More than 1.5 million pilgrims gather in Mina for Day of Tarwiyah

More than 1.5 million pilgrims gathered in Mina on Monday for the Day of Tarwiyah, marking the start of the main rituals of Hajj.

Pilgrims from around the world arrived at the tent city in a state of Ihram while chanting the talbiyah, “Labbaik Allahumma Labbaik”, as they prepared spiritually for the annual pilgrimage.

The Day of Tarwiyah is observed by spending the day and night in Mina before pilgrims proceed at dawn on Tuesday to the plains of Arafat for the standing at Arafat, the most important ritual of Hajj.

Mina, located about seven kilometres northeast of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, is one of the largest tent cities in the world and is used only during the Hajj season.

Saudi authorities deployed security, medical, catering and transportation services to support pilgrims and manage crowd movement across the holy sites.

Roads leading to Mina were crowded from Sunday night as pilgrims travelled by foot and vehicle toward the camps, while the sound of talbiyah echoed throughout the valley.

Domestic pilgrims joined more than 1.5 million international pilgrims who arrived in the Kingdom for this year’s Hajj.

Pilgrims who reached Makkah on Sunday performed Tawaf Al-Qudum before heading to Mina.

The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah said all operational and field preparations for transporting pilgrims to Mina had been completed.

The ministry added that it had implemented an integrated system to organise pilgrim movement, supervise access to camps and monitor service quality in coordination with relevant authorities.

Officials said accommodation, catering and transport services in Mina had reached full operational readiness, while field monitoring teams were deployed to address issues quickly and improve service quality during the early stages of pilgrims’ stay.