The Hajj and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Shaped the World’s Largest Religious Gathering

Hashim, Hashim Talib; Babar, Maryam Salma; Essar, Mohammad Yasir; Ramadhan, Mustafa Ahmed; Ahmad, Shoaib

doi:10.4269/ajtmh.20-1563

Cited by 36 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Not only this but also internal standard operating procedures and health precautions that ought to be taken in managing Hajj needs to be crystalised and informed to all stakeholders to ensure that Hajj price is not affected due to the changes brought. These changes are evident from the way year 2020 Hajj and Umrah is managed in the midst of the pandemic by Saudi Arabia where it is stated that that is described by Hashim et al (2021) as follows:…”

Section: Policy Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also stated that a total of 1,000 pilgrims from 160 different nationalities and all residents of Saudi Arabia performed the Hajj in 2020 where there were no confirmed COVID-19 cases among the pilgrims during or after the pilgrimage (Hashim et al , 2021). This has been considered and highlighted as a successful case study that proves the effectiveness of the risk mitigation mechanisms adopted by Saudi Arabia (Jokhdar et al , 2020).…”

Section: Policy Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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COVID-19: it’s impact in Hajj and Umrah and a future direction

Muneeza

Mustapha

2021

JIABR

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Purpose There is a misconception that Hajj and Umarah is just a worship matter and the consequences of suspending these religious gathering due to the pandemic is only limited to delay of going Saudi Arabia to perform it. However, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the impact of the pandemic in Hajj and Umrah by exploring its impact on different stakeholders affecting its disruption due to the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach This is a library-based study that uses qualitative method to explore the impact of COVID-19 on Hajj and Umrah. Thus, provisions of Quran and hadith on Hajj and Umrah were examined as primary data for the research to establish the importance of the rituals in Islam. Guidelines set by Hajj regulators and instruments enabling them in that behalf were examined likewise. In addition, content analyses were made of relevant secondary data from published sources including articles, books, newspapers and web resources that embody scholarly, scientific and religious views on the issue being studied. Findings It is realised that in the first year of the pandemic, while Umrah is entirely suspended, Hajj was scaled back and performed by 10,000 people altogether, a tiny segment of the over two and half million that partook in the ritual previously. Hajj and Umrah have been greatly inhibited and jeopardised by the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in religious, social, economic, psychological effects on the eligible but affected Muslims and Muslims countries. Along these lines, recommendations were accordingly proffered on the way forward to better Hajj and Umrah management. Originality/value It is anticipated that the findings of the research would assist policy makers to comprehend the impact of the pandemic on Hajj and Umrah to ensure that the policies they make in this regard would adequately cover every aspect affecting the stakeholders which is deliberated in this research. It is also expected that the recommendations provided in this paper will assist stakeholders of Hajj and Umrah to grasp the importance of taking precautions for any crisis similar to COVID-19 when it happens.

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Section: Policy Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Policy Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19: it’s impact in Hajj and Umrah and a future direction

Muneeza

Mustapha

2021

JIABR

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“…For example, Carlin et al ( 2021 ) evaluated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mass gatherings for hockey and basketball games in North America, Hughes et al ( 2020 ) conducted a study on the framework of sports in Australia, Mat et al ( 2020 ) evaluated and found COVID-19 contamination in Malaysia because of mass gatherings, Nyasulu et al ( 2021 ) argued that the COVID-19 outbreak emerged in Malawi-Southeastern Africa as a result of sociopolitical mass gatherings, Teixeira ( 2020 ) highlighted a possible transmission of COVID-19 due to mass gatherings in Brazil, Yezli and Khan ( 2020 ) highlighted possible health risks from the transmission of COVID-19 due to mass gatherings in Jeddah-KSA. A lot of research has also been conducted on religious mass gatherings and religious tourism with the perspective of COVID-19, including but not limited to the studies of Ahmed and Memish ( 2020 ), Atique and Itumalla ( 2020 ), Ebrahim and Memish ( 2020 ), Hoang et al ( 2020 ), Mat et al ( 2020 ), Mubarak ( 2020 ), Mubarak and Zin ( 2020 ), Quadri ( 2020 ), Rodriguez-Morales et al ( 2020 ), VanderWeele ( 2020 ), Yezli and Khan ( 2020 ), Hashim et al ( 2021 ), Hsu et al ( 2021 ), Sokhna et al ( 2021 ), and Yezli and Khan ( 2021 ). Although some of these studies address the issue partially or indirectly, there is still a clear gap in the literature regarding real determinants of the implementation of SOPs for COVID-19 in mass gatherings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Modeling on the Determinants of Effectiveness of SOPs Containing COVID-19 in Mass Gatherings

Basit¹,

Scholz

Niazi

et al. 2021

Front. Psychol.

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The study is aimed to analyze the determinants of the effectiveness of SOPs in mass gatherings for containing COVID-19. The overall design of the study involves a literature review, data collection by field survey, structural modeling, and analysis. The study is built on the experts' opinion of a focus group (representing people who recently participated in and are responsible for mass gatherings). The study uses the discussion of the literature review to identify the determinants, interpretive structural modeling (ISM) for developing and analyzing a structural model, and Matrice d'Impacts Croises Multiplication Appliquée a un Classement (MICMAC) for corroboration of results of the ISM/classification of determinants. From the literature review, a list of determinants is generated and verified by a panel of experts. The results of the ISM revealed that the determinants “legal environment of the country,” “practicability of SOPs,” “perceived benefit of adapting SOPs,” and “possibilities of avoiding gathering” occupied the top of the model, therefore, they are less critical determinants, whereas “nature of gathering” occupied the bottom of the model, and is thus the most critical determinant. The remaining determinants form the middle of the model, and are therefore moderately severe. The results of MICMAC show that the determinant “perceived benefit of adapting SOPs” is dependent, “nature of gathering” is independent, and all others are linked. The results of MICMAC implicitly substantiate the findings of the ISM. The overall results of the study show that “nature of gathering” is the key determinant. This research does not require a priori theory since it is a theory-building study that uses an inductive approach. It is based on real data and it is useful for local authorities, organizers, participants (attendees/visitors) of mass gatherings, health officials/regulators, researchers, and the community at large. This study has fundamental importance for planning and preparing for such events while ensuring the minimum risk of COVID-19 transmission.

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“…polio and meningitis), education campaigns, and country-specific restrictions, such as the restrictions applied to the countries impacted by the Ebola crisis 4 . Given that a large number of pilgrims take part in Hajj from more than 180 countries 5,6 , it can potentially serve as a superspreading event, and an outbreak can have significant global impacts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating Social Contacts in Mass Gatherings Through Agent-Based Simulation Modeling: Case of Hajj Pilgrimage

Tofighi¹,

Asgary²,

Tofighi³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Most mass gathering events have been suspended due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. However, with vaccination rollout, whether and how to organize some of these mass gathering events arises as part of the pandemic recovery discussions, and this calls for decision support tools. Hajj, one of the world's largest religious gatherings, was substantively scaled down in 2020 and it is still unclear if it will take place in 2021 and subsequent years. Considering the disease trends and vaccination conditions in the pilgrims’ country of origin, and the operational and logistical aspects of implementing public health measures, Hajj reopening conditions could be very complex. Simulating disease transmission dynamics during the Hajj season under different conditions can provide some insights for better decision-making. Since most dis-ease risk assessment models require data on the number and nature of possible close contacts between individuals, we seek to use integrated agent-based modeling and discrete events simulation techniques to capture risky contacts among the pilgrims in one of the Hajj major sites, namely Masjid-Al-Haram. In particular, we assessed different scenarios concerning the total number of pilgrims and enforced physical distancing measures. Our simulation results show that a plethora of risky contacts may occur during the rituals. Also, as the total number of pilgrims increases at each site, the number of risky contacts increases, and physical distancing measures may be challenging to maintain beyond a certain number of pilgrims in the site.

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The Hajj and COVID-19: How the Pandemic Shaped the World’s Largest Religious Gathering

Cited by 36 publications

References 9 publications

COVID-19: it’s impact in Hajj and Umrah and a future direction

COVID-19: it’s impact in Hajj and Umrah and a future direction

Structural Modeling on the Determinants of Effectiveness of SOPs Containing COVID-19 in Mass Gatherings

Estimating Social Contacts in Mass Gatherings Through Agent-Based Simulation Modeling: Case of Hajj Pilgrimage

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