Haj pilgrimage to begin on June 4: Saudi Arabia

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that the annual Muslim Haj pilgrimage to Makkah would begin on June 4 after astronomical observatories spotted the crescent moon, marking the start of the lunar month.

The date was announced by the supreme court in a statement carried by the official Saudi press agency. At a press conference on Monday, Tawfiq al-Rabiah, Saudi Arabia´s Haj minister, said that just over a million pilgrims from across the world had already arrived in the country. Last year, 1.8 million Muslims took part in the Haj, according to official figures.