The arrival of pilgrims in Saudi Arabia for Hajj 2025 is ongoing and the number of pilgrims who have reached Saudi Arabia has now been revealed.
According to Saudi media, as of May 21, 2025, a total of 755,344 Hajj pilgrims have arrived in the Kingdom through air, land, and sea entry points.
The Saudi General Directorate of Passports reports that 725,297 pilgrims arrived by air, 27,225 by land, and 2,822 via sea routes.
In a seperate update Saudi Arabia has unveiled in the Grand Mosque of Mecca the second robot equipped with artificial intelligence to respond to religious questions from Muslims converging in the kingdom to undertake the Hajj rituals.
President of the Religious Affairs in the Two Holy Mosques, Abdulrahman Al Sudais, inaugurated the smart machine titled Manara 2 (Beacon II) in multiple languages to process with the digital revolution and provide support for the use of advanced technologies to enhance pilgrims’ religious experience.
The robot is a wise guide, utilizing artificial intelligence to provide responses to queries on the Islamic Sharia law from an integrated, controlled database, direct communication with Islamic scholars over video call, in case the question is not stored earlier.
They activated the first robot, called “Manara,” in the Grand Mosque, Islam’s most sacred place, during the recent holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
The designers based the robot’s design on Islamic ornaments that portray the architecture of the Two Holy Mosques in Saudi Arabia.
The approach to responding to religious questions in Islam’s holiest places has undergone tremendous changes over the years.
Seated clerics historically gave fatwas or religious decrees personally to seekers. This service afterward became available over the telephone before going online.
Earlier, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has ordered hosting of 1,000 pilgrims from martyrs’ families, prisoners, and the wounded from the Palestinian nation at his own expense to undertake Hajj this year, according to Saudi state media.
The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance is executing it under King Salman’s Guests Program for Hajj, Umrah, and Visit.
Minister of Islamic Affairs, Call and Guidance and General Supervisor of the program Sheikh Abdullatif Al-Sheikh thanked the King and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman for this noble gesture.
