The 2026 Hajj began in Mecca on Monday with more than 1.5 million pilgrims arriving from abroad to perform the five-day pilgrimage, one of the largest annual gatherings of people anywhere in the world. The rituals run through Wednesday and culminate at Mount Arafat on Tuesday, where pilgrims spend the day in prayer in the most significant act of the Hajj.
The Saudi General Authority of Statistics confirmed the international arrival figure on Sunday and said that, with domestic participants included, the total at the holy sites was expected to approach 1.8 million by mid-week. Last year’s pilgrimage drew about 1.83 million participants in total; numbers have recovered to pre-pandemic levels but remain below the 2.4 million peaks seen in the mid-2010s.
Heat is again the dominant safety concern. More than 1,300 pilgrims died during the 2024 Hajj when temperatures around the Grand Mosque exceeded 50 degrees Celsius. Saudi authorities have since expanded shaded walkways at the Jamarat Bridge, increased misting-fan coverage and pre-positioned more than 100,000 litres of bottled water along the route between Mina and Arafat. Daytime highs in Mecca are forecast to reach 45 degrees this week.
For the first time, Saudi Arabia is deploying an integrated AI crowd-management system at major chokepoints, drawing on overhead drone feeds and turnstile data to redirect groups before density approaches the levels associated with previous fatal crush events. The interior ministry has also rolled out a fleet of autonomous cleaning vehicles and additional emergency-response units stationed across the Holy Sites Region.
Regional politics form an unusual backdrop to this year’s pilgrimage. The Iran war ceasefire remains in place but unresolved, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman publicly backed the US-Iran framework circulated over the weekend. Iranian pilgrims, who number more than 80,000 this year, are travelling via Doha and Muscat under arrangements brokered when direct overflight access remained suspended.
Pilgrims circled the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque during the opening rites on Sunday night before moving in stages to the tent city at Mina, where most will spend Monday night. The procession to Mount Arafat begins before dawn on Tuesday, followed by the symbolic stoning of pillars at Jamarat and three days of celebration to mark Eid al-Adha, which Saudi Arabia and most Gulf countries will observe from Wednesday.