TEMPO.CO, Riyadh - Saudi Arabia Passport Department Chief, General Sulaiman bin Adul Aziz al-Yahya, announced at the press conference that more than 1.73 million pilgrims from various countries have arrived in Saudi Arabia.
Until Monday, August 28, as many as 1.631 million arrived in the Holy Land through air transport and the rest by land and sea transports.
Muslims should perform the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in a lifetime. To regulate the number of pilgrims, so it does not exceed the capacity of the pilgrimage site, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia restricts congregations from various countries with a quota system. Indonesia sent the highest number of pilgrims in 2017.
Around 221,000 candidates of Indonesian pilgrims began to crowd Saudi Arabia starting a month ago. In addition to Indonesia, the countries that send pilgrims with large numbers are Pakistan with 179,000, India with 170,000, Bangladesh with 128,000 and Nigeria with 95,000.
ABNA24 | CHOIRUL AMINUDDIN