MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — To avoid the punishing sun, Inas Gamal abandoned her ambitious plan of spending the days ahead of the hajj praying in Mecca’s Grand Mosque and retreated to the comfort of an air-conditioned hotel room to perform her daytime prayers.

Despite traveling all the way from Egypt for the annual pilgrimage, Gamal said it was just too hot to spend much time outside during the day, where temperatures crossed 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).

“It’s very hot, much hotter than I imagined,” the mother of four, who is performing the hajj for the first time, told AFP.

“I can’t adapt,” she added while adjusting her sunglasses to protect her eyes from the harsh glare of the sun.

“I had planned to perform all my prayers at the Grand Mosque, but I couldn’t go down for the prayers held during the day.”

Pilgrims perform most of the hajj’s rites outdoors where more than a million devotees gather in stifling conditions, with many attendees succumbing to heatstroke, fainting spells and even cardiac arrest triggered by the heat.

Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology predicted daytime temperatures this week would hover between 107-116°F (42-47°C) in Mecca during the hajj, which officially begins on Monday.

For pilgrims travelling from outside the region, the harsh desert climate can be brutal.

“I make sure to drink large amounts........

© The Times of Israel