October 25-2013
The final hajj attendance numbers issued by Saudi Arabia were a bit different from the preliminary numbers we carried in our hajj story on page six last week. The final numbers show hajj attendance down 38 percent, with foreign hajjis down 21 percent to 1.38 million and Saudi hajjis down a remarkable 60 percent to 600,000. The threat of disease and the disruption of construction likely prompted the fall.