Hajj is the largest religious gathering of Muslims. The number of people travelling from countries around the world to perform Hajj rises every year.

Even so, many Muslims cannot go on Hajj in the particular year they wish. The trend is especially visible in Muslim-majority countries.

One main reason is that there is a quota fixing how many people from each country may perform Hajj.

Several Muslim-majority countries, including Bangladesh, Pakistan and Malaysia, have repeatedly asked Saudi Arabia to raise their Hajj quotas.

Under the Hajj agreement signed between Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia for 2020, the quota for Bangladeshis was raised by 10,000. That means 137,000 Bangladeshis will be able to perform Hajj next year.

India's quota was raised in 2019, from 170,000 to 200,000.

Two hundred thousand Muslims also went on Hajj from Pakistan, although Pakistan has asked for that number to be raised by a further 20,000 for 2020.

About 30,000 Muslims from Malaysia performed Hajj in 2019, and Malaysia too has asked for a higher quota.

Saudi Arabia has to make enormous arrangements for Hajj.

Source: BBC Bangla. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.