Pilgrims Begin Their Journey

The departures marked the start of the 2022 pilgrimage. It will be the first time Muslims from outside Saudi Arabia are allowed to perform the haj since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

AP PHOTO/AMR NABIL

Saudi police women, who are recently deployed to the service, from right to left, Samar, Alaa, and Bashair, stand alert in front of the Kaaba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque, during the annual hajj pilgrimage, in the Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca, Tuesday, July 20, 2021.

The first batch of Indonesian pilgrims left for Saudi Arabia on Saturday morning (4/6/2022). They will go first to Medina before continuing to Mecca to perform the haj.