Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale on Monday saw off a group of pilgrims at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), who were departing for Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Duale said this year, 4,500 pilgrims from across the country will travel under the Kenya Hajj Mission.
“Together with officials from the Saudi Embassy and the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) Chair Hassan Ole-Nado, we wished them well as they began this spiritual milestone,” Duale said on his X account.
“Hajj Mubarak! May Allah accept their pilgrimage and bring them back safely with a heart full of Noor (light).”
Every year, millions of Muslims from around the world gather annually in Mecca to perform Hajj, the sacred Muslim pilgrimage
The hajj is the fifth of the fundamental Muslim practices and institutions known as the Five Pillars of Islam.
The Hajj is taken by Muslims to cleanse their souls of all worldly sins, which connotes both the outward act of a journey after death and the inward act of good intentions.
According to the official published statistics between 2000 and 2019, the average number of attendees is 2,269,145 per year, of which 1,564,710 come from outside Saudi Arabia and 671,983 are local.
The year 2012 marks the highest number of participants with 3,161,573.
