Hajj: Hundreds of female workers serve pilgrims in Grand Mosque
Assignments include welcoming pilgrims, security, sterilisation
Cairo: Saudi authorities have allocated 825 women workers in the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca to provide a range of services to women pilgrims as part of the kingdom’s stepped-up efforts to facilitate performing rituals, a Saudi official has said.
They include 227 female employees tasked with welcoming the women worshippers at the gates of the holy site, and handing them bags to keep their personal items while observing precautions against COVID-19, Wadha bint Abdul Rahman, the head of the Women Services Department, said.
Some 550 other workers conduct sterilisation and carpet clean-up of areas designated for women worshippers in the mosque, in addition to 48 female security guards, she was quoted by the Saudi news agency SPA as saying.
Domestic pilgrims in Saudi Arabia today returned to the Grand Mosque to perform circumambulation of the Holy Kaaba after carrying out symbolic stoning of the devil in Mina, about 7km from Mecca, as part of the ongoing Hajj rites.
Hajj, one of Islam’s five pillars, is a must for all Muslims to perform at least once in a lifetime if they can financially and physically afford it.