This is not the first time that the dreams of pilgrims have been broken during a visit to the Sacred House of God, after the new Corona Virus (Covid-19) has stood in the way of preventing this duty that Muslims yearn to perform, even though it is conditional on God Almighty saying “to whomever is able to reach a path.”

The paths to the Sacred House were stranded several times, most of which were due to the spread of epidemics and wars, and pilgrims suffered during periods of the life of Islam from bandits, insecurity, and diseases coming from different countries.

Covid-19 prevents pilgrims

And this year, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced allowing a very limited number of people wishing to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, of various nationalities who are inside the Kingdom only, in light of the outbreak of the Corona virus.

The Saudi National Center for Disease Prevention and Control has also issued health protocols for the prevention of Covid-19 disease, among which is the prevention of touching the Kaaba and the Black Stone, the necessity of wearing masks and the use of personal prayer rugs, and preventing pilgrims from entering Mina, Muzdalifah and Arafat without permission.

Dr. Nekhat Warlak: Islamic societies have witnessed epidemics that affected the establishment of religious rituals (Al-Jazeera)

The first, second and third plague

To see what the pilgrimage seasons went through during the spread of epidemics throughout history and how this affected the performance of the duty, Al-Jazeera Net conducted an interview with Turkish-American historian Dr. Nakht Warlock, Professor of History at Rutgers-Newark University and the University of South Carolina in the United States of America, author of the book " Plague in the Time of the Ottoman Empire "Plague and Empire in the Early Modern Mediterranean World: The Ottoman Experience, 1347-1600" in 2015, and editor of the book "Plague and Infection in the Islamic Mediterranean" in 2017.

The cover of the book of Dr. Nekhat and Arlak "The Plague in the Time of the Ottoman Empire" (Al-Jazeera)

Warlake recounts that Muslim societies witnessed many epidemics in history during the spread of diseases such as plague, cholera, smallpox, leprosy, malaria, and others. It affected all aspects of life, including holding religious rituals, such as fasting, Friday prayers, group prayers and Hajj, and the celebration of religious holidays, especially Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

Perhaps the plague - as the historian says - was one of the most influential, because it spread periodically in repeated episodes over several centuries, and caused high levels of deaths. It is divided into 3 times:

The impact of the first plague on Muslim societies from the beginning of Islamic history until the Abbasid revolution in 750 AD.

As for the second plague, it came in 1347 AD - called the Black Death - and continued until the late 19th century, and the Black Death was one of the most devastating events in the history of mankind, and the Islamic world suffered from death and destruction like other Afro-Asian societies.

Historical sources indicate that the plague was very severe during the month of Ramadan (November / December 1348 AD) in Egypt and Syria, where tens of thousands died.

A few months earlier, in June, the famous traveler Ibn Battuta - who was passing through Syria - had observed the religious behavior of Muslims there. In Damascus, he saw fasting and processions held to raise the plague. "

The pandemic of the third plague spread in 1894 in Hong Kong, and reached Islamic lands within a few years, and lasted a few decades.

In the 19th century - according to Warlach - there were many cholera epidemics that caused widespread deaths in Muslim societies, just like anywhere else in the world.

Transporting water on a Jeddah street to keep the cities that pilgrims pass through (Cambridge University)

Hajj was affected by epidemics

Those epidemics that have spread made it difficult to perform certain acts of worship, especially those involving travel and large gatherings, so people resorted to alternative solutions. Warlock says there were times when religious rites such as the Hajj or visiting graves were suspended temporarily, or canceled.

She notes that the plague in the year 1422 AD, was so severe in Mecca that it became almost impossible to pray in mosques, and women's worship in Cairo was affected as they were prevented from visiting graves.

And whether it was easy to persuade pilgrims not to go to the Hajj, Dr. Warlake says it was not easy to control the movement of people before the modern era with the required papers, documents, and permits, and governments imposed travel restrictions due to epidemics.

In 1517, the Ottoman Empire was responsible for protecting the safety of the pilgrim routes, establishing institutions that facilitated the travel of pilgrim caravans, and made the journey safe, and ensured that pilgrims had access to food and clean water. But the Hajj trip was long and difficult, takes several months, and can reach more than a year, especially for those who travel from far away.

Warleck says there are accounts of pilgrims affected by disease and food shortages, and sometimes even of the risks of theft. The Ottoman administration also attempted to maintain public cleanliness and cleanliness of the holy cities, by sending inspectors from Istanbul to report problems and finance building maintenance and repair.

She adds that in the 19th century, cholera posed a public health challenge that made Hajj impossible, and it was suspended several times, but we can say that despite the spread of epidemics, the cancellation of Hajj was relatively rare.

She adds that instead of canceling the pilgrimage altogether at the time, the main focus was on properly isolating the pilgrims and containing the spread of the disease, especially in Europe. The British colonial government was reluctant to cancel the pilgrimage on its part, pressed heavily on international health organizations and tightened quarantine procedures.

Drawing of a ship loaded with pilgrims (Cambridge University)

Pilgrims died of cholera

Warluck notes that leading thinkers at the time compiled pilgrimage guides, aimed at educating Muslims, preparing them to face the difficulties of their physical and spiritual journey, and giving them advice on how to stay healthy and what they eat and drink, etc. Some Muslim scholars have even issued fatwas permitting the delay of the Hajj due to the conditions of the epidemic.

Also in the 19th century, the historian says that the pilgrimage travel became faster and less expensive with ships and railways, especially with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, which led to an increase in the number of annual pilgrims, “According to historian Christopher Michael Low, the total number of pilgrims in 1831 was 112. A thousand pilgrims, and rose to about 300 thousand pilgrims in 1910.

The Hajj pilgrims of Karachi in 1897 in order to preserve the health measures to prevent infection of the rest of the pilgrims (Cambridge University)

This also means - according to Warleck - that a greater number of pilgrims were forced to take the trip in crowded conditions on ships and trains, and were at risk of disease. Between 1831 and 1914, cholera spread among pilgrims, killing a large number of them. It adds that the cholera outbreak in 1893 is believed to have killed between 30,000 and 50,000 pilgrims.

The pressure increased on the Ottoman Empire to limit the spread of cholera through the pilgrim roads in the late 19th century, as the historian indicates, so the government was forced in 1866 to establish a quarantine station when entering the Red Sea before the arrival of the pilgrims to the Hejaz, then in 1882 a new stone station was established on an island Kamaran for Hajj pilgrims coming from Southeast Asia, East Africa, Yemen and the Gulf.

Pilgrim camping site on Fasta Island (Cambridge University)

With cholera and plague episodes repeated, pilgrims had to wait 15 days at quarantine stations that lacked the necessary sanitary conditions, in addition to overcrowding and food scarcity, and the water was not clean, so thousands died due to illness during the flight or stone, if not during the Hajj itself.

The historian notes that in 1902 discussions began about the necessity of canceling the pilgrimage completely, and the British colonial government had a contradictory position, that she did not want to admit that pilgrims from India were spreading cholera, and the pilgrimage did not want to be canceled. And thus put great pressure on the Ottoman government to control the quarantine procedures, knowing that the latter did not exercise much geopolitical control over the region, as you remember.

In 1902 discussions began that the Hajj must be canceled entirely due to an outbreak of cholera (Reuters)

Sporadic epidemics

The swine flu epidemic (H1N1), which spread in 2009, caused the Council of Arab Health Ministers to pass a resolution prohibiting the elderly, the sick, and children from performing the Hajj, for fear of spreading the epidemic.

While MERS disease, "Middle East Respiratory Syndrome" - a strain of the Corona virus - in 2013, prevented the elderly and those with chronic diseases also from going to Hajj.