They’re everywhere – in the air, on the pavement, on the robes of worshipers and on the walls of the Great Mosque. A swarm of locusts has descended on Mecca, prompting a large-scale cleaning operation. Mecca attracts millions of Muslims from across the globe every year, but this time it became a site of completely different pilgrimage. The insects have been plaguing the holy site in Saudi Arabia... 

At least 39 Muslims have died since the beginning of this year’s Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, local media reported Saturday. Most of the victims, a total of 16, came to Mecca from Egypt and Algeria, the Okaz newspaper reported, citing the Saudi General Authority for Statistics. All of the deceased pilgrims were elderly people, who died of “natural causes,... 

Protests erupted at airports across the country following Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily barring Muslims from seven countries from entering the United States. For centuries non-Muslims have not been allowed in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city. Prior to March 1, 2004, the official Saudi government website stated that Jews were forbidden from entering the country. Democrats and Muslims protested... 

As part of a diversification strategy, Saudi Arabia is to broaden pilgrimage services to reduce its dependence on falling oil revenue, reported the Saudi Gazette newspaper. The pilgrimage industry is the country’s second most important after oil and gas. Nearly two million foreign pilgrims visit the holy city of Mecca annually during Hajj. The figure is expected to reach 2.7 million by 2020. National... 

Sheikh Adel Al-Kilbani, former Imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, admitted during a television appearance that ISIS merely shares the same beliefs as all Muslims who embrace what is contained in the Koran. Asked if the emergence of ISIS was a result of “Islamic revivalism,” the Saudi cleric responded, “There’s no doubt about this, no doubt.” Dismissing the claim that ISIS was created by... 

A mind-boggling report circulating in the Kremlin today prepared by the Ministry of Defense (MoD) states that the sudden launching yesterday by Aerospace Forces (AF) of two satellites are for the protection of the Federation naval research vessel Admiral Vladimisky—which has just departed the Saudi Arabian Port of Jeddah after taking on board a mysterious object described as the “Ark of Gabriel”... 

At least 453 people have been killed and nearly 720 others injured in a crush during Hajj pilgrimage rituals outside Mecca. According to Saudi disaster officials, the incident occurred in Mina, near Mecca, at 9 am local time (0600 GMT) after two large masses of pilgrims coming down streets 204 and 223 fused together. The incident took place as people were heading to participate in the symbolic stoning... 

For those of ebionitic thought among our Order following kabalistic disciplines, these past three days have now been placed into their proper order with the predicted 14-year signs having been shown, interpreted and the path to follow now certain. As this discipline explains, being a multiple of 7, 14 partakes of its importance and, being double that number, implies a double measure of spiritual perfection... 

At least 87 people died and 201 more were injured when a crane collapsed at the Grand Mosque of Mecca ahead of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, the Saudi Interior Ministry said on Friday. The Kingdom’s General Directorate of Civil Defense blamed the accident on severe storms, according to its official Twitter. The governor of the Makkah region, the capital of which is Mecca, Khalid al-Faisal has ordered... 

A controversial plan has emerged in Saudi Arabia to demolish the tomb of Islam’s Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and relocate his body to an anonymous grave, in a move sure to draw an angry response from the Muslim world, a report says. A leading Saudi academic put forward the proposal as part of a consultation document, which has been circulated among the supervisors of al-Masjid al-Nabawi mosque in the... 

Millions of Muslim believers gather in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) yearly to celebrate the monthlong Ramadan holiday Saudi authorities are warning non-Muslim expatriates against eating, drinking or smoking in public during Ramadan, the monthlong sunrise-to-sunset fast or face expulsion. The Interior Ministry of the oil-rich kingdom is calling on non-Muslims to “show consideration for feelings of Muslims”... 

Celebrating the muslim festival Eid al-Adha in Moscow The four-day Eid al-Adha religious festival is underway, with millions of Muslims traveling around the world to visit family and loved ones. The holiday is also widely celebrated across Russia. Known as Kurban Bairam in Russia, the festival marks the end of Hajj, the annual Mecca pilgrimage, and commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice... 

Italian feminist and former far right-wing MP Daniela Santanche has sparked a controversy after calling the Prophet Mohammed a “a polygamist and paedophile” during a TV debate. Santanche appeared on a television programme aired on the commercial channel, Canale 5 with the president of Milan’s Islamic centre, Ali Abu Schwaima, on Sunday. “Mohammed was a polygamist and a paedophile...