Climate emergency affects holy ritual of Islam: Almost 600 people died of heat stroke at 50 °C in Mecca

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – As the temperature in Mecca reached 120 degrees F on Tuesday, news leaked that nearly 600 pilgrims had died of heat stroke and 2,000 had been hospitalized for treatment. A virtual clinic treated thousands remotely. About 324 of the dead were Egyptians, while dozens were from Jordan. The season of the annual hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca, the birthplace of Islam, has just ended. About 1.8 million pilgrims took part.

Eyewitnesses said that the dead were not only elderly people, but that young people had also died.

Pilgrims perform a number of rituals during the pilgrimage, beginning with preparation and setting their pious intention. Many of the steps involve being outdoors and being active. They dress in white robes. They circumambulate the cube-shaped Kaaba sanctuary. They walk seven times between the nearby hills of Safa and Marwa, commemorating Abraham’s wife Hajar’s search for water for her son with the patriarch Ishmael. They walk or are taken by bus to Mina and spend several nights of the pilgrimage there. There they throw stones at Satan.

H/t Saudi Ministry of Hajj

According to AFP, some pilgrims try to avoid the high visa fees by simply arriving unregistered, but this means they do not have access to air-conditioned facilities and risk heat stroke.

The number of deaths from heat stroke appears to have doubled since last year. Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s largest oil producers, and when petroleum is burned to power vehicles, the deadly heat-trapping gas carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere, heating up the planet.

The G20 Climate Risk Atlas states: “Science shows that Saudi Arabia will experience devastating climate impacts if it pursues an emissions-intensive path. Without urgent action, Saudi Arabia will experience an 88 percent increase in agricultural droughts by 2050. Heatwaves will last more than 4,242 percent longer and the combination of rising sea levels, coastal erosion and harsher weather will wreak havoc on Saudi Arabia’s economy, which will lose around 12.2 percent of its GDP by 2050.”

A loss of 12.2% of gross domestic product would mean an annual loss of $135 billion for Saudi Arabia today. This loss alone is greater than the entire annual GDP of Kenya or Ecuador.

Flooding along the kingdom’s coasts as a result of rising sea levels threatens 210,000 of the 22 million inhabitants. Long periods of drought threaten fisheries, forests and agriculture, which account for 2.6 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Prolonged periods of heat will reduce the quality of life and endanger livelihoods and health.

I have to tell you, I lived in the Arabian Peninsula. I remember one June evening when my wife and I went for a short walk to a restaurant in 46°C heat. When we came out again, we found ourselves in front of a furnace. We went back inside and ordered an air-conditioned car for the two-minute drive. We just couldn’t bear to walk in it for five minutes.

The Saudi government views hosting the annual hajj as a form of soft power that reinforces its legitimacy in the Muslim world, which comprises some two billion people. If its oil-intensive policies in turn increasingly lead to obstructions to hajj pilgrims, this development can only damage the reputation of the monarchy, which calls itself the “servant of the two holy sites.”

AFP video: Hajj pilgrimage ends amid deadly heatwave in Saudi Arabia | AFP