Two million Muslims this year in Hadge, more than 1,000 are from Kosovo

This year pilgrims from Iran, whose authorities had boycotted this event in recent years after a crowd push in 2015, had left hundreds of Iranians dead.

One of the five pillars of religion growing most rapidly in the world, Islam, is Haxhi, who begins this year 19 August and ends 24 this month. Each Muslim is required to carry out Hadzi at least once in his life.

By 16 August, more than 1.6 million people have already arrived in Saudi Arabia. Many pilgrims have been seen with family members, some have called relatives, and others have bought cold drinks to cope with temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius.

For many pilgrims this is the first time they have left home. This year Saudis have launched apps to help pilgrims with all procedures from travel to healthcare. And 1083 pilgrims from Kosovo have travelled to Mecca to carry out Hadzi.