Once a destination immersing Muslim pilgrims in the experience of a common faith, unity and equality, management of the Hajj today runs on the engine of commercialization, wiping out centuries of tradition.
Arab hospitality is said to be a legendary and integral part of the culture and customs, and can be defined as karam, or generosity. In the Arab context, the tenets of hospitality, such as welcoming and hosting a guest in one's abode, can be found in the traditions of the three Abrahamic faiths, but it is also rooted in pre-Islamic cultures and rituals associated with 'Bedouin Arab hospitality'.

For centuries, this was embedded and practiced in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

However, over the past several decades, Islamic hospitality in Mecca has "exceeded its religious and social boundaries," and headed toward "the economic aspect of hospitality," which now characterizes the experience of Hajj pilgrimage.

New rules for the faithful

This year's Hajj will commence on 7 July and will see a significant increase in pilgrims - 1 million, including foreigners - compared to the restrictions put in place during the pandemic for pilgrims, with only 1,000 Saudis allowed in 2020, followed by 60,000 fully vaccinated citizens and residents through a lottery system the following year.

However, the number of Hajj pilgrims this year still pales in contrast to the pre-pandemic levels of 2.5 million participants from around the world, representing the rich and diverse ummah of the Islamic world undertaking a fundamental pillar of the faith.

Other changes this time will include new rules introduced this month by the kingdom's Ministry of Hajj, namely those affecting Muslims in the west, who must now apply for an e-visa through a government website, called Motawif.

The Saudi Press Agency reported that "pilgrims from Europe, America, and Australia can register electronically" for this year's Hajj season through an online portal which "includes various options of packages, support services, and a multi-lingual communication center around the clock, in addition to the possibility of issuing visas electronically, which will facilitate the pilgrims' endeavor to perform Hajj via easy and accessible procedures."

Axios tried to smear Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas this week by falsely claiming that he said Covid-19 shots were manufactured using "aborted children," a factually true statement.

"Clarence Thomas says COVID vaccines are created with cells from 'aborted children,'" one Axios headline blared.

The basis for Axios's blatant lie about the justice stemmed from one of Thomas's dissents after the highest court in the land refused to take up a case challenging New York's Covid shot mandate.

A university in Berlin has canceled a lecture by biologist Marie Vollbrecht on the topic of biological gender after LGBT activists threatened to stage a protest, German news outlet Die Welt reported on Sunday.

Vollbrecht, who has a masters degree in biology, was supposed to participate in Saturday's "Long Night of Science" event, which takes place in Germany every year and allows large scientific institutions to hold lectures and demonstrations for the general public. Her talk was supposed to cover the topic of biological gender and explain why there are only two sexes in biology.

However, activists from a left-wing group called 'Working Group of Critical Lawyers' decried Vollbrecht's thesis as "unscientific, inhuman and hostile to queer and trans." They accused Humboldt University(HU), where the biologist works, of offering a stage to a "well-known trans-hostile speaker" and proclaimed on Twitter that "there is no place for queer hostility at our university. See you on the street!"

Gov. Ron DeSantis's (R-FL) team is scoffing at Gov. Gavin Newsom's (D-CA) Independence Day ad that encourages Florida residents to move out west to his state.

Dave Abrams, a spokesman for DeSantis's reelection campaign, said that Florida voters are not likely impressed by Newsom's handling of California. He told the Daily Wire:

"The people of Florida pay no mind to the pathetic smear campaigns from the Democrats and their allies in the corporate media. We're too busy enjoying the freedom Gov. Ron DeSantis has created in the Sunshine State."

The ad, paid for by Newsom's reelection campaign, has incited early speculation of a 2024 presidential showdown between the two governors.

"It's Independence Day — so let's talk about what's going on in America," Newsom said in the ad, which he tweeted out on Sunday. "Freedom is under attack in your state."

You may recall that, at the start of the pandemic, surveys found remarkably high levels of support for lockdown. In a poll from March of 2020, for example, 93% of Brits supported the Government's Covid measures; only 4% were opposed.

High levels of pro-lockdown sentiment continued into the second year of the pandemic. A poll taken in July of 2021 - so after months of lockdown and the vaccine rollout - found that one third of Brits would support permanent social distancing, and 45% would support permanent vaccine travel requirements.

As I've noted before, one reason why public support for lockdown was so high - in Britain and elsewhere - is that people overestimated the risks of Covid. As George Davey Smith and David Spiegelhalter wrote in the BMJ, adopting targeted approaches would "require a shift away from the notion that we are all seriously threatened by the disease, which has led to levels of personal fear being strikingly mismatched to objective risk of death".

In a poll from December of 2020, 28% of Republicans and 41% of Democrats said the chance of being hospitalised if you catch Covid is 50%. (The correct answer at the time was less than 5%.) The poll was then repeated a whole year later, and the number of Democrats who believed there's a 50% chance of being hospitalised if you catch Covid hadn't budged - it was still 41%!

The daughter of a Mexican journalist gunned down this week also died from injuries sustained during the same attack. The double murder comes at a time when Mexico is facing harsh international criticism over the ongoing attacks and murders of media workers.

On Friday afternoon, 23-year-old Cinthya de La Cruz Martinez died from gunshot injuries sustained earlier in the week, when a group of gunmen shot and killed her father Antonio Del La Cruz, a respected journalist in Tamaulipas.

As Breitbart Texas reported, on Wednesday morning, unknown gunmen shot and killed De La Cruz outside of his home. He was a long-time journalist who worked at El Epxreso in Ciudad Victoria. The journalist left his home to take his daughter to her office where she worked as an accountant. Family friends revealed to Breitbart Texas that Cinthya was the youngest of Antonio's three daughters.

According to information provided by Tamaulipas law enforcement, Antonio and Cinthya were struck several times with .40 caliber bullets. While Antonio died at the scene of the attack, Cinthya survived for 48 hours in an emergency room in Ciudad Victoria. She sustained serious damage when one of the bullets pierced her skull.

A Colorado teacher was disciplined after suggesting to a transgender student that the rise in transgenderism is a "trend" that some come to regret, according to documents provided to the Daily Caller from the educator.

Jefferson County Public School teacher Phil Vagos underwent disciplinary action following an email exchange between himself and a transgender student. The student — a biological female who initially emailed Vagos begging for a second chance to pass his class — asked to be addressed using "he/him" pronouns "when in absence of parental figures," according to the communications reviewed by the Daily Caller.

A viral video shows Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) being booed off stage at a concert for Somalians in her home state of Minnesota.

Hosted by Somali singer Soldaan Seraar, the concert went off the rails on Saturday night when the controversial congresswoman came out on stage and the audience greeted her with a chorus of boos and angry chants. Such phrases as "Get out!" and "Get the f*ck out of here!" were heard being shouted. The reactions became so intense that a gentleman had to plead with the audience to calm down. Take a look:

On Saturday, Jeff Bezos took to Twitter to slam President Joe Biden for demanding that gasoline companies to lower their prices, with the billionaire noting that the Biden's comments were either "misdirection" or "a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics."

Bezos, who is the founder and CEO of Amazon, wrote on Twitter, "Ouch. Inflation is far too important a problem for the White House to keep making statements like this. It's either straight ahead misdirection or a deep misunderstanding of basic market dynamics."