For Shahid Ali and his wife, the dream of completing Hajj was decades in the making. For years, the East London couple stashed savings in a dented tin box hidden in their home, skipping vacations, putting off home repairs and cutting out all non-essential luxuries to afford the once-in-a-lifetime religious journey they hoped to take before old age stole their chance. But when open conflict broke out between Israel, the United States and Iran, what should have been a period of quiet anticipation curdled into worry and doubt.
“My children asked us to reconsider, but we have waited our lives for this,” Ali told Middle East Eye shortly before his departure. “There was massive uncertainty after mass flight cancellations, but we never changed our plans. It still looks like we’re going.”
Ali’s anxiety is shared by Muslim pilgrims gathering in homes and mosques across the globe ahead of this year’s annual pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five central pillars of Islam. Yet that shared uncertainty has not stopped hundreds of thousands of worshippers from moving forward with their long-planned journeys, even as the regional conflict upends travel logistics and drives up costs.
The ongoing conflict has already disrupted regional air travel, pushed up living costs worldwide, and forced commercial carriers to implement costly detours and new surcharges to navigate restricted airspace. Even with these disruptions, Saudi authorities announced Saturday that more than 1.5 million international pilgrims have already arrived in the kingdom for this year’s Hajj – a number that already surpasses the total international arrivals recorded in 2024.
The shadow of geopolitical tension has hung heavily over the pilgrimage season. Earlier this week, two senior officials confirmed to Middle East Eye that former U.S. President Donald Trump delayed a planned offensive against Iran after senior Gulf allies and his own national security team warned against launching new military operations during the Hajj. In subsequent statements, Trump noted that a new agreement was “largely negotiated,” and multiple reports over the weekend indicated that Washington and Tehran are close to finalizing a 60-day extension of an existing ceasefire alongside a formal memorandum of understanding.
For Muslims worldwide, Hajj is a sacred religious obligation that every believer is expected to complete at least once in their lifetime if they are physically and financially able. For many working-class and low-income families, saving for the journey takes decades, and waiting lists for official Hajj slots in many parts of the Global South can stretch to 10 years or more. For elderly pilgrims in particular, postponement is unthinkable: many worry they will not live long enough to get another chance.
“There’s uncertainty everywhere now,” said Farzana Begum, a retired teacher from Birmingham who is preparing to depart for Mecca. “But if God has invited you, you cannot refuse because of politics.”
Despite the hopeful signs of a ceasefire, the conflict has created severe logistical hurdles for travel operators and pilgrims alike. Airspace restrictions and fears of sudden escalation have forced Gulf commercial airlines to reroute all flights passing through sensitive areas of the region, with some carriers suspending routes entirely. The longer flight paths and elevated fuel costs have caused Hajj package prices to spike sharply in recent weeks, according to travel operators based in Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia.
“Every single day the situation changes,” explained one Jordan-based Hajj organizer who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic. “Flights are being rerouted constantly, prices shift from one day to the next, and pilgrims are calling every hour asking if the journey is still safe. When the war first started, anxiety was through the roof, but that panic has mostly died down now.”
Saudi officials have moved quickly to reassure pilgrims, emphasizing that the kingdom has put extensive contingency plans in place to ensure the safety and smooth operation of the pilgrimage. Even so, some countries with large Muslim populations have passed on the new added costs to worshippers. India, for example, has added an extra 10,000 rupees ($105) to all official Hajj packages, while Indonesia – home to the world’s largest Muslim population – has announced it will absorb the additional costs to avoid burdening pilgrims.
While a ceasefire agreement appears imminent, concerns persist that tensions could reignite at any moment. The Gulf region hosts some of the busiest and most congested air corridors in the world, and any sudden escalation of hostilities would trigger widespread further disruption to global travel networks. Most pilgrims traveling from Europe, South Asia and Africa transit through major regional hubs including Doha, Dubai and Jeddah, leaving their travel plans vulnerable to any sudden shift in security conditions. For many, this persistent uncertainty has added a heavy layer of emotional stress to what is already an intensely spiritual and costly journey.
At London’s Heathrow Airport earlier this week, groups of British pilgrims gathered around luggage trolleys stacked with suitcases and rolled prayer mats, waiting for their flights. Some said they were nervously refreshing news updates every few minutes ahead of departure, while others chose to avoid political coverage entirely to focus on their pilgrimage. One woman traveling with her 78-year-old mother said her entire family had begged the pair to cancel their trip and rebook for next year.
“My brothers said we should wait another year,” she explained. “But my mother said: ‘What if I don’t have another year?’”
This year’s Hajj is also shaped by the broader wave of turmoil roiling the Middle East. Many pilgrims preparing for the journey say they carry deep sorrow over the ongoing wars and humanitarian crises across the region, particularly the conflict in Gaza. For many, the fact that thousands of Palestinian Muslims trapped under siege and war are unable to perform Hajj this year weighs heavily on their hearts.
“We will pray for them when we are there,” Begum said. “You cannot separate Hajj from what is happening to Muslims elsewhere.”
Historically, the Hajj has persisted through wars, pandemics and political upheaval across the centuries. Long before the advent of commercial aviation, pilgrims traveled for months by foot, camel and ship to reach Mecca, even during periods of regional conflict. More recently, the global COVID-19 pandemic forced Saudi Arabia to restrict Hajj to only a tiny handful of domestic worshippers, the first such large-scale cancellation in modern history, leaving millions of believers around the world heartbroken.
The return of large-scale international Hajj after the pandemic initially brought widespread renewed optimism for both travel operators and worshippers. The new tensions sparked by the Iran conflict have introduced a fresh wave of uncertainty to the pilgrimage season. Analysts note that the situation lays bare just how vulnerable global religious travel has become to sudden geopolitical shocks.
“Hajj depends on massive international coordination across dozens of countries,” explained one Gulf-based aviation expert who requested anonymity over fears of professional repercussions. “When airspace becomes militarized or unstable, the consequences spread quickly through the entire travel network. Some pilgrims may even end up stuck in Saudi Arabia longer than planned if disruptions worsen.”
Yet for most pilgrims, fear takes a backseat to faith. At a pre-Hajj informational seminar held at a mosque in west London earlier this week, organizers walked attendees through emergency protocols, insurance requirements and potential travel delays. Time and again, however, the conversation circled back to spiritual purpose rather than political risk. Imams leading the seminar reminded attendees that hardship has always been an inherent part of the Hajj journey.
“The essence of Hajj is sacrifice,” one speaker told the congregation. “People throughout history traveled under far more dangerous conditions than we face today.”
That message has resonated deeply with worshippers preparing to depart. Some pilgrims openly acknowledge they feel afraid, and many say their family members remain deeply worried for their safety. But almost none are willing to abandon plans they have spent decades of sacrifice and saving to bring to fruition.
For Shahid Ali and his wife, canceling their journey now is unthinkable. “We don’t know what will happen in the world,” he said quietly before his departure. “There is war everywhere. But we believe if God wants us to complete Hajj, we will complete it.”