The hajj, one of the largest annual human gatherings in the world, begins on Wednesday in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Amid rising temperatures and logistical challenges, the pilgrimage has increasingly become a test of endurance both for pilgrims and the Saudi government.
Millions of Muslims from around the world travel to the city to take part; Saudi Arabia said 1,475,230 pilgrims from abroad have arrived since Sunday. Last year, the Saudi government said more than 1,300 pilgrims died, many from Egypt. Most of those who perished had been unregistered, Saudi officials said, meaning they had made the trip without the permits that gave them access to heat protections.
We all choose makey-uppy things to believe in, through which we interpret the purpose of our own existence. There’s no objective reason to be kind to strangers beyond what we can get out of it - there are plenty of billionaires in the world to prove that selfishness and greed is a valid life strategy - but we CHOOSE to BELIEVE in made-up concepts like fairness and love, because it makes most of us happier to live that way. I see no reason to look down my nose at people who choose a few more made-up concepts to believe in than I do. I’m only bothered by the people who are pig-headed about it, incapable of accepting that people believe in different things than they do… and that category includes people who say “faith is idiocy”.