Perfect Storm of Nature’s Brutality and Human Error

The scorching heat of the Arabian summer has slain hundreds of pilgrims in the Hajj of 1445 A.H. The Saudi government put the toll of casualties at over thirteen hundred people killed over the pilgrimage, adding that most had been unauthorised to make the journey because of the extreme conditions.

Saudi stewardship of the Hajj has been controversial in the past, in part because of a number of stampedes and in part because of Riyadh’s questionable governing record. However, the government has often stressed the complications of organizing millions of pilgrims in a matter of days. Recent experimentations with Hajj registration and documentation have also been controversial.

However, there does not appear to have been much that the authorities could have done about nature: if the government press is to be believed, five sixths of the casualties had not been authorized to travel in the stifling heat. ““Regrettably,” the Saudi Press Agency said, “the number of mortalities reached 1,301, with 83% being unauthorised to perform Hajj and having walked long distances under direct sunlight, without adequate shelter or comfort.”

Tourism Companies Stripped of Licenses

Some Saudi media were quick to point out the large number of unregistered victims, a longstanding concern for the pilgrimage’s administration. Cairo’s prime minister Mostafa Madbouly, whose citizens comprised a large number of unregistered pilgrims, stripped several tourism companies of their license over the issue.

Saudi health minister Fahad Jalajil claimed that the government had tried to raise awareness about the heat’s dangers and offered over a million medical services, adding, “May Allah forgive and have mercy on the deceased. Our heartfelt condolences go to their families.”

Eyewitnesses confirmed that Saudi police had tried to ameliorate the risk of dehydration by passing out water and spraying pilgrims with water, but some scientists claimed that this effort had limited utility in such stifling heat, which reached as high as 50 degrees Celsius.

German scientific advisor Carl-Friedrich Schleusser and Pakistani scientist Fahad Saeed co-authored a 2021 study warning that, if current global heating patterns continue, the risk of heat stroke to pilgrims on Hajj could rise fivefold. The major issue of climate change is one beyond any single government’s remit, but for the pilgrimage it is one with which the Saudi government, with their professed custodianship of the sanctuaries, will have to grapple.

Related:

Reflections On Hajj I Sh. Furhan Zubairi

A Less Than Perfect Hajj: Hajj Reflections