Disappointment in Mali after the cancellation of the pilgrimage to Mecca for foreigners

Saudi police guard the Kaaba, the black stone, inside the sacred Mecca mosque, which is banned from rallies to fight the coronavirus, on April 24, 2020. STR / AFP

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Saudi authorities announced on Tuesday that only a thousand pilgrims already in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to practice "Hajj" this year, and that people over the age of 65 will be denied access to Mecca, thereby excluding pilgrims from abroad. A great disappointment for millions of Muslims around the world, including in Mali.

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The evolution of the pandemic presaged this cancellation for the rest of the world, but it is still a disappointment for Mohamed Keïta who is in Mali. Like most future pilgrims, he had already paid the registration and care fees to his travel agency: “  I am really disappointed this year. We even paid almost all [of the fees], he laments. Of the 3 million, we had already paid 2 million. You can see what it does. "

Wait until next year

If some have decided to be reimbursed, this is not the case of Mohamed Keïta who resigns himself to waiting until next year. "  Now I'm targeting next year. But next year, will we be there or not? Physical incapacity, death, all that ... It shocked us. We will still leave the money there and wait until next year, we will see.  "

This cancellation can be badly experienced by some believers, explains Boubacar Niambele, who also planned to do Hajj this year. "  For many Muslims, if there is something that prevents them once they have decided to leave, it is a mini-disaster," he explains. For them it is lived as if they were not good Muslims. And if they died, that means that they would not have done that to complete the Muslim practice.  "

One of the five pillars of Islam

The pilgrimage will take place from July 28 to August 2, and usually more than 2 million pilgrims converge in Saudi Arabia for Hajj , one of the five pillars of Islam.

► Read also: The great pilgrimage to Mecca maintained but for only a thousand faithful

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  • Mali
  • Islam
  • Religion
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Coronavirus

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