

Saudi Arabia witnesses millions of pilgrims and Umrah performers annually, as it is the destination for Muslims to perform Hajj and Umrah rituals.

At the beginning of 2024, Saudi Minister of Hajj and Umrah Tawfiq bin Al-Rabiah announced that the number of Umrah pilgrims during 2023 achieved a historic record of 13.55 million pilgrims.

In late December 2024, the General Authority for Statistics in Saudi Arabia said that Makkah Al-Mukarramah received 6.25 million pilgrims in the third quarter of 2024, a growth of 35 percent year-on-year.

Source: Anadolu Agency